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Team Talk Odette! #162 - Flexible Hip Stretches
May 19, 2014
Hello

This week, I'm going to give you some helpful advice on how to make your hips more flexible. This is actually one of the main areas which gets the most tight for ballet dancers.

Especially when the exercises in your ballet class get very fast and require strength to hold the leg eg Jetes or Fondus, it's easy to feel the tension straight in the hips.

However, to prevent this extra tension, you want to focus on lifting up and growing out of your spine to elongate all your muscles and create space in your posture.

You want to feel weightless yet grounded, which is a hard balance to find.

One stretch to release your hip flexors is to kneel with one knee on the floor and the other foot in front with the knee bent. Gently push your hips forwards and keep the back upright. Hold for between 10 and 30 seconds. This is a simple but effective stretch which I practice daily as a professional ballet dancer.

What should a daily stretching routine look like? You can see my answer here -

https://www.balletdancersguide.com/daily-stretch

Remember, it is the continual thought to detail which will help you progress as much as your physical practice, so keep the hard work up and be an intelligent dancer too!

Best wishes,

Odette

P.S - The quote of the day is: "The person who removes a mountain begins by carrying away small stones."

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