The Steps to Improvement

Improving as a dancer takes time, hard work, and patience. If you are part of a studio, or taking a class at school, you need to put in work outside of class consistently. Some things you can do:

1. Stretch! Stretching is extremely important in dance, and in any sport and or physical activity. Every dancer needs to be warmed up before starting to dance. Stretching improves flexibility, helps your joints move through their full range of motion, enables your muscles to work effectively, and increases blood flow to the muscle. Make sure to stretch for at least 20 minutes everyday.

-Some great stretches include: lunges, pigeon position, splits (even if you cannot get them all the way down just yet, just hold them at the point in which you can get them, and you will see improvement over time), another great stretch is where you are in a lunge position, except both knees are on the ground, bend the back leg and reach with your opposite arm and pull your foot closer to your back. Also, you want to really stretch those hips, hip flexibility will help tremendously in dance, from the splits, to improving leg lifts and extensions, and turns. And make sure to stretch your back and shoulders, as flexibility in your back and shoulders is a big part in dance, this will help attitude turns, acrobatic tricks, extensions,  your arabesque, and more.

2. Strength! Aside from being flexible, being strong is a main factor of dance. Strengthening your core is something that a dancer hears everyday "Tighten your core!" "Use those abs!" that's because having a strong core helps a dancer find their centre which improves turns and control in your movements. Of course, strengthening your legs, and arms are just as crucial as your core, so make sure to add in all elements of exercise to work on these areas. Simple crunches can help with core, as well as reverse crunches,  sit-ups, holding a plank, push-ups, bicycle crunches, jack-knives, and many more.

Here are some great videos to help with core strength!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M79QHvZaEHw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7TrFrKbEYNE

This is only the beginning of improvement, everyone has to start somewhere. Stretching and strengthening is a part of every dancers daily routine, and it will never not be required for a dancer, to continue stretching and getting stronger.