Plié: The Ballet Foundation Dancers Often Get Wrong

We, as a ballet technique leotards brand, know better than anyone that ballet is all about beauty. Everything in it is expected to be beautiful: body lines, movements, expression, music, apparel, and even training itself.

But today, we’re here to say something that might surprise you: A plié doesn’t need to be beautiful. In fact, it shouldn’t be beautiful because it serves a very specific purpose—one that, unfortunately, seems to be forgotten or misunderstood, even in best dance schools.

The Pretty Plié Problem

We truly appreciate the effort ballet dancers put into making their pliés look beautiful. Sometimes, it feels like their plié exercises at the barre could be a piece of choreography themselves. But as a brand whose mission is to promote ballet technique and keep dancers safe, strong, and healthy, we’ll show our appreciation by saying something that might feel uncomfortable—especially if you’ve been doing ballet your whole life.

A plié doesn’t need to be beautiful. In fact, it must not be beautiful because its purpose is to make your body (especially your core) strong and improve your turnout. And no, this doesn’t mean improving your hip flexibility! Quite the opposite. The goal of a plié is to make your core and glutes steel-strong.

What is “Plié-ish” in Ballet?

A plié is a fundamental, one of the most important movements in ballet. The word “plié” comes from French and means “bent” or “bending.”

According to the standard definition, a plié is “the bending of the knees while keeping the back straight and the feet turned out.” Pliés are used in almost every ballet movement because they help dancers move smoothly, jump higher, and land safely.

Practicing pliés helps dancers develop strength, balance, and flexibility. During a plié, the heels stay on the ground as long as possible to maintain control and alignment. This movement also protects the knees and ankles from injury by absorbing shock when landing from jumps. Pliés are often done at the beginning of a ballet class at the barre to warm-up the legs and prepare for more complex movements.

What is Real Plié in Ballet?

While the definition above is mostly true, some details are dangerously incorrect. Let’s break them down.

1. “It refers to the bending of the knees while keeping the back straight and the feet turned out.”
   This is one of the biggest and most dangerous misunderstandings of pliés and turnout in general. Turnout comes from your hips and glutes, not your feet. The definition should be: “bending of the knees while keeping the back straight and the legs turned out“—with a large asterisk to emphasize that turnout originates in the hips.
   
2. “Pliés are used in almost every ballet step because they help dancers move smoothly, jump higher, and land safely.”
   The word “help” is accurate, but it’s not the full story. Yes, pliés can help you move smoothly, jump higher, and land safely—but only after you learn what a plié truly is and how to perform it correctly to serve its main purpose.
   
3. “Practicing pliés helps dancers develop strength, balance, and flexibility.”
   This definition is missing critical details. Here’s ours: “Practicing pliés helps dancers develop strength, balance stability, and flexibility turnout .”

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Why is a Plié is so Important?

To put it simply: A plié is the first and most fundamental ballet exercise. It’s designed to warm you up, strengthen your core, and improve your turnout. That’s its purpose.

Common Plié Mistakes

Now that we’ve established what a plié is in theory, let’s talk about the most frequent errors—mistakes that can ruin your career and give you knee pain.

1. “It refers to the bending of the knees while keeping the back straight and the feet turned out.”
   This is the most common and dangerous mistake. Turnout starts in your hips, not your feet. Anatomically, your hips are the only place where your legs can fully rotate. Sure, you can turn out your feet a little, twist your knees, and achieve a position that looks like a 180-degree turnout. But as soon as your leg leaves the ground, that turnout will disappear. Why? Because the part that connects your leg to your body is in your hips. If you haven’t developed proper turnout strength in your hips, there’s no way your leg will stay turned out once it’s off the ground.
   
2. “Practicing pliés helps dancers develop strength, balance, and flexibility..”
   Here’s something controversial: There’s no place in ballet for “balance.” Balance suggests something that can be lost or shifted. We prefer to replace “balance” with stability because stability is constant and results from strength. Let’s visualize this:
   
   
   • If you put a camera on a perfectly balanced tripod, it will stay still. But remove one leg or push it slightly, and the tripod will lose balance and fall. That’s “balance”—a temporary state.
   
   
   • Now, place that camera on a big rock. Unless you use a tremendous amount of force, the camera won’t move. That’s stability—a permanent characteristic.
   
   You want to develop stability, not balance. And a plié is designed to build that stability.
   
3. “Flexibility” as a goal.
   No, a plié is not a stretching exercise. It’s a muscle-building exercise. By doing a plié correctly, you’ll build extreme strength in your glutes and core—not flexibility.

Going for Grand Plié

In general, we’re not big advocates of grand pliés in positions other than second. As soon as your heels leave the ground, the exercise loses its purpose. But we’ll discuss this in another blog post.

Demi Plié Technique

This is the most critical part of this blog post, and we’ll explain it as simply as possible. For beginner / intermediate ballet students (or advanced dancers who need to relearn), we recommend doing pliés with two hands on the barre. This removes asymmetry and discomfort, allowing you to focus on building strength and proper posture.

Preparation:

1. Start by making the turnout “your” way—just as you normally do.
2. Next, rise to relevé without pushing your heels forward to fake turnout. You’ll likely notice your turnout disappears.
3. Without forcing your heels forward, return to first position. If you didn’t cheat, you’ll see your true turnout—likely far from the perfect 180 degrees you had before.

But fear not! We’re here to help you to fix it! 

Preparation:

1. Stand at the barre (ideally – following our “proper alignment” instructions from this “7 Quick Ballet Posture Fixes” checklist) and rotate your legs using the muscles under your buttocks and above your thighs*.
   
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2. Push your heels slightly forward (not to 180 degrees!) to stimulate the turnout-building process.
3. Press your heels firmly into the floor to straighten your legs fully. You should feel all your leg muscles engage.
4. Add an outward rotation using your inner thighs to turn your knees out as much as possible.

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Plié exercise:

Your goal is to keep your legs straight while bending your knees. This creates tension between two opposing forces: your outer thigh muscles trying to bend the knee and your inner thigh muscles trying to keep the leg straight.

If done correctly, you’ll feel an incredible effort in your glutes and legs. That’s how a plié should feel – difficult and exhausting. Over time, you’ll get stronger, your turnout will improve, but the effort will remain – and that’s the feeling you want to have.

Just like with stretching – once you stop feeling even the slightes pain – you are no longer stretching.

Why is This Plié Different?

You’re right to question everything we’re saying because this might be the first time you’ve heard about this “new” (in fact, very old) version of the plié. What makes this plié a game-changer is that it respects human anatomy.

Your knee is designed to bend only one way. If you look at any sport or human activity, they’re all based on one fundamental movement the knee can do: bend in one direction. Your knee doesn’t bend sideways, at an angle, or forward. It only bends one way.

The same goes for your feet. Yes, feet are more flexible because they’re designed to absorb shock and allow us to walk on uneven surfaces. But the primary movement of the foot is pointing forward.

The plié we teach respects the laws of nature and human anatomy. It originates in the hips and glutes because that’s where rotation is anatomically possible. The hip socket allows for rotation, but everything else—your knees, ankles, and feet—must remain aligned. Twisting or forcing turnout in areas that aren’t designed for it leads to constant knee pain, twisted ankles, and long-term injuries.

This plié isn’t about achieving a picture-perfect 180-degree turnout at the expense of your body. It’s about building strength and stability where it matters—in your hips, glutes, and core. By focusing on the correct anatomical alignment, you’ll not only protect your joints but also develop the kind of strength that translates into better technique, higher jumps, and safer landings.

Next steps

We recommend three things:

1. Keep practicing pliés.
2. Ask us if you have any questions.
3. Check this blog occasionally—we’ll be updating it to make the knowledge here easier to understand and more concise.

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