flexibilty in ballet

[tutucute22]

how flexible should a young ballet dancer be aiming for?

in ballet is there such a thing as too flexible ?

are vocational schools( especially ballet schools) very focused on flexibility ?

 

sorry for lots of questions :-)

[drdance]

I would say there is no such thing as too flexible AS LONG AS the dancer has strength to control it. Ballet schools require a certain degree of flexibility at the hip, ankle and lower spinal joints but things like not being able to do 'splits' can be overlooked if a dancer has the right joint range of motion (different from muscle length, which can be worked on later).

 

The looser a dancer is, the more trouble they have controlling it (usually) so will need to do a lot of strength training.