How Should Your Hands Be in Ballet?

Ballet

Learning proper hand placement in ballet is an important part of mastering the art of ballet. When done correctly, the arms and hands can help create a strong line in your dancing and add to the overall beauty of your movements. It is important to understand how to properly place your hands for various steps and poses, so that you can look professional and graceful on stage.

Ballet Positions
The placement of the hands in ballet is often relative to the particular position that you are in. For example, when standing in first position (or a demi-plié), your arms are usually positioned at your sides with your palms facing down. Your fingers should be slightly curved and relaxed, and you should have a small amount of tension in your wrists while maintaining the length in your arms.

When doing a tendu or arabesque, you will often hold your arm outstretched with the palm facing down towards the floor. During these movements, it is important to keep a relaxed grip with the fingers curved and slightly parted. Your thumb should be slightly bent as well so that there is no tension in the wrist or hand.

Pointe Work
When doing pointe work, it is essential to maintain proper hand placement for safety reasons as well as aesthetic reasons. When en pointe, it is important to keep the arms extended away from the body with palms facing downwards towards the floor.

The fingers should be slightly curved and spread apart from each other to avoid any strain on any one finger or joint. Additionally, it is important to keep a slight bend at the wrists so that there is no tension throughout this area either.

Relevé
In relevé (transitioning onto pointe), you will usually take one arm up while keeping it straight but still relaxed with your palm facing away from you and up towards the ceiling. You may also see dancers take both arms up during relevés but this varies greatly depending on choreography or technique used by each individual dancer.

Conclusion

Proper hand placement in ballet helps create beautiful lines throughout all movements and positions while also helping prevent injury when executing steps such as pointe work or relevé. To ensure graceful movement on stage, it is essential for dancers to understand how their hands should be placed during different steps and poses throughout ballet class or rehearsal.