How we should breathe in ballet class

Breathing and engaging the core are two inseparable things.

Imagine this:

You are at the barre, doing a combination, and you feel your muscles tightening up while your brain goes foggy.

You realize that you’re holding your breath.

And you hear your teacher…

“Breathe!”

So you take a big breath to satisfy their command.

Then go right back to holding your breath and struggling again.

So many of us, even as professionals, have gotten that correction, “Breathe!”

So why is such a simple action so hard? Let’s dig into this a bit.

It’s me, the diaphragm!

You probably know about this muscle. But have you really tried to understand it? Let’s do an overview:

You have a ribcage, inside are your lungs, and at the bottom of your ribcage is the diaphragm.

The whole rib cage is a vacuum chamber, and when your lungs inflate and deflate, your diaphragm goes up and down. Just like this cool video:

How should we breathe in ballet class?

The diaphragm is not just any muscle—it’s part of your core. If you haven’t read the post about unlocking your core and its importance in ballet, you should now.

That means that like any muscle, it can get tight, and you might need to stretch it.

Also, it might need to be trained, so that it can help you have stronger core.

Basically, understanding how to use this muscle is a fundamental step to becoming a stronger dancer.

There’s an important exercise you can do for your diaphragm.

But first, let’s talk about how to use breathing as a tool to make you an awesome dancer.

Breathing is obviously important

If you’re human, you need to breathe. Sounds obvious, but there’s a lot more to breathing than you think.

• Navy Seals have a breathing technique called “box breathing” to keep calm. They do this when they are stressed or they know they are going into a stressful situation. For dancers it is similarly helpful to breathe intentionally before performances, auditions, or even before combinations in a class

  

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• Lactic acid can build up in your muscles and make you tired when you work out. It requires oxygen to break it down. When you breathe, your blood carries oxygen to every part of your body. So, when you don’t breathe your muscles get tired and tight.

Then how should we breathe?

There isn’t specifically the “right way” to breathe, but there is a way that will benefit you for the goal of dancing better.

The diaphragm is directly related to the abs. When used together they can stabilize the spine better than just using abs alone.

On the flip side, if you can’t coordinate the two parts of your core, you’ll feel wobbly and restricted in the joints such as your hips or shoulders.

Important: Breathing and engaging the core are two inseparable things.

Breathing must connect with abs, and breathing cannot work against abs.

And when they complement each other, it can set you up for successful pirouettes, jumps, or a pose.

How to stretch your diaphragm. Try this:

Your diaphragm can get tight. Let’s stretch it.

Here is one very simple exercise you can do anywhere:

Important tips before you start:

• We are going to breathe into the lowest front, side, and back ribs. Your entire ribcage will expand like an umbrella opening up.

• When you breathe in, the diaphragm will push your guts down causing your stomach to go out.

• You will always use your ab muscles to push your guts back up towards the diaphragm, causing you to breathe out.

• Shoulders will stay down, so try to focus only on the bottom part of your ribs and belly area.

• You can do this exercise sitting, standing, or laying down!

Here we go!

1. Breathe in all the way from your nose, then take one extra inhale at the end. Hold for 10 seconds.

   1. While holding your breath, you may even feel a passive stretching of the muscles between your ribs. Great!

2. Breathe out completely from your mouth into your abs. Your abs will push your guts up to the diaphragm. At the end, hold for 5 seconds.

3. Reset and repeat few times.

4. Do this everyday for maximum result.

Now you understand that breathing is a part of the movement and the dance. It is not something you do when dancing gets hard.

So remember, breathe into your abs to engage them. Use that engagement to move into your starting position. And now you are really ready to start class.

Stay tuned for next week: Your diaphragm deserves a part II because we will train it next with a unique tool. And I’ll give you tips of how exactly to approach certain ballet steps while coordinating your breathing. Yes, there is a correct way to approach tendus with your breath.

So take a deep breath, using the diaphragm correctly is going to seriously change your dancing.