Improving Your First Position Arms

First position is one of the most basic positions in ballet and other dance styles, yet it is not uncommon for dancers to forget proper technique while performing this position. It is critical to ensure that you are using the right technique because it is one of the most important and basic positions that is used for many great dance moves. Some don't have appropriate technique because they aren't taught the anatomy of their bodies while learning to dance. When taught which muscles to engage in the body, many can immediately improve their first position, which will lead to many benefits in their dancing like improvement on pirouettes and other essentials.

Posture

One of the most important elements in a perfect first position is posture. By engaging your core and shoulders, it will greatly improve the alignment, straightness and length in your spine.

Back

     

Try focusing on the deltoids by imagining that there is a string attached to each one and someone is pulling them down, this will engage your shoulders which will help to straighten your back. Engaging the core muscles is extremely important as well. Many believe that the core muscles are only in the stomach, however, they reside in the back and pelvis as well. It is important to engage all of your core.

Abdominals

To check if your back is straight, put your arms on your stomach and back and make sure that you aren't sulking or leaning back.

Arms:

Besides posture, it is important to make sure that you have the correct arms while in first position to make sure that your arms maintain the gracefulness of a dancer. Your arms should be slightly bent at the elbows to create a round appearance, and they should be held out in front of your body at the level of your belly button or waist, depending on what your teacher prefers.

Try imagining that there is a beach ball or pizza in your arms, it may seem silly, but it will help to create the right shape and distance between your hands. Some dancers have the tendency to accidentally keep their hands too close together or too far away during first position. Your hands should be a few inches apart.

It is important for dancers to sometimes return back to the basics to ensure that they are using proper technique and perfect all their positions as much as possible. I hope this post helped someone improve their first position, thank you for reading and feel free to follow my blog for more content. And if you have any requests for future technique posts or anything else, feel free to email me by using the "Ask Me Anything" section on the side bar.