How do you increase the height of your extension?
I have danced for 5+ years (ballet modern and jazz) and I am not amazingly flexible but I can battement my leg to above 90. The problem is when I develope my leg I can’t get it higher then a little above 90. What should I do to increase the strength in my leg so I can hold it higher during adagio?
Tagged with: adagio • ballet • jazz
Filed under: Height Increase
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there is no way you are going to be able to hold your leg over 90 if your hamstrings are extremely loose and flexible. if your hamsting muscles are nice and stretched out and very loose (just having your splits flat isnt always enough) then it takes very little thigh muscle to lift your leg high. if you keep trying to lift your leg high and you keep tiring out your quads, your quads are going to bulk up a lot on the top of them to get your leg to stay up.
Well, continuing to practice developpes definitely helps. You want to strengthen your hamstring/back of the thigh. My extensions suck because I’ve always used my quad muscles, which actually limits the extension.
Leg lifts are always good for this. The kind where you are on all four, thighs perpendicular to the ground, and you raise your leg keeping the same angle between the shin/calf and thigh. Leg curls are also good.