Basic Stretches for Tight Hips

I just found some hip/turnout stretches I'll be incorporating into my stretch routine: "Basic Stretches for Tight Hips" (web page). I've seen pretty much all of these sometime in my life, but as a new dancer, some I haven't worked on yet. (I've also been paying lose attention to exactly what is tight when I'm trying to do my splits, and one of the kinda surprising areas I need to work on for splits are my quads. I especially feel the tightness in that area on the leg going towards the back- it's tight right there at the top of it...)

Anyway, here's one of the poses I've seen before and enjoyed and now will be doing more of, taken from that article.

Recently...

Wow, it's been awhile since I've updated! I've been super-busy in my personal life (involving a whole lot of sleep, among other things- I believe it's the meds I'm on. I just can't get enough SLEEP!) I had to miss one of my ballet classes, along with about five days of practice/workout, because my stomach was very upset for awhile :(

I went to class, let's see, last Tuesday, and skipped Thursday. I went to both classes this week. I'm feeling a bit mushy because I just haven't worked out like I was, but it's okay because absence makes the heart grow fonder; I'm actually craving workouts and stretches, which is something I don't think I have ever done (except maybe once, a semester over a decade ago, where I took three glorious months of yoga classes). Tuesday I still wasn't feeling well, but went to class. Wednesday I started back up with some minor exercises (throwing in some plies and leg raises when I can). Thursday, yesterday, I started really feeling some improvements in class.

I've had a hell of a week or two. It's been quite stressful for me, and overwhelming. I usually try to keep my life very, very simple. I limit stress as much as possible. But one thing happened that was very stressful, and another thing has happened that is positive but still overwhelming, so it's a bit stressful too. So I've constantly had all of these things on my mind. And the ONE time I am able to totally clear my head, not think or feel anything, is when I am in class. (That's a big difference from working out at home while doing my own ballet-oriented workouts, because my mind was somewhat free to wander.) It's absolutely fantastic. After only a handful of classes, I crave going to class, being fully in my body instead of in my head (where I usually am) or heart (where I can sometimes be found). I LOVE LOVE LOVE it!!

I'm starting to pick up what exactly we are doing. I still don't have everything down, but I am getting there. I am starting to be fussed at for my arms, because sometimes I am just so caught up in making sure my feet are doing the right thing that my arms are just doing whatever, occasionally moving to the right direction only to stay there while everyone else moves on.

So, I just wanted to make a quick update. I hope to be back on some sort of routine schedule soon, and be able to post more.

It's a Yoga Day

I woke up today not really feeling the ballet vibe. It's Saturday, one of my two days off, and I really like to squeeze in as much ballet on the weekends as I can. So when I realized that vibe was going on, I was kinda disappointed but got through some chores and got on my leotard and got going. Made it through the warmup, but what next?

Nothing was sounding appealing. One of Kathryn Morgan skips the intros to the barre movements and just goes through the exercises- and there's music that's kinda nice. I put that on and started doing my own routine- plies, tendus, ronde de jambes. But by the time I got to the latter, I knew ballet just wasn't happening. But I'm still all dressed and want to do SOMETHING...

I found this, and it's great. In only a small number of poses, my back popped so many times (I love that feeling!) and I got SUCH a good stretch! I love it, and it's going on my flexibility playlist (along with the splits routines by the same group, PsycheTruth. I'm finding their videos are to my liking: no long intro, tough enough but not too difficult, and fairly brief, but not too brief.)

This one is another good one for the neck, shoulders, and upper back (the last exercise is the same as one in the video above).

I've really been slacking some lately on stretching. When I first started, I was doing it nightly, but I really haven't done it much at all in a few weeks. When I did, I was pretty much focusing solely on my lower body, since flexibility is great for extensions and such (and I will do splits one day!). But since starting the Conditioning for Dance book, I've been realizing how intertwined everything is- like the simple jump exercise I mentioned. So while getting more strength and flexibility is definitely going to help my cambre (ah, if cambre was done from the lower back, I'd be a pro at it), it's also going to help pretty much everything else in my body, including my leg extensions.

It's really neat not only learning how fascinating the body is, but to actually be able to experience it- the inter-connectivity- as well.