What muscle are you supposed to use in ballet?

Question:When holding out your leg to the front or side. You should be using your core, of course, but what other muscle should be activated when your leg is to the devonte or a la seconde?

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: When holding out your leg to the front or side. You should be using your core, of course, but what other muscle should be activated when your leg is to the devonte or a la seconde?

Okay, I'll put this as judiciously as I can.

Standing up, look in a mirror sideways.

Find the very bottom of your right buttcheek, and bring your index finger right in the center here, at the back of your thigh. Press down with your finger until you feel muscle. This is the main hamstring muscle you want to use to lift your leg (not your quad, never your quad:)

Once you have a feeling for where this muscle is, lay down, face up, on the floor, and stretch your legs out completely.

Put a slippery piece of paper (or something flat that slides easily) under your right heel.

Bend your right knee slightly, and- using the muscle at the back of your thigh- start dragging your right foot in towards your pelvis.

At first, your heel will drag back towards you, but as soon as you can, bring the sole of your foot flat onto the floor and continue pulling your foot in.

Once you feel your abs kick in there, try it out with a barre exercise, just doing a simple lift to the front:

Holding on to something lightly for balance, lift your right leg up off the floor, and bend your right knee, so that your upper leg is parallel to the floor, and your lower leg is perpendicular to the floor.

Keeping your leg at this angle, move your leg slowly forward and back, as if you were doing a slow battement degage in parallel. Use the muscle at the back of your leg to initiate the movement.

Note that, with your leg bent, when you battement to the front, the sole of your foot will be facing the floor, and when you battement to the back, the sole of your foot will be facing the ceiling (ideally:).

This should help you recruit your abdominal muscles (the hamstrings are already a part of your core), keep your hip flexors from tensing, and give you a nice stretchy feeling, rather than the gripping feeling that comes from using your quads.

Good luck.

your butt and upper thigh muscles, and also for some positions you use the muscle on the inside of your leg, towards the pelvic bone.

u have to use your inner thighs not your upper thighs. this right because my dance teacher told us(my class) that and she studied with the san francisco ballet and wtth some of the famous dancers in history(recent of course!)

every single one of them if youre doing it properly