How to Do a Plie | Ballet Dance

Watch more Ballet Dancing Lessons videos: howcast.com/videos/497196-How-to-Do-a-Plie-Ball…



My name is Maegan Woodin, and I'm a professional dancer, choreographer, teacher and student. I have danced for MTV, Diana Ross, Marc Jacobs and have appeared in many music videos. You can find more information about me and my career, as well as photos and videos, at www.dgtnyc.com. I'm going to be talking to you about ballet. Plie is used in all dance styles and in dance forms, and it's used as a transitional step, or a cushion for the end of a jump or the beginning of the jump to give you power and strength. So I'm going to demonstrate plie in first position. First position is when your toes are out to the side and your heels are touching. You want to make sure that when you're plieing, that your knees are going directly in the center of your foot. You don't want to have your knees go forward, or your knees as well as your tailbone going back. So you want to make sure that you're just going directly into the center of your foot. And also an important thing to remember is, try to think of plie as going straight up and down, and that you have two walls on either side of you. So when you're plieing, you don't want to go forward or go back. You want to stay in this cylinder, and you want to bend and stretch. An important thing to remember about plie is don't go to the extent of your plie. The full extent of your plie is when your heels lift off the ground. So you want to go in between the stretch and the plie in this middle section, and when you're in the middle section you'll get the most support in your legs and your abdominals and your back. And this is the best way to do plie, in the middle area.