Also, in contrast to pounding away on the treadmill or Stairmaster and counting endless reps and sets, ballet taps into your creative side. You can express yourself, learn a new skill, and tone every muscle in your body by participating in ballet class. You may be wondering where you can sign up for a ballet class. Well, start by stopping into your local dance studio. You might be surprised to learn that they not only teach children, but also adults. And there are many other adults, like you, interested in learning ballet.



Also, sometimes classes are offered through your local park district. If you are embarrassed to show off your as yet unpolished moves in public, you can always find a videotape or DVD that teaches you the basics. Just move the furniture out of the way and start on your new exercise program.

Some of the basic moves that you will learn include the plia (pronounced 'plee-ay'), the tendu (pronounced 'ton-doo'), and the sauta (pronounced 'so-tay'). The plia is just a bend at the knees. You can do a grande plia or a demi plia. In grande plia, you bend your knees all the way down allowing your heels to come up off the floor. Demi plia is half of a grande, done with the heels maintaining contact with the floor at all times. It is important, when performing the plia, to make sure that your knees always stay in line with your feet. Making sure to do this helps to protect your knees and keep them healthy and strong for all the other activities you do.

The tendu is a point of the foot. But it is not merely a point of the foot. When performing a tendu, make sure that your knee is straight, but not locked, and that there is energy flowing through your leg from the top of the hip to the tip of your toe. Tendus are great for lengthening your leg muscles and giving you that streamlined dancers look.

Last but not least, the sauta is a jump. We all know how to jump, but the sauta combines what you have learned by doing the plia and the tendu. When you perform the sauta, you start standing erect. Then you do a demi plia making sure your heels stay on the floor. From there, you spring into the air lengthening your legs like when you were doing the tendu, stretching from the top of your hip to the tips of your toes. Then you land in demi plia and return to the standing position from which you started.

With these basics, you'll be able to enter any beginning ballet class that you please. Just remember not to overdo it. You will have so much fun that you'll forget that you're working out.