the male dancer all you need for ballet & dance for beginners & advanced register for free now !  de - en - es - nl tribute for all women Users online: 41 [ Forum ]  [ New messages ] Name (register):  Password registered user:  Email address (optional):  Subject:  Text formatting:                     [i]>stretching=bad (has to do with ligaments and tendons)<br>>lengthening=good (has to do with muscles)<br>>There isn't much difference between men and women lengthening positions. It is best to do stretches for the purpose of lengthening when the body is warmed up (IE: after exercise or dance class). It is also good to do prior to practice but it is when the body is warm that the best results may be obtained.<br>>That being said.<br>>YOGA positions are great for lengthening your body. They teach you a lot about looking inside to find your tight spots.<br>>Swan Dive = good for the hamstring and calf lengthening.<br>>Warrior 1,2,3 = great for strengthening and lengthening the legs with little idiosyncrasies to isolate different spots of the legs.<br>>Frog pose = great for getting better turnout of the legs without stressing the knees or ankles.<br>>Trikansana = good for the inside of the legs, from the knee to the hip<br>>Child pose = great release of the body.<br>>Dancer pose = great for the front of the legs, thighs.<br>>Tree pose = great for strengthening the "little" stabilizer muscles in you legs as you stand on one leg.<br>>There are some real great spine limbering moves as well. Most "basic" or "beginner" yoga classes will go through a series of poses along with breathing exercises to help get the most out of the positions. IT is all about compression and tension, flexation and relaxation, ying and yang stuff.<br>>A lot of times with ballet classes it is up to the individual to warm up and stretch prior to class and after. I have seen some studios never show the class how to prepare for class. YOGA is a great place to start; after about 4 sessions you will get a real good idea of where you need work and how the poses are to be done. Yoga and Ballet live in a parallel universe. The combination of these exercises (plus a little boxing and martial arts) is Pilates. Pilates has the tendancy to work the body in Turned in (martial arts), Turned out (ballet), and normal joint (jazz) positions.<br><br><br>[/i] URL of own homepage (optional):  Name of homepage (without the homepage will not show!):  URL of a picture (optional):       Tags for smilies [neener]   [lurk]   [fire]   [grmpf-blue]   [grmpf-red]   [grmpf]   [brood-blue]   [brood-lilac]   [brood-red]   [brood]   [heart-pink]   [heart]   [kiss]   [normal]   [oh-lilac]   [acidic-red]   [oh]   [acidic-lilac]   [acidic-red]   [acidic]   [smile-orange]   [smile]   [pointed]   [updown]   [twinkle]