On your toes, girl.

Stretching. Warm ups. Drills. They're all really important if you want to become a top dancer, but which ones can help you nail those kicks'n'clicks? Here are a few of my top 5...

The Quadriceps Stretch...

 This stretches the muscle on the front of your thigh which you use to keep your knees and legs locked when dancing. Move yourself into the position the model is in with one foot behind you and one bent in front touching the knee, then slowly and carefully move yourself into a lying position. Don't worry if it really hurts the first couple of times, only go as low as you can propping yourself on your arms as necessary and ease yourself into it so as to prevent injury.

Touch Your Toes...


This stretches your calf muscles on the back of your legs, loosening them up ready to do those power moves! Whilst this girl is probably doing a more pilates or yoga-centric version of this stretch, try to keep your legs straight as she does and put your hand to the floor. The more you do this the more your flexibility will increase.

Split Stretches...

This is an assisted single leg stretch such as those ballet dancers do to improve their flexibility. Keep the leg on the floor as much as you can with the toe pointed whilst your friend pulls your other leg (also pointed) back towards your head. When it hurts too much tell her to stop and hold it for a few seconds until the pain eases, at which point you can pull it back a little further. Keep practicing this stretch regularly and soon you'll be able to do full splits, which will certainly make your kicks a lot higher, stronger and more elegant.

Squats...

Squats are are not only a great way to tone legs, thighs and bums, they're also a brilliant part of your dancing warm up. If you put them into a drill where you have to put them at the end of a block of 7s or sidesteps (think 1-2-3-4-5-6-SQUAT-1-2-3-4-5-6-SQUAT) you'll warm up your muscles really quickly by moving from lower leg to upper leg stretches quickly. Warning: these also tire you out really fast when done in this manner. But work hard to gain more!

The Butterfly Stretch...

This stretches the muscles in the groin and inner thigh increasing flexibility. Join your feet together in front of you in a butterfly shape then push your feet back as far as you can without discomfort. Try to keep your kees as close to the floor as possible and lean forward to try and rest your head on your feet. This combined with the split stretches should really help to keep your kicks high.

After using all these stretches I usually feel pretty set up for a practice sesh, and I hope these work for you too!

All photos from Google.