My ballet teacher recently questioned why my body weight
wasn’t where it should be as a lost my balance doing a double pirouette “even
though I do all that yoga”. I had to
explain that in yoga balances, although we sometimes flow through a variety of
poses with the working leg, we don’t move the standing leg! So although you’ll need to keep practising
ballet to achieve those specific skills required for the dynamic balancing inherent in ballet
turns, rises and changes of direction,
balance-based yoga poses can help lay down the groundwork.
So here's video #2. A standing and balancing yoga flow. Plenty of work on hips, hamstring and spine
flexibility for classical ballet lines, plus balances on one leg to improve
foot and ankle strength and pelvic stability.
Natajarasana – Dancer Pose – is here, of course, and I’ve included a
headstand balance, altering your relationship to gravity completely! By removing the added challenge of moving the
standing leg as you would in dance (e.g. rises, fouettes, promenades or turns)
we have the opportunity to calmly cultivate balance, proprioception, awareness of the centre of gravity,
transference of body weight, eyeline and focus from a still, firm foundation.
(Please excuse the part where I say “Exhale as you breathe
out”. It’s been a long week!)
