Ballet Technique Workout: Is Pilates the Right Exercise for a Dancer?

Let’s address something that’s creating confusion in the dance world: the role of Pilates in ballet training.

While many dancers (especially adults) turn to Pilates hoping to improve their technique, the reality isn’t as straightforward as social media might suggest. Before you invest time and money in Pilates classes, let’s understand what your body really needs for ballet.

Core Strength: The Ballet Way vs. The Pilates Way

In ballet, core strength isn’t just about having strong abs. It’s about developing specific muscle patterns that support proper placement, turnout, and movement quality. While Pilates certainly builds core strength, it does not target the exact muscle engagement patterns you need for ballet.

Think about a simple relevé at the barre. This movement requires more than just lifting your heels – it demands precise coordination between your deep core muscles, hip rotators, and leg alignment. This specific type of strength develops naturally through proper ballet training, particularly through focused barre work, and can’t be replaced by Pilates.

Strength and Ballet Technique: The Real Connection

Many adult ballet dancers (but not only) believe they need extra conditioning training outside of ballet class. But here’s something important to understand: ballet class, when done correctly, develops all the strength you need – and more importantly, it develops the right kind of strength. This isn’t about getting a sixpack or doing insane amount of crunches. It’s about building usable, controlled, ballet-ready strength that serves your technique.

The “Pilates for Ballet” Question: What It Does and Doesn’t Do

Pilates has earned its reputation as an excellent exercise system. It builds core strength, promotes body awareness, and can improve overall fitness. But for ballet dancers, there’s an important distinction to make:

What Pilates Does Well:

• Builds general core strength
• Improves body awareness
• Develops controlled movement
• Enhances breathing patterns

What Pilates Doesn’t Address:

• Ballet-specific muscle patterns
• Proper turnout engagement
• Dance-specific coordination
• Ballet’s unique alignment demands

Your Ballet Class: The Ultimate Workout

When it comes to considering adding Pilates for ballet, here’s something many, dancers overlook: a proper ballet class is already a complete conditioning system. Every exercise, from your first plié at the barre to your final grand allegro, is designed to:

• Build specific strength
• Develop necessary flexibility
• Improve coordination
• Enhance stability
• Perfect alignment

When dancers feel they need additional training methods, it often points to something missing in their approach to ballet class, not a gap in ballet training itself.

Free Ballet Technique Checklist!

Download FREE Actionable Proper Placement Checklist

Making the Most of Your Ballet Training

Let’s be clear about something: if you’re not getting enough strength or flexibility from your ballet training, the solution isn’t automatically to add Pilates. Instead, focus on:

• Proper Muscle Engagement
  • Are you really working from your core in every exercise?
  • Does your turnout come from your hips, not your feet?
  • Is your core engaged throughout class, not just when you remember?
    
• Quality Over Quantity
  • One properly executed plié builds more strength than ten rushed ones
  • Each tendu should work your entire leg, not just move your foot
  • Every relevé is an opportunity to strengthen your core and improve balance

Here’s a simple test you can do. We have prepared a free checklist called “7 Quick Ballet Posture Fixes”. It’s based on classical, Soviet ballet technique, and as soon as you apply these 7 simple steps, you will immediately feel different – your body will be strong, you will feel that out of sudden you regained control over your movement.

This doesn’t mean your work is done – this is only a starting point for future exercises, but give it a go and you’ll understand why – as a dancer – all you need is a proper, classical ballet technique.

Understanding Your Body’s Needs

Before adding any supplemental training to your routine, ask yourself:

• Are you getting everything you can from your ballet classes?
• Do you understand how each exercise should feel when done correctly?
• Have you mastered the basics before pursuing advanced movements?

Remember: proper ballet technique isn’t about forcing your body into positions. It’s about building strength and control that make those positions possible.

The Path to Better Technique

If you decide to incorporate Pilates for ballet (or any other training method), keep these principles in mind:

• Always prioritize your ballet training
• Any supplemental work should support, not replace, ballet technique
• Build strength progressively, without forcing or rushing
• Focus on understanding how movements should feel (proper muscle work), not just how they look

If you are familiar with our brand, you might be confused with the last point. What we meant by this is that you shouldn’t judge the exercise by the visual end result (“my leg is high, great, job done!”), but by the precision of the exercise you’re doing – and this can be only evaluated visually – by you or by your skilled teacher.

In other words – pay visual attention to the exercise, not to the end result. End result can be faked, but if you focus on doing the technique exercises right – we guarantee the end result will be spectacular. It will take longer, but it will also last longer.

And that is precisely the reason our ballet technique leotards are designed to help engage your core muscles and improve your technique. They are super tight (in a comfortable way) in your abdominal area, so that not only you can better see your body line and make the necessary adjustements, but als your teacher will be able to spot whether you’re doing your best or there’s a room for improvement.

Are Your Core Muscles Engaged?

In case you missed it, out leotards are designed specifically to help you engage your core muscles. Click here to buy.

Conclusion

There’s really no such thing as “pilates for ballet”, if you take ballet seriously. The most effective way to improve your ballet technique isn’t by adding more types of exercise – it’s by getting more from your ballet training. Focus on understanding and correctly executing the fundamentals of ballet (starting with plie as a fundamental exercise). This approach will lead to stronger, more controlled movement, better balance and stability, improved flexibility (with control) and untimately – true technical progress.

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