Ballet question :)?

Question:hello, i don't do ballet but i would love to start next year and i'm 14 am i a bit old? i can't evan do the splits but i'm stretching everyday. i love how ballet people lepe and bring there leg right up to there head. could someone tell me how to do it ot how to stretch for it : ) thankyou for reading

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: hello, i don't do ballet but i would love to start next year and i'm 14 am i a bit old? i can't evan do the splits but i'm stretching everyday. i love how ballet people lepe and bring there leg right up to there head. could someone tell me how to do it ot how to stretch for it : ) thankyou for reading

It's not too late for you to start ballet. There are women in the adult class at my studio who started at 30 or even older!

It's really good that you stretch every day. Just make sure that when you do deeper stretches like splits and things that you hold for a while, you warm up beforehand so you decrease the chance of pulling a muscle. It takes a long time to achieve the flexibility and strength needed to hold your leg up that high because even if you are flexible enough that you can pull your leg up there with your hand, you may not have the strength to hold it there when you let go and have to hold it with your core muscles. You don't need to worry about this too much before you start classes, but you can start to work on flexibility. Warm up, meaning you run around your house or do some other activity until your body feels warmish and you're sweating lightly. I usually just start running/dancing laps around my house, lol. What I usually do when I work my splits is sit with my legs directly in front of me, sitting up straight, and bend one leg. Then I reach forward toward the toe of the leg that's still straight and hold it for 30 seconds. It took a while (I am a very unflexible person by nature) but now I can lay my upper body flat on either leg. That should be your goal. Then you can go into a half-split, where your front leg is bent but your back leg is straight, and you lean back to stretch the front of the hip of your back leg and hold it for 30 seconds. Then go into the splits as far as you can go with the same legs in front and back and hold it for 2-3 minutes. It will hurt, but you will see lots of improvement. Do the same on the other leg. To work on your center splits, sit in the same position I described before, with your legs straight in front of you and your back straight. Then open your legs to either side as far as you can. Start to lean your upper body as far forward as you can go and hold it for as long as you can. Then you can bend to each side to stretch both legs and lean forward again. You can also do the wall stretch, where you scoot yourself up to an empty wall, lay down on your back and scoot yourself forward so your butt is touching the wall, and open your legs against the wall. Gravity should stretch you over time, so just grab a book and sit there for several minutes.

To gain and maintain flexibility, you should do a variety of stretches every day after warming up. Good luck, and I hope you get more flexible and start taking ballet classes!

You are right, you are a bit on the older side to start ballet if your goal is to become a ballerina, but you are never too old to try new things. I would try some yoga. That will help you with flexibility. You can get tapes and do it at home, or join a class.

http://www.amazon.com/Ballet-Class-Begin...

well your off to a great start! stretching is great and every day will make it improve really really fast.
once u are flat try putting ur leg on a raised surface then sit in splits to get better range.
although be sure to stretch your turnout too

your not to late to start at all i am 13 , 14 in july and started a few weeks ago i cant bring my leg up that high i need help with that but when you say lepe do you mean
http://hk.geocities.com/mcc29hk/grandjet...
one of them as i can almost do that you just do a few skips with right foot fist them bend both legs with left infront and jump and try and kick you legs out ones you have splits them you can dp a full jete!

good luck with your ballet you wont regrete it

i know this very good stretch
1. lay back on teh floor
2. keep your left leg ont eh floor at ALL times
3. kick you right leg up as far as you can 10 times
4. kick your rght leg up once more and hold for 20 secs
5. repeat as many times as wanted
to make this stretch mroe effective go to a dance store and buy a something that is like a giant rubber band it comes in dif. colors for different strength i recomend the green one for beginners and it comes in a role. so cut a piece of about 3 feet and tie loops at the ends. put your feet onto the holes and this will give more of a stretch. switch the right and left leg to get your left leg strached. but also very important for ballet get teh middle splitz this is very helpful for turnout

As i say, it's never too late for anything really. Bit you are a bit late starting ballet at 14. But that's fine. There are usually special classes where people almost the same age as you, practice hard everyday. Well, like i said, you'll need to practice everyday twice as hard to get the steps you love so much down. Good Luck!!! :D

u are never too late to start dancing! it is so much fun to dance ballet! and its good that u are stretching everyday! that iss how you will become more flexable.