Top Relevé Exercise For Dancers | Higher And Stronger Relevé
Are you looking for a top relevé exercise for dancers that give you a higher and stronger relevé? Do you want to learn how to ensure that you have the strongest and most stable ankles and feet? I will show you a great HPA relevé exercise and teach you why your postural alignment is so important in ensuring strong, flexible, and stable ankles!
Top Relevé Exercise For Dancers
This relevé exercise you will discover below is a secret weapon for dancers. You dance your best when your body is aligned and the correct muscles are awake and ready to go. This exercise does just that!
The 3 Position Relevé Exercise
If you’re at all like me, you probably also have a collection of TheraBands, lacrosse balls, tennis balls, and other physical therapy toys scattered around waiting to be tripped over so that you can increase the strength and height of your relevé.
But, a million regular relevés at the barre or tons of TheraBand exercises don’t compare to this fast, easy (but tiring!), and effective relevé exercise. By following the instructions for the 3 Position Relevés, you will gain these benefits:
- Prepare your body for wearing heels
- strengthen and align your ankles
- increase your demi pointe
- allow for softer and safer landing from jumps
- Decrease chance of injury
- strengthen your feet and arches
What Sets This Relevé Exercise For Dancers Apart?
These 3 Position Relevés are different than other relevé exercises for dancers because they are actively aligning your entire body, while strengthening and mobilizing your feet and ankles.
In order to gain the maximum amount of strength and flexibility in your feet and ankles, you need the correct muscles firing while you dance. Essentially, correct alignment allows your body to access the correct muscles. This grants you access to the most strength and flexibility in your ankles and feet. In fact, this correct alignment doesn’t just grant you strength, but also a protection against pain and injury.
The 3 Position Relevés aligns your entire body while strengthening your legs, ankles, and feet. Hallelujah to all who love a good multitask!!
Correct Joint Alignment For A Higher And Stronger Relevé
In order to dance gain a higher and stronger relevé, the body has an inherent need to have properly aligned joints.
Out-of-alignment joints require your body to improvise (not the good kind). These compensations require your body to operate in ways that cause pain, damage, and injury to the joints, ligaments, muscles, and tendons. Additionally, compensations hinder you from being able to work and strengthen the muscles needed to gain a higher and stronger demi point.
You know how when you buy something that comes with a warranty, it comes with a list of things that cause the warranty to be void if you do them? Basically they are saying, “if you use this item outside of the way it was designed, it will not work as intended.”
TAKE BACK CONTROL OF YOUR RECOVERY
Ever feel like you your body is breaking down and you can't keep up?
Our Recover For Dancers resource gives you 3 fast and effective exercises to help you recovery quickly. Less time recovering means more time dancing!
What Is Correct Joint Alignment For Dancers?
In order to have a high and strong relevé, all of your joints need to be at right angles. This is the way the human body was designed and what it means to be ‘properly aligned’.
Dancing with your 8 main joints (shoulders, hips, knees, and ankles) cause us to dance in a way that ‘voids the warranty’ on our bodies. Contrary to popular belief, dance and being a dancer itself is not the cause of limitations in your strength and flexibility and injuries , but rather, it’s your body being out of alignment that causes the trouble!
Here is my wooden friend to help give a visual example of what it looks like when the joints are properly aligned and making right angles. Each blue dot represents a joint (except the ear in the side photo). Notice how each intersecting purple line makes a right angle!
Proper alignment from the front: the feet are facing parallel, the knees are over the ankles, the hips are over the knees, and the shoulder are over the hips (some people have wider shoulders, so they not fall directly over the hips).
Proper alignment from the side: the knee is right above the ankle, the hip is right above the knee, the shoulder is right over the hip, and the ear is directly over the shoulder.
Proper Alignment Self-Test
Try this! Walk up to a full-body mirror and relax (don’t change anything!) Let your abdominals relax and disengage your glutes.
What do you see? Are both shoulders level? How about your hips? Are your feet perfectly parallel with your knees directly over your toes?
If not, you have a misalignment (or two) that is affecting your ability to fully strengthen your feet and ankles. After all, the entire body is connected and works together as a team!
How To Perform The 3 Position Relevé Exercise
There are two ways to perform this exercise. The first way is with your back up against the wall. The second way is by holding onto a door jam or a non-elastic band tied to something in front of you at chest height.
The secret to why this exercise is a top choice among dancers is because you perform the relevés with your weight over your heels. Doing relevés with your weight over your heels (instead of the balls of your feet) engages deep postural muscles and cause you to do the exercise with your body completely aligned.
Relevés sideways to the barre, and in the center, require you to shift your weight forward to get onto demi-point. While the forward weight shift is necessary (when not holding onto something in front of you) you are prevented from stacking your joints directly on top of one another.
TAKE BACK CONTROL OF YOUR RECOVERY
Ever feel like you your body is breaking down and you can't keep up?
Our Recover For Dancers resource gives you 3 fast and effective exercises to help you recovery quickly. Less time recovering means more time dancing!
3 Position Relevés—Wall
Doing this exercise against a wall is great if you don’t have a lot of space, an easily accessible door jam, or non-elastic strap.
The wall also benefits you by making sure you are 100 percent aligned with perfect posture while performing the exercise. By pinning your heels, butt, shoulders, and head against the wall, you guarantee that you are strengthening and mobilizing your ankles and feet in the best possible, anatomically correct position. It also forces your body to move, stack, and carry your weight in your joints correctly. This will help you get a higher and stronger relevé because your are mobilizing your ankle joints exactly how they are designed to move—directly underneath your hips!
Instructions To Perform 3 Position Relevés—Wall
ONE: Feet Parallel: 10 reps
TWO: Feet turned out 45˚: 10 reps
THREE: Feet turned pigeon toed: 10 reps
1. Stand with your back up against a wall, making sure your heels, butt, shoulders, and head are touching the wall.
2. Exhale and feel your ribs close and drop. While keep them down, squeeze between your shoulder blades slightly to pull your shoulders back against the wall. Do not let your shoulders rise.
3. While holding your ribs down and shoulders against the wall, try to neutralize your lower back by slightly tucking your pelvis under (but not flattening your lower back to the wall).
4. While keeping this aligned, stacked position, begin your relevés by smoothly pressing into the floor. You should feel like if you let go of what you’re holding onto you will fall backwards—that is correct.
Do 3 sets of 10 relvés in each position for a total of 90 relevés. (Yes, you can take breaks between sets!)
*Note: this is a lot harder than it may look to keep everything neutral and touching the wall! Do the best you can.
3 Position Relvés—Center
Doing this exercise in a door jam or with a non-elastic strap ads an element of balance to the exercise. Performing the exercise in the center demands more awareness and attention to where the weight is being held in your feet and body.
In the center you must be more diligent in making sure your hips do not thrust forward. See the example photo below how her hips are directly over her ankles.
Instructions To Perform 3 Position Relevés—Wall
ONE: Feet parallel: 10 reps
TWO: Feet turned out 45 degrees: 10 reps
THREE: Feet turned in pigeon toed: 10 reps
1. Grab onto something chest level (like a door jam) or tie a non-elastic band to something in front of you at chest height.
2. While holding on, look down at your feet until you can see your ankles. As you look down, your hips will shift back–this is where you want to stack your body!
3. Stack hips over your ankles, your shoulders over your hips, and your head over your shoulders. Your weight should be in your heels.
4. Drop your ribs and slightly engage the muscles between your shoulder blades. Relax your glutes, abdominals, and anywhere else you might be gripping.
5. While keeping this aligned, stacked position, begin your relevés by smoothly pressing into the floor. You should feel like if you let go of what you’re holding onto you will fall backwards—that is correct.
*Make sure your hips don’t bail forward. Keep everything stacked over your heels the entire time.
Do three sets of 10 relevés in each position. (90 relevés total)
3 Position Relevés Build Higher And Stronger Relevés For Dancers
Alignment of your joints (through the function of your musculoskeletal system which includes: muscles, nerves, and bones) is what allows your body to strengthen, stretch, and prevent injury.
I hope you now understand how the alignment of your entire body directly affects your ability to have the highest and strongest ankles and feet you can have!
This HPA Exercise is a favorite among my dancers in the HPA Program for it’s ability to increase their demi point while aligning their entire body and preparing them to dance at their best.
I can’t wait for you to try it!
5,6,7,8!
