Share-It Saturday: Basic Ballet Positions

Reblogged from Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre

I recently started writing the Kingston Academy, which is based at a performing arts academy. Book 2 has two MC’s who are dancers, so I did a lot of research about ballet, hip hop, and dance positions, names, techniques, and routines. I watched a lot of YouTube videos, dance practices, and read a lot of theory about dance, and thought I’d share the resources I found.

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Basic Ballet Positions

Positions of the Feet

In ballet, there are five basic positions of the feet, numbered one through five.  Each of the positions utilizes turn-out, or a 90-degree rotation of the leg from the hip joint. Refer to the pictures below and match your feet to each of them to the best of your ability. Remember: Dancers work many years to achieve a full 90-degree turn-out!

Wait…where’s Third Position? Third position is rarely used anymore because with the high degree of turnout of today’s dancers, it looks too similar to Fifth Position.

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