Video: How to Do a Plie Ballet Position

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When learning how to do a plie, it's important to note the differences between the demi-plie and the grand-plie. Learn how to do a plie in ballet from a professional dancer in this free video on ballet.

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Video Transcript

Hi my name is Sarah Shoemaker and we're going to be talking about how to do a plie in ballet technique today. The only materials you need, just a space to practice and a ballet bar. There are two types of plie in ballet. There's what's called a demi plie and a grand plie. Plie in French is to bend and demi plie means half bend and grand plie means full bend. So I'm going to demonstrate a demi plie and a grand plie in each position. The important things to note are in demi plies your heels never disconnect from the ground so a demi plie in first position would look like this, half bend heels stay connected and recover. Grand plie, however, your heels will come off the ground because you're going to go lower in space but as you go down you are not allowed to adjust your body alignment and this is the traditional standard body alignment for ballet class where your tail bone is dropped, your tummy is tight, your shoulders are down, you have a long neck and it's like you're an elevator. This part of your body is like an elevator going straight down and straight up. Because you're going lower your heels will disconnect from the floor but to recover back out of the grand plie you're going to want to push your heels back down to recover. Grand plie in first position would look like this. Starting in demi plie, continuing down to grand plie, pushing your heels down into the ground to recover through demi plie and straight. That is essentially true in first position, fourth position and fifth position, also in third which is only commonly used in the very early stages of ballet but in second position we have one change and that is in your grand plie your heels will not disconnect from the ground. So demi plie in second would be a simple half bend and recover and in grand plie once again start with demi plie, continue down your heels will stay attached and then you recover through demi plie and recover. I won't demonstrate third position but in fourth position but in fourth position your demi plie would be half bend, heels stay down and your grand plie would start with demi, continue into grand plie, pushing your heels back into demi plie to recover and finally in fifth position demi plie, half and grand plie, all the way down, body stays fully erect recovering through demi plie and finish and that is how you would do demi plie and grand plie in each of the ballet positions.

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How to Do a Plie Ballet Position

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