Warm-up:

Facing the barre, first position. Demi-pointe on one foot, full pointe, press to
demi, then first. Repeat 8x. Tendu in 4 counts (THROUGH DEMI POINTE) devant.
Repeat. Same seconde and derriere. Repeat entire combination on other side.
Pointers: Work on really USING the feet and articulating every muscle. Work
through your highest, strongest demi pointe and full pointe. Always put the
heel DOWN to brush in and out on the tendus. Think heel first, toes second.
Plies:
Start in first position, prepare arms to bras-bas. Demi plie in four counts, arm
small breath. Repeat, arm coming through first to second. Grande plie in four
counts. Tendu seconde, close first, tendu seconde, close second. Repeat this
pattern to fourth and fifth. In fifth position, cambre forward, return, back,
return. Same on releve. Balance in sous-sus, arms first.
Pointers: TAKE YOUR TIME ON THE PLIES. USE ALL FOUR COUNTS. I cannot
stress this enough. Heels forward, knees back. NEVER drop the chest. See a
straight line in the mirror from neck to butt from the side view. On grande plie,
force your heels to stay down as long as possible, and put them down again as
soon as you can on the way up. STOP in your deepest plie for half a count on
your way up. Keep the chest up up up! In fifth position focus on pushing the
calves away from each other in demi plie. Make sure to bring the heels
together at the bottom of the grande plie in fifth as well. For cambre forward,
keep your weight on your FRONT leg, always. Same on releve. Keep the legs
STRETCHED in cambre back.
Tendus:
Fifth position, preparation, arm to seconde. Arm STAYS IN SECONDE for the
entire exercise, no dropping. Four tendus en croix. Repeat. Plie, releve cou-depied, balance arms in first.
Pointers: The Vaganova technique believes you can see all of a dancers
technique in tendus. This is true. BRUSH BRUSH BRUSH. Keep the heel on the
floor as long as you can before you point, while lifting up and out of the
standing leg. Put the heel down and PUSH the floor coming in and out. Stand on
two legs every time you close. I cannot emphasize this enough. Always engage
EVERY muscle in the standing leg while you work. This is most important.
Battement Jete (Degage to Some):
Same exercise as above, but with the leg slightly off the floor.
Pointers: The dynamic of the battement jete is sharp. FREEZE the leg low, at
~45 degrees, sometimes 40. Brush OUT, FREEZE. Brush IN. Again, put the heel
down. Use force. PUSH the
floor. Stand on two feet whenever you close.
Ronde de Jambe a Terre
Start in first position (Vaganova preparation for ronde de jambe is always from
first). Prepare brush devant fondu, arm first, carry seconde and stretch, arm
seconde. On the AND of 8 preparatory count, brush back. 8 ronde de jambes en
dehors. Brush front ELEVE, hold. Brush back ELEVE, hold. Brush front, ELEVE,
hold, lower to tendu devant. Reverse. Coda: Ronde de jambe en lair en dehors
at 45 degrees in 6 counts, close first on 7, 8. Repeat at 90 degrees. Repeat at

120+ degrees. Reverse, close to tendu derriere. 3 grande jete (en ronde) en
dehors. Reverse. Plie, releve passe, balance, arms first.
NOTE: Grande jete in Vaganova technique is where the leg starts in a very low
attitude devant, maybe 2 off the floor. The leg swings to ecarte line at the
apex, then through seconde, coming down to tendu derriere (en dehors)
(reverse for en dedans).
Pointers: Always brush THROUGH first position in ronde de jambe . So that
someone can take a photo of a perfect first in the middle of any. Hold the arm
in seconde strongly for all the rondes. Focus most importantly on TURNOUT
throughout the exercise. Heels should always be rotated under/forward at
every point. Push the rotation and squeeze your butt!
Petit Battement/Frappe
Fifth position, prepare tendu seconde, wrap to cou de pied. Petit battement
slowly, out, in, out, in, pausing at the out and in, for 8 counts. Quick petit
battement for 8 counts. Two frappes en croix. Repeat en releve. Coda: Double
frappe en releve to fondu efface. Double frappe en releve to fondu tendu
derriere croise. Repeat. Plie, passe releve, plie, pirouette, stay up on releve, go
directly to attitude devant. Balance. When ready, extend to allonge en fondu,
close fifth.
Pointers: HIT YOURSELF. I yell at my students that I want to hear every smack
against the calf in petit battement and frappe. Use force. For petit battement,
the lower leg NEVER passes a straight line with the knee. So do not over
straighten the leg on the out. On frappe, focus most on bringing the knee
back. Push it back whenever the foot returns.
Adagio
Fifth position, prepare by plie on 6, releve 7, 8. Fondu releve 45 degrees en
croix, in 2 SLOW counts each way. Repeat at 90 degrees. Repeat at 120+
degrees. Grande fondu releve devant with slight epaulement leaning back, arm
high fifth. Hold one, two. Faille to fondu arabesque. Hold one count. Plie deeper,
fouette to devant on the other side (working leg remains the same). Plie fondu
leg devant, raise the leg on fondu. Close leg to sous sus, half turn. Develope a
la seconde, ecarte derriere, balance.
Pointers: With fondu, BOTH legs bend and straighten at the exact same time.
Never let one leg bend or straighten at a different rate than the other, or you
break the illusion of melting. With releves, let the working leg lift you up. Do
not ever lean back too far with the leg high devant (unless specifically in
epaulement). Keep the leg inside the hip, not letting it pull away. For faille,
there is a slight breath of the body and lift of the leg before the fall into fondu
arabesque. The fall is large and immediately transfers the weight and the fondu
arabesque is assumed immediately. Very sharp. Whenever performing fondu
with the leg remaining en lair, remember that the working leg goes HIGHER on
fondu, and always ALWAYS push the heel forward on the standing leg when
fondu-ing it.
Grande Battement
Fifth position, prepare, arm seconde for entire exercise. Four grande
battements en croix. Two quick counts each or one slow count each. Plie, passe
releve, fouette en dehors, hold passe. Repeat 4x. Hold passe releve, battu to

derriere passe, raise to attitude derriere, balance. When ready, fondu to

arabesque with allonge.
Pointers: Grande battement is JUST like battement jete as earlier. BIG BRUSH.
Push the floor very hard. Swing the leg very hard. Keep the rest of the body still
and rooted and drilled into the floor. This opposition helps the leg go higher
with less effort. Never let the body sway and move and fold. Let the working
leg swing, not the rest.
I will hopefully write center soon! Im too tired tonight. :( Questions and
feedback ALWAYS welcome. Hope this helps!

Stretch Day
Every day I warm up (100 crunches) and then stretch. I spend 5 minutes in
each oversplit. I then do some back stretches, like a cobra, bridge, cambre, etc.
I follow it up by stretching my hamstrings by doing pied a la main on the floor,
lying down. Then stretch my hips with a frog and butterfly and spend some
time there. Then I do some serious achilles stretching by hanging my heels off
a step and slowly lowering, then doing the same one foot at a time. Ill finish
with 16 releves with my heels off the step, then 16 on each foot as well. :)
Strengthen Day
For strengthening, I start the same, with 100 crunches to warm up and quick
stretching. Then I use a 5-7lb. ankle weight on my working leg. I do 8 fondu en
croix. Then I do 8 developes en croix. Then I do 8 releves on that leg, with the
heel hanging off the stair. Then finally, 8 jumps on one foot. Then do the same
thing on the other leg. Then sit in a pike position on the floor and do 100 flexpoint with each foot on my theraband, then 30 sickles and 30 wings against the
theraband. Then I lose the theraband and sit VERY straight in pike on the floor,
fingertips only touching the floor. I stretch my knees so my heels are slightly off
the ground. I flex/point, turn in, turn out, 32 times, without letting my heels
touch the floor. This is a great exercise for strengthening the legs. I then do
dying swan/swan arms, at LEAST 100 repetitions without a break, to strengthen
my back and port de bras. Finally, I finish with 16 jumps in first. :)