Ballet Steps and Positions

As a viewer, you must have got amazed by a ballerina's awesome ability to glide across a stage effortlessly. Well, such an expertise comes only with hard work and long-term practice. Ballet dance is one of the disciplined dance forms that requires its performers to be highly dedicated and trained. If you too wish to explore your dancing talent and learn ballet dance, you need to start with its basics, not only the ballet steps and moves but also ballet steps terminology. The knowledge of ballet steps names and their meaning will help you in learning advanced forms of ballet. The present article tells you about five basic beginner ballet steps and positions. Do try to perform them after going through the given account. Read on ballet positions and movements.

Ballet Steps and Positions for Beginners
There are basically five ballet dance steps and positions. Each step has a foot position and a corresponding arm position. There can be slight difference in all the five positions taught by different dance schools. The difference generally lies in ballet steps for kids and adults. For an example, kids hold their arms low in the first position while adults hold them high. Both the ballet positions are considered correct by experts. In all ballet steps and positions, you are supposed to keep your shoulders down and do not allow your elbows to sag. Let's learn how to perform the five basic ballet dance moves.

Ballet Dance Step 1
Stand erect on your feet. Move the feet to their sides such that the toes point outwards. The goal is to make a straight angle with both the feet pointing outwards. Try to come in this posture by moving your legs right from the hips. Do not only bend the knees and ankles. It is very important that you don't force yourself to form the given posture. Instead, work at it to come in such a posture comfortably. Regular and proper practice is the key to learning ballet dance well. In this first position of ballet dance, you can hold your arms either touching each other in front of your chest or raise them overhead in a rounded position. Both the postures are comfortable and look graceful. The choice is absolutely yours.

Ballet Dance Step 2
In the second ballet position in the list of ballet dance steps, you are supposed to move your feet away from each other. The purpose here is not to disturb their positioning but increase the distance between the ankles. Make sure that the ankle distance is comfortable enough for you to balance your body. Move your arms (from whichever position you have kept in) and extend them to the sides. This is one of the easy ballet dance steps that contributes to the flow and grace of a ballerina.

Ballet Dance Step 3
As you move from second to third basic ballet step, move your left feet slightly behind, without disturbing the balance of your body. Bring your right arm overhead. Bend the arm at the elbow, such that it appears a bit rounded in shape. You can use either of the legs and corresponding arm to form the third position of ballet dance.

Ballet Dance Step 4
To perform the fourth position, take the left foot (or right foot, if it was moved to perform the third position) in front. This movement will create a gap between your two feet. Perform this step of creating a gap between the feet slowly, such that you do not disturb your balance. The arm that was left undone and extended outward in the third position to the front of your chest. Bend it at the elbow, such that it makes a 45 degree angle.

Ballet Dance Step 5
In the fifth position of ballet dancing, you will have to again bring your feet and arms together. Move the front foot in the fourth step back to the back foot. Try to make two parallel lines with your feet. If your left foot is in front, your left heel should be in front of the right toes and your right heel at the back of your left toes. This particular foot position is little difficult to get in. It is often considered to be one of the difficult ballet steps for beginners. Therefore, you need to do it carefully and do not strain or injure yourself. Bring both the arms over your head. Make sure that your arms are close to each other and are nicely rounded. Also, keep your shoulders down.

Whether you want to just learn or be an expert in ballet, the information given in present article on ballet steps and positions will surely prove to be of great help. Watching live performances as well as videos of famous ballerinas they too can be great sources of learning ballet.