Can anyone help with the following in ballet?

Question:How to balance on one foot.
How to get my leg higher.

I just need simple excersices-if you spell it like that? to do at home

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: How to balance on one foot.
How to get my leg higher.

I just need simple excersices-if you spell it like that? to do at home

How to balance on one foot:
What I do is, I go to the barre, or table/counter in your house (anything that you can hold on to) and I rise up in passe, and rise up on the ball of my foot on the standing leg, then i rise up and down up and down, continuously for about a minute. It works better if you go slow. This helps to build your calf muscle, which helps you to keep your leg strong and BE ABLE TO BALANCE WELL.
Getting your leg higer:
Make sure you have your full splits all the way so that your leg can actually go high. Try hyper-extended splits on the ground, so that when you lift your leg up in the air, it will go higher. Also do batmons.
Good luck and have fun!

Practice, practice, practice. Stretch, stretch, stretch.

If you do not have a barre use common household things such as a chair, the diningroom table, or the kitchen counter.

Start by standing sideways in front of the chair, put 1 foot on the chair & raise yourself up/lower yourself down by bending the knee of the other leg. Once you're used to that, move to something higher like the diningroom table, etc. Once you feel you've stretched enough, try holding the positions for 5 seconds, 10 seconds, 30 seconds, etc. Eventually you will have the elasticity & control to move away from the table & hold the position on your own.

With the balancing on one foot thing,
make sure that your "pulling up" from your toes to your head. Tighten your knees and tighten all your stomach muscles.
ALWAYS remember to spot!!!

How to balance on one foot...

One simple exercise....

Without using the barre, go to passe position on your free leg, and try to strongly pull your chest muscles in. This will tighten them and with that you will have a better center of gravity which will help you maintain your balance on your supporting leg.

How to get my leg higher....

You will need to do quadriceps stretches and do a lot of split stretches in your ballet warmups to get your leg higher in such moves as.....

arabesque (especially "leaning arabesque"--or
"arabesque penchee"--this arabesque is hard!!)
attitude
developpe

A lot of people don't realize raising your leg up high comes from core strength as well as flexibility. To increase your core strength, do lots of abdominal exercises every day, or better yet, enroll in a weekly Pilates class. Pilates is great for both core strength and flexibility as well. It's perfect for dancers.

As far as your balancing goes, think again of your core muscles and holding everything in place. Be sure your head is up and your shoulders are down. Good balance comes from practice in addition to good placement.