How to Do the Releve in Neoclassical Ballet

During a neoclassical ballet dance performance, you will see just about every ballet movement performed to technical perfection. You probably don't realize that you see the "releve" movement being performed over and over again. The "releve" is a basic step taught to even the tiniest of ballet dancers.

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Ballet slippers or pointe shoes

1. Wear the proper ballet dance shoes or slippers to practice and perform the releve. A beginning ballet student will wear a flat soft-soled ballet slipper, while a more experienced ballerina will wear stiff pointe shoes that have a hard shank.

2. Stand in first position to prepare to do a releve. First position will be standing tall with your heels touching. The toes will be pointing out to the side. The perfect first position will have the toes turned so that the feet form a straight line. A beginner ballet student will be ok with just turning out their toes. Your arms are down in front.

3. Elevate your body up by standing on the balls of your feet at the same time. Pull your arms to a circle at waist level while you lift up on the balls of your feet. You go up and then back down. That is one releve.

4. Challenge yourself a bit more with a releve by starting your releve in fifth position. Fifth position will be where one foot is directly in front of the other foot. Your right toe will be pulled closely to touch your left heel and the left toe will be pulled closely to touch the right heel.

5. Repeat Step 3 from your starting point in fifth position. You do the same movement to elevate your body by standing on the balls of your feet at the same time. The arms are a bit different as in fifth position the arms should go up to circle over the head. Again, you go up on the balls of your feet and then back down to the floor.

6. Practice is required to be able to do a releve on pointe. This takes a bit more effort as you go from the flat floor to pop up on your toes on one count and back down on the second count. You must have strong legs, ankles and toes to perform a releve on pointe.

Tips & Warnings

• Do not attempt to do releves on pointe unless you have been trained to do so. You could cause injuries to your feet and ankles by doing this "en pointe."