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The Anatomy of First Position in Ballet

Last updated on August 28, 2020 By Kira Davis MPT Leave a Comment


In ballet, first position is so much more than having your toes pointed outward. It has been said that dancing ballet is like being a duckling. A duckling glides effortlessly across a body of water, but what we don’t see is the constant work happening below the surface. If it looked hard to pull off a dance move, it would not be so mesmerizing. Today, I am going to specifically talk about the most basic of ballet positions. First position.

What a spectator sees when they look at a dancer in first position is a person standing with their legs straight and their toes in an outward direction. There is so much more to this position, and what you see is just the end result of so many other muscles working.

It all starts in the trunk with posture achieved from core strength. The common term used in ballet studios is “pull up.” This a dynamic action of lengthening the neck, engaging the shoulder blades so that they are pulled back and down, letting the anterior chest slightly rise, pulling in the lower abdominals towards the spine (imagining the look of a greyhound), relaxing the lower rib cage down, and hopefully all of this puts your lower spine in a neutral position or even a slight posterior tucked tilt.

Phew, I’m exhausted just thinking about all that work. This is normal posture for ballet dancers that is instilled in them from the start. Being pulled up is second nature. Without this foundation, it is very difficult to achieve anything else.

Now that you are already sweating from trying to pull up, try to imagine a series of spirals throughout the body. In ballet, energy force in the legs is almost always moving in a rotating fashion away from one another. The gluteal muscles are externally rotating while the inner thighs continue to work to help maintain this position.

It does not end there. Next comes the work on your calves pushing energy slightly downward to give a grounding force throughout all the toes. Lastly, the tibialis posterior and flexor digitorum muscles of the feet and ankle are working to make sure that your arches stay in a neutral position, and that gravity doesn’t make your arches cave down into a flat footed position.

Great! You’ve made it into first position. Now it’s time to dance… 5,6,7,8!

Image credit: Ballet teacher with student © HighwayStarz/Fotolia.

Filed Under: Dance, Exercise & Fitness



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About Kira Davis MPT

Kira Davis has been practicing as a licensed physical therapist (license #PT870656) in the outpatient orthopedic setting since 2006 in the metropolitan Washington, DC area. She received her Masters of Physical therapy in 2005 from Howard University and her Bachelor of Science with a concentration in the Pre-Physical Therapy program in 2003 from Howard University. She has experience addressing many types of sports injuries and is herself an avid soccer player. Trained in classical dance since the age of 3 and an active dance student, she strives to be one of the area's elite physical therapists for the dance community.

FTC Compliance Disclaimer: PhysioDC.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com; proceeds from product sales help cover the operational & maintenance costs for the site.

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DISCLAIMER: The information on this site is for Educational Purposes Only and is not designed to diagnose, treat, mitigate, prevent or cure any health conditions. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has not evaluated statements about these health topics or any suggested product compositions. Answers to questions submitted are merely the opinion of the physical therapist and should not be taken as a prescribed course of action. Any advice given by the therapist must be cleared with the treating physician involved in direct patient care. The person posing the question absolves the responder of any liability in regards to opinions given. PhysioDC insists that all patients receive approval from a prescribing physician prior to starting a structured exercise program involving any of the exercises included on this site. PhysioDC.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com; proceeds from product sales help cover the operational & maintenance costs for the site.