Barre Exercises
Almost every ballet class starts with the barre. When you are rehabbing an injury it can be very depressing sitting out of class and watching others do what you wish you could be doing. But it does not have to be that way! This section gives you options for participating in the barre part of class, no matter what stage rehab you are at.
- If you have a very acute and painful injury, you may want to rest the affected lift on a pillow while you work the other leg in a floor barre.
- If you are able to move the foot a little, but not weight bear, then floor barre may be for you.
- If you are in a boot and are able to walk around during the day, you may be able to participate in a boot barre, with the other foot either in a running shoe or bare foot
- If you are working on returning to class you may be able to do a flat barre with no plié or rise, or a half speed barre really focussing on your standing leg turnout and foot control. Please make sure to check any progressions with your treating health professional before adding them into your program, and remember that each stage must be worked through for a period of time with no reemergence of symptoms before progressing
Floor Barre
A floor barre is a fantastic way of maintaining core, hip, and foot control whilst not weight bearing on your feet, for instance when recovering from a stress fracture or surgery. It is often more challenging than a normal barre and is an effective way of improving your technique whilst you are not allowed to do normal classwork. While doing floor barre you can often quickly work out where your weaknesses lie and you may also discover discrepancies in strength or range of motion from side to side.
Initially it is a good idea to have your heels resting on a foam roller or yoga block so that you can focus on isolating your deepest core and turnout muscles. Once you have mastered the exercises with support, you can progress to doing it with the feet unsupported. Floor barre should never be painful or feel loaded in your hips or back.
Just like any dance class, it is important to warm up effectively before starting a floor barre. Make sure your warm up includes some spinal mobility exercises, hip mobilisers and a foot warm up. It is also important to include some isolation and activation exercises for your core, turnout, deep inner thigh and intrinsic foot muscles. For more information and a sample warm up please visit the online Members Area on The Ballet Blog.
For all floor barre exercises you can choose to do either 4-8 repetitions of the demonstrated exercise, or follow along with your syllabus work. However, if performing these exercises to music please make sure to slow down to half speed, especially if there is a particularly fast exercise. Floor barre can be done in the comfort of your own home, at the gym or in your normal ballet class, where you can follow the structure of the class and each exercise with your classmates.
Floor Barre Set Up
- Start by lying flat on your back and place your feet in parallel approximately 10cm up the wall, ideally supported on a foam roller. It is important NOT to have your heels on the floor.
- Your spine should be in neutral, with a small curve in your lower back, just enough to allow the front of your pelvis to be horizontal. Lengthen through the back of your neck and widen through the front of your chest. Gently activate your deep core muscles to maintain this position.
- Slowly turn your feet into 1st position using your deep turnout muscles only. Check that you are keeping your bigger gluteal muscles relaxed.
- Hold for 5 seconds in 1st position, breathing normally, focusing on maintaining your turnout range without gripping the glutes. Return slowly to parallel. Repeat 10 times.
- Ensure that you don’t bend your knees or try to screw your feet against the wall to increase your turnout as this can cause increased loading through your knees and ankles.
Floor Barre Plié
The first exercise in class is usually a plié exercise, and just like a plié in class this floor barre exercise requires you to activate your deep turnout muscles whilst maintaining core activation. Some dancers find that their lower back tends to arch as they draw their legs in, so be sure to keep your deep abdominals working throughout. A floor barre plié involves moving the legs away from the wall so I recommend that you wear some socks to allow your feet to move smoothly on the floor. Aim to keep the heels slightly off the floor for as much of the exercise as possible.
Battement Tendu
A simple battement tendu performed lying down with the feet on the wall is actually a very hard exercise to do properly. The focus of this exercise is really on maintaining control and the placement of the foot on the standing leg. As your feet are on the wall it is impossible to screw your turnout, so it is wonderful for developing true control in your standing leg turnout muscles. It also requires a lot of deep control to maintain the pelvis in a good position, so make sure to keep your finger tips on your hip bones initially to check for movement.
Battement Fondu
For your Battement Fondu, begin as for plié with a neutral spine position. Place your hands on the front of your hips to monitor any pelvic rotation that may occur as you are doing the exercise. ‘Fondu’ on the injured leg, by bending the knee and sliding the foot in towards your sitting bones. Keep the pinkie toe on the floor and the heel slightly lifted if possible. Draw the working foot up into a petit retiré position. Unfold the working leg to the front, off the wall, and push the injured leg back to touch the wall while maintaining turnout on both sides. Ensure both knees extend at the same time, and the hip bones stay level. This exercise can also be done with boot on if the foot needs to be immobilised. Another progression would be to add in a simple port de bras, as long as you have good awareness and control of the hips.
Rond de Jambe a Terre
A simple rond de jambe à terre suddenly becomes a very challenging exercise when performed as part of a floor barre. Because you are slowly lowering the working leg to the side, the load on the supporting side is constantly changing, requiring you to adjust the level of control that is needed to keep the pelvis still at all times. This is a wonderful way to work out just how much effort is needed to stabilise the pelvis, rather than just gripping on with everything you have.
Développé Devant
Performing a développé devant in the floor barre position is a very good way to refine your technique and correct any ‘cheating’ habits that you have used to get the leg higher in standing. As there is less effect of gravity on the working leg, you can learn how to coordinate the correct muscles around the hip to place the leg in a good position, so that when you return to doing it in standing, it is much easier! Make sure not to flatten the low back as you take the leg devant, as this actually inhibits the deep back muscles you need to stabilise your spine. Please look at the "How to get your legs higher in a développé devant" program for additional conditioning exercises.
Grand Rond de Jambe en L'air
This exercise is a little more difficult so depending on the age and level of the student it may not be appropriate to start this exercise. However if it is an exercise being done in class then it is a very effective way of ensuring a nice stable pelvis to avoid cheating habits when performing this movement. It is a challenging exercise so it is very important to only work within a range where you can keep good alignment and control through the pelvis.
Grand Battement
This is a great chance to strengthen your hamstrings which is something that a lot of dancers don’t spend enough time doing. For this exercise you will need a medium density resistance band and somewhere to tie it that wont move for example a bed, door handle (closed door) or a stable barre. Tie a foot hole in one end of the band and make sure that the other end is securely fastened.
Floor Barre Summary
There are hundereds of variations of a floor barre, so feel free to play with these base exercises (under the guidance of your teacher or therapist) to work out what is best for you art the moment. If you have never worked in this way before you may need to focus on mastering basic placement on the floor, wheeras if you have done this style of floor barre for years you may be able to translate your normal syllabus work to the floor, adding in your port de bras as an additional challenge.
As you work through your conditioning program, make sure to make notes in the spaces provided as to what you feel / notice in each exercise. This can be very helpful for your therapist or teacher when they are reviewing your progress and progressing your program.