Muscles Used In Ballet (Part 2) – Post #5
Maleah P -
Now that dance classes are back in session, this week, I decided to observe an actual ballet class to add to my previous ballet research. As I observed the hour-long ballet dance class, I took note of the different movements and motions they did. There were a few different dance moves I noted that were different from the ones I found when simply researching ballet online. So far, my ballet research has found that ballet actually engages a majority of the muscles in the body, contrary to my initial hypothesis of mainly using leg muscles.
Some of the moves I decided to write down included arabesque, relevé, and the different ballet positions from first to fifth. All of these are very commonly used moves in ballet dance.
An arabesque involves lifting one leg up in the air either in front of or behind yourself. The dancer often holds the position while turning or jumping. When performing an arabesque, dancers use their glutes, hamstrings, core muscles, back extensors including the erector spinae, and hip flexors. The dancer also uses leg and back muscles such as the tensor fascia lata, sartorius, rectus femoris, and quadratus lumborum.
Relevé is a widely used ballet term that includes having the dancer remain balanced on their toes. Keeping the body on its toes requires a massive amount of muscles such as the triceps Surae (gastrocnemius and soleus), the core Muscles like the abdominal muscles and obliques, the quadriceps, the hamstrings, the glutes, the tibialis anterior, and the peroneus longus. Each of these muscles plays a different role in stabilizing and balancing the body in relevé.
Based on these observations from the ballet class and my online research of ballet, I have found that ballet does, in fact, involve using a majority of the body’s muscles rather than simply the leg muscles.