HERITAGE WORKOUT

Dance Exercises

Standing point exercise

Begin in your standing position. Cross your feet, checking turnout. Pick a spot in front of you and point your right toe so that it is resting on the spot you have chosen.
Return your right foot to your crossed feet position.
Point your right foot again, making sure your toe touches the same spot.
Repeat 8 times. Then repeat 8 times with your left foot, which should touch the same spot in front of you.

If you are practicing this exercise with music, pointing your toe and returning it should each take 1 bar of music, making one repetition for every 2 bars.

Cross/Turnout/Balance Exercise

Begin in standing position, leaving your heels together and arms by your sides.
Slowly lift up onto the ball of your feet, leaving your heels touching (there should be no space between your heels). You should be as high on the ball of your foot as you can go comfortably while keeping your heels together. Hold this position for a count of 3 (or, if you are practicing to music, for 3 bars) and then return to the standing position.
Repeat 3 more times (which takes 16 bars with the music).
Now, cross your right foot in front of your left. With your feet crossed, lift up onto the balls of your feet, pulling your feet as close as you can together and keeping your legs squeezed together. Think about lifting your chest up towards the ceiling, which will help you maintain your balance. Hold this position for a count of 3 (or 3 bars) and then relax.
Repeat 3 more times (16 bars total).
Now, cross your left foot in front of your right and repeat the above 4 times total.

If you have your trouble with your cross, turnout, and/or balance, simply repeat this whole group of exercises again. (or try the Turnout exercises).

Hopping point exercise

Begin in standing position. Cross your feet and point your right toe on the spot you have chosen in front of you, checking turnout.
Hop in the air and point your right toe on the spot on your floor, keeping your arms tight at your sides. Your back knee will bend a little, but do not let it bend too much. Keep your front leg straight and your toe nicely pointed. Your toe should not make noise as it touches the ground.
Repeat so that your toe touches the ground 8 times. Then switch your legs, hopping and pointing your left toe on the same spot 8 times. Switch back and forth several times.
Now, hop and point each toe on the ground 4 times, switching back and forth. Then hop and point each toe 2 times, switching back and forth, and then finish your exercise by pointing each toe on the ground once, switching legs after every point.

If you are doing this exercise with music, your toe should touch the ground twice per each bar of music.

Point and lift exercises

There is a basic exercise and three variations to choose from (see note).

Begin in standing position. Cross your feet and point your right foot, checking turnout.
Lift your right leg into the air a short way, keeping the leg straight and your toe pointed.
Now, bend your knee and pull your foot (still pointed) towards your back leg, stopping when your front foot is right in front of your back knee, almost but not quite touching the back knee. Your upper front leg should be flat, and your front toe should be pointed at the ground.
Reverse the movement, straightening your front leg before lowering it to the ground. Your toe should stay pointed during this whole movement.
Repeat the point and lift on your right leg 8 times, then on your left leg 8 times.

If you are doing this exercise to music, each lift should take 1 bar and each return to pointing should take 1 bar, making each point and lift 2 bars long. You may want to practice more slowly at first and work up to this speed.

Variation 1

Lift your leg straight into the air and then return it to the ground instead of bending it to your knee. Make sure your legs stay straight and your front toes stay pointed. Pay special attention to your upper body: keep it straight and do not let your shoulders come forward. Your leg does not have to lift very high, but it does need to be straight, as does your back. Repeat 8 times both legs.

Variation 2

From the pointing position, tuck your leg behind you so that your foot is close to your buttocks in back, then return your foot to its pointing position. In this point and lift exercise, you should try to keep your knee down, so that it does not stick too far out in front. Your foot should stay pointed behind you. Repeat 8 times on both legs.

Variation 3

Lift your leg, bend your foot to your knee, straighten your leg out again and then, leaving your leg straight in front of you in the air, rise up on your back toe, hold it for a bar, and then relax back onto your whole foot as you lower your front leg to the ground. This is a more advanced variation. As you get better at this variation, you should gradually increase the amount of time you hold yourself up on your toe.

Note: many people have difficulty keeping their toes pointed straight when first learning these exercises. If you notice that your foot tends to turn inward when you lift it, then you need to practice point and lift in front of a mirror. Whenever you see your foot turn, push it back so that it is pointing at the ground. If you are not sure which muscles control that motion, or if the muscles are weak at first, use your hand to help adjust your foot until you can move the foot on its own. Unfortunately, like many form problems, this one can only be corrected by diligent practice.

Hopping exercise

Begin in your standing position, with your feet crossed and turned out, and your right foot pointed.
Step forward so that your weight is on your right foot. Lift your left leg from behind you straight into the air in front of you, keeping your toe pointed. Hop on your right leg (your back leg), at the same time bending your front leg and bringing your left foot to your right knee. As with point and lift, your foot should be over your knee, and almost but not quite touching it. Keep your toe pointed at the ground.
Keeping the upper part of your left leg stationary, straighten your left leg a little ways and then bring your left foot back towards your right knee, hopping as you do so. Straighten your leg and hop once more. This will make a total of one step and three hops.
Now switch to the other side, bringing your left foot down to the ground directly in front of your right foot and putting your weight on your left foot. Lift your right leg in the air and hop three times, bringing your foot to your knee each time.
Repeat twice more.

When you are comfortable with step and 3 hops, try step and 2 hops instead, which has a slightly different rhythm. Then try step and one hop.
If you are doing this exercise with the music, each step and each hop will occupy 1/2 of a bar of music, making step and 3 hops take up 2 bars.
Try to watch several form points as you do this exercise: keep your arms tight to your sides, your shoulders back, your head up; keep your toe pointed at the ground, stay up on your toes; keep your foot directly in front of (but not touching) your knee, and keep your upper leg flat while you are hopping.
More advanced form: do 8 bars of step and 3 hops, 8 of step and 2, and 8 of step and 1 without any breaks in between. Then try 16 bars of each strung together.

Jumping exercise

If you are doing this exercise with the music, you should do 2 jumps for every 1 bar of music. Remember also on all these to keep your back straight, your head up, and your arms and hands still at your sides. These small but crucial elements take a lot of practice to become comfortable.

First exercise

Begin in your standing position with your feet crossed and turned out.

Keeping your feet together, jump into the air. Your legs should be straight, not bent. These jumps are low to the ground but high enough that, ideally, you should point your toes every time you are in the air.

Try to stay right on your spot and do not let your body tilt or slouch.

Repeat in sets of 8 or 16.

More advanced form

Jump 3 times in a row, using the landing on the third jump as a springboard to lift your body high in the air and pull both your legs up in back (this is called a tuck).

Repeat the jump-2-3-tuck movement several times. Land on the balls of your feet and bend your knees slightly on landing to cushion your descent and make a light landing.

Concentrate on pushing your legs down to the ground as well as pulling them up in the air; pushing your legs down as well as up will give you greater control over your speed, allowing you to do the exercise fast enough so that the tuck only takes 1 bar.

Extra advanced form

Straight tucks.

Do 8 or 16 tucks in a row with no jumps in between. These are difficult and you will have to concentrate on pushing your legs to achieve your goal of 2 tucks per bar.

Land high on the balls of your feet and don’t let yourself sink into the floor or it will be very hard to get back up again.

Try to land with as little noise as possible: keeping your toes together as you land on the ball of your foot will help you land lightly.

Now that you’re trying to do all these things at once, try to smile, too. Smiling helps keep you positive even when you have no energy. Remember that Irish dancing is all about looking like very difficult things are easy, and part of that is looking like you’re energetic even when you’re exhausted. Like everything else, this illusion takes practice.

Dance Positions | Dance Exercises | Improving Turnout

All of this information was freely provided by Ariel Bennett T.C.R.G. of the Heritage Irish Stepdancers. "Please let everyone know that they are welcome to download and use the information with our blessing. If they would like to print it for widespread use or post it on a website, etc. all they need to do is write us at info@heritageirish.com and ask for permission (which we grant freely)."

Back to Irish Dancing Exercises and Techniques