Maine State Ballet: Proper Plié Technique

Linda Miele started to dance at age 3 in Boston. At age 11 she moved to New York City to further her studies and joined George Balanchine's School of American Ballet. By age 14, she had become the youngest member accepted by George Balanchine into the New York City Ballet Company. Mrs. Miele has performed ballet in Paris, Rome, Athens, Venice, Jerusalem, London, Dubrovnik, Tel-Aviv, Florence, Salzburg, and Montreal. Most of her performances, however, were at Lincoln Center at the New York State Theater. Having worked closely with George Balanchine, Mrs. Miele moves naturally into the area of choreography. She has been appointed a repetiteur for the Balanchine Trust, which entitles her to choreograph ballet and dance in the master style of George Balanchine. With some 30 ballets to her credit, Mrs. Miele is Maine's premiere choreographer.
@MEStateBallet
mainestateballet
/ mainestateballet

[@shari1988ta]

That's lovely. So in your opinion, no pelvis tucking under? There's so many opinions out there, and the more I read/watch the more confused I am

[@mainestateballet]

Thanks for your comment Sara. No tucking under. The ideal is shoulders, hips, knees and toes all in a line without tucking or going the other direction with a sway back or the body bending forward. For ballet dancers with natural turnout this position comes easier (see girl in black long sleeved leotard at the beginning of the video). For others it takes a while to figure out how it works on their body. There is a wonderful book called "Suki Schorer on Balanchine Technique" written by Suki Schorer that may further help in you in your studies. Hope this helps.

[@shari1988ta]

Maine State Ballet thank you very much for the advice, I'll check out the reading material as I'm very keen in getting the basics right. It'd be very helpful if correct alignment was also included in the video too :)