Video:Learn the Five Classical Ballet Positions

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Transcript:Learn the Five Classical Ballet Positions

Hello everyone. My name is Luis Domingues. I am the artistic director for Lexington Ballet here in Lexington Kentucky, for About.com. Today we are going to show you the five basic positions in classical ballet.

Ballet Position One

Helping us demonstrate the positions of the classical vocabulary is Rose Rita. Rose will you please take the first position. A rotation of the hip-sockets outside, note that her arms are in front of her sternum, the knees are out and straight, hip rotation is outside from the hip-sockets.

Ballet Position Two

Then from first position, Rose takes second position. Note that the arms are straight to the side and the elbows are held up. The elbow is the highest point, if there was a drop of water it would fall from the elbow down to the hand. Her heels gently reach to the floor - all the toes are touching the ground.

Ballet Position Three

From second position Rose is going to take third position, one foot in front of the other with the other foot slightly showing. Note that the knees are absolutely straight - all the toes are touching the ground.

Ballet Position Four

From there she goes to fourth position. Note that the toes are facing outside, the rotation is very important.

Ballet Position Five

Finally she is going to take fifth position. Both legs are turned out, and there are no toes showing in the back. The shoulders are down, the arms crowning her head and framing her face. And these are the five basic positions in the classical vocabulary.

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