Heel Stretches to Warm Up for Modern Dance

Video Transcript

"Hi there! My name is Connie Hale. Thanks for joining me here at expertvillage.com. Today we are working on some beginner lyrical or modern dance moves. What we are working on right now is extensions or isolations. We are going to move on to what we call a heel stretch and it's just like it sounds like. You grab the heel and we stretch it up. We start off by simply lifting in the front, get your balance on your supporting foot, really spread those toes out to grip the floor. Now I've found my toes and grip onto the floor, grip with your whole foot. Already, we are going to lift the foot up and we are grabbing a foot on the inside of the heel and bending down and we are going to lift the body up. Foot comes up with us, straight and up. Let's face to the sides so you can see the positioning of my body. Grabbing the toes, gripping the floor with the full foot, stomach is tight and get your balance. Maintain your balance here first. Bring it forward, lift it up using your whole body being pulled up, straight up. As your heel stretch, you can it as further as well. You can bring it up after you get your balance, up to the ceiling, and you can take it with a bend forward, thrusting your hip out to the back. Bring it up and back. Let's look at that from the side. I'm going to face this way for you. Get your balance, heel stretch up, get your balance here, we tip at front, leaning forward and up. One more step, take it a it bit further, bring it up, get your balance, lift it, we tip it forward, hold it there and squeeze the legs. Bring your hands into meet and then bring it in and down. That could be a simple step that you could work on. All right, thanks for learning a heel stretch. "