Ballet/Mat Fusion

Hi, my name is Deborah Harris, and I'm so excited to be back here at Pilates Anytime. Today, I have a very unique class for you, infusing classical Pilates mat with ballet floor exercises. You are going to love the tiny isometric movements that will help intensify your workout. We are going to pay particular attention to our inner thighs, our natural turnout, and our core stability, which will help with our alignment, posture, and flexibility, which are all essential components of a healthy body. So get ready to work hard, have fun, and most importantly, channel your inner dancer.

Alright, participating in today's class, I have Erin, Amy, Jackie, and Gia. Shall we get started? Alright. Come to the end of the mats. Pulling everything in and up, cross one arm over the other, cross one leg over the other.

Pull everything in and up, and with control, lower yourself down to the mats. Uncross everything and continue rolling all the way back down. Stretch your legs out fully long. We're going to start by warming up our hips. We'll learn a pattern on the mat first, and then we'll add it in the air.

So in this position, pull up through your powerhouse, point your toes and stay in parallel. Bend your knees, draw your legs on in. Rotate, turn your knees outward. Make a diamond position, draw your heels together. From your inner thighs, press out nice and long.

Pause, with your feet point. Turn parallel, bend your knees. Draw everything in, rotate out. From your heels, flex, press out nice and long. Squeeze inner thighs, point your feet, turn parallel.

Bend your knees in, rotate out, flex your feet. Press on out, squeeze those inner thighs. Point your feet, turn parallel, bend in and pause. Reverse, flex your feet, press on out. Point your feet, rotate, drag back in.

Find that diamond position. Squeeze the inner thighs. Roll down metatarsal arch heel. From your heel, press on out. Point through your feet, rotate outward.

Bend back into that beautiful diamond position. Squeeze those inner thighs. Roll down metatarsal arch heel. Flex the feet, press on out nice and long. Point through the feet, rotate.

Bend all the way back on in. Draw your knees together and work down through the feet. Great. Now that we have that pattern, we're going to bring it into the air. Reach your arms out and around back behind your head.

Bend your knees into a nice tabletop position. Pull everything in and up. Go ahead and curl on up. Curl a little bit higher and hold. Rotate the knees into that diamond position.

Flex your heels, press out. Squeeze through the inner thighs. Work pointing the feet, turn back to parallel, and bend back on in. Rotate outward, flex the feet, press the legs out nice and long. Point through the feet, turn parallel, and bend back on in.

One more time. We rotate out, flex the feet, press on out. Squeezing inner thighs. Point through the feet, turn parallel, bend back in and pause. Reverse, flex the feet, push out like you're resisting.

Point through the feet, rotate. Find that beautiful diamond position. Again squeeze inner thighs, flex the feet, press on out. Stretch, point through the feet, rotate, bend back on in. Good.

Press on out, stretch, point through the feet, rotate, and bend back on in. Draw the knees together, curl a little higher, hold, and relax back down. Nice everybody. Drawing your ribs in, I know you feel those inner thighs working, (class laughs) curl on up nice and high. Rotate the knees, find that beautiful diamond position.

Flex your feet, press the legs out nice and long. Squeeze the inner thighs, pause. Point through your feet. Reach your arms to the side and down alongside your body. Curl a little bit higher.

We prepare for our hundred. Here we go. We pump in two, three, four, five, out two, three, four, five. In two, three, four, five, out two, three, four, five. Navel to spine and out two, three, four, five.

Squeeze the behind and out two, three, four, five. In two, three, four, five, out two, three, four, five. In two, three, four, five, out two, three, four, five. In two, three, four, five, out two, three, four, five. In two, three, four, five, out two, three, four, five.

In two, three, four, five, and out two, three, four, and five. Hold. Curl a little bit higher. Smile a little bit more. Bend the knees back on in.

Relax back down. Nicely done ladies. Stretch your legs out nice and long on the mats. Our roll up is next. Reach the arms up to the ceiling.

Draw the ribs in. Squeeze the inner thighs. Take a nice deep breath in. Inhale, exhale, roll all the way on up, one vertebrae at a time, rounding over those legs. Good.

Start to round back, tuck the tailbone under, rolling down one vertebrae at a time. The arms reach up, the ribs drop down. Take a deep breath in. Inhale, exhale, roll all the way on up, rounding forward. Beautiful.

We add a variation. Round back halfway and hold. Starting with your right leg, we'll lift it three times. Lift it up slightly and bring it down. Lift it a little higher and down.

Lift it the highest and down. Hold, keep a strong C curve. Now our left leg, we lift up and bring it down. Lift a little higher and down. Lift the highest and down.

Hold. Rotate those inner thighs. Go down just a little bit lower. Lift the right leg, bring it down. Lift it a little higher and down.

Lift it the highest and down. Beautiful. Lift the left leg, bring it down. Lift it a little higher. Smile at the girl across from you, there we go.

Hold, and then roll all the way down one vertebrae at a time. We have one more set of that. Draw your ribs in. Make sure you're not arching off the mat. Deep breath in.

Inhale, exhale, roll all the way on up. Good, beautiful. That's alright. Round back halfway and hold. Tummy is tight.

Lift the right leg up and bring it down a little lower. Lift it up and down. Lift it the highest and down. Now our left. We lift up and down.

Lift up and down. Lift up the highest and down. Go down a little bit lower, tummy is tight. Lift the right leg slightly and down. Lift it a little higher and down.

Lift it the highest and down. Beautiful. Lift left and down. A little higher. The highest and down.

Hold now, find that rotation from the top of the thighs. Go down just a little lower. Go down a little lower. Down a little lower. And all the way down to the mat.

Beautiful. Bring those arms down by your side. We'll do our rollovers next. Bend your knees into your chest, and then extend the legs out to a 45 degree angle. Open the legs and reach the legs up and over.

Good. Draw your legs together, flex the feet. Very slowly roll down bringing the thighs towards the chest one vertebrae at a time. Enjoy that beautiful stretch. Legs come back to 45 and open.

Reach up and over. Flex those feet, good. Squeeze together and start to roll down. Get a beautiful stretch. Bring the thighs towards the chest.

Beautiful. Legs up 45 and open. Reach up and over. Flex those feet, draw together, and slowly roll down one vertebrae at a time. We reverse now.

We open the legs to then close the legs. Reach the legs up and over. Flex those feet, keep them open, and slowly roll down one vertebrae at a time. Good. Zip together.

Reach the legs up and over. Flex the feet, energy out those feet, slowly rolling down. Beautiful. We have one more ladies. Zip together, reach the legs up and over.

Flex those feet, open, and slowly roll down. As you roll down, leave the right leg up towards the ceiling, but allow the left leg to continue coming all the way back down. Then bend that left leg. Your right leg will rotate from the hip, and you're gonna draw it down in line with the opposite knee. Keep a beautiful rotation and press the inner thighs together.

Squeeze, hold, two, three. Lower the leg down a little lower, and squeeze, hold, two, three. And down a little bit lower. Press and feeling those inner thighs engage, two, three, and good. Exchange legs.

Lift the left leg on up. Bring it down. The two sides of the knees are together. Squeeze the inner thighs, hold, two, three. Let those rib cage drop, and press in, hold, two, three.

Down a little bit lower. Press in, squeeze, and hold, two, three. And bend your knee, place it down. Extend your right leg out long. Let it hover slightly off the mat.

And your left leg is gonna stay bent if that's okay. Perfect. Flex your foot. We're staying in parallel. We'll do battements, but you wanna keep your hips grounded to the mat.

We then lift the leg up 10 times. We lift up one, and lengthen down. Lift up two, and down. Lift up three, and down. Lift up four, and down.

Lift up five, and down. Lift up six, and down. Lift up seven, and down. Lift up eight, and down. Lift up nine, and down.

Lift up 10, and pause. Let it hover off the mat. Rotate from the top of the inner thigh. Flex your foot. So now we're gonna target that inner thigh.

Here we go. And we lift up one, and lengthen down. They're smiling 'cause they feel it. Two, and down. Lift up three, and they're having so much fun.

Lift up four, and down. Lift up five, and down. Lift up six, and down. Lift up seven, and down. Lift up eight, and down.

Lift up nine, and down. One more 10, and down. Bend your knee, place your foot down flat, and we get to repeat on the other side. Yay. Stretch your left leg out long.

Flex the foot, and here we go. We lift up one, and lengthen down. Lift up two, and down. Lift up three, and down. Lift up four, and down.

Lift up five, and down. Lift up six, and down. Lift up seven, and down. Lift up eight, and down. Lift up nine, and down.

One more 10, and hold. Now that rotation from the top of the thigh. Flex your foot, and we lift up. One, and down. Nice ladies.

Lift up two, and down. Lift up three, and down. Lift up four, and down. Lift up five. Lift up six.

Lift up seven. Lift up eight. Lift up nine. Lift up 10, and good. Let your leg come all the way down.

Left leg stretches out nice and long. Bend the right leg into your chest, extend it up towards the ceiling. Rotate outward with the leg and back to parallel, warming up that hip. We rotate outward and parallel, outward and hold. Leg circles.

Cross the leg over, down and around, lift up one. Cross over, down and around, lift up two. Cross over, down and around, lift up three. Cross over, down and around, lift up four. Cross over, down and around, pause five.

Reverse, open, down and around, and one. Open, down and around, and two. Open, down and around, and three. Open, down and around, four. Open, down and around, five.

Scissor and switch legs. Good. We start with our rotation first. Rotate outward and parallel. Outward and parallel.

Outward and hold. Crossing the leg over, down and around, lift up one. Cross down and around, lift up two. Cross down and around, lift up three. Cross down and around, lift up four.

Cross down and around, five, hold, reverse. Open, out and around, and one. Open, out and around, two. Open, out and around, three. Open, out and around, four.

Open, out and around, five. Scissor and switch legs. Grab ahold at the calf of your right leg. Flex your foot. Bend your knee into your chest and pause.

Now from your heel, press all the way up towards the ceiling, then work through your foot, point through the foot, hold. Then go in reverse. Flex your foot. Bend back down in towards your chest. Good.

From that heel, stretch straight on up. You should feel that going right into that calf. Then work through the foot, point. Flex through the foot, and bend back down. And press back up, stretch.

Point through your foot and hold. Circle, five in each direction from the ankle. One, two, three, four, five. Reverse, circle one, two, three, four, five. Pull the leg in a little bit closer.

Give yourself a gentle stretch. Never forcing, but simply guiding the leg towards you. Scissor and switch legs, that should feel nice. Flex the foot, bend your knee back down. From your heel, stretch straight up towards the ceiling.

Let it get into the calf, and then work through the foot. Point, then flex through the foot, and bend back down. And again from your heel, stretch straight on up. Point through the foot, flex, and bend back down. This time we'll stay up.

Stretch the leg on up, point the foot, and circle the ankle. One, two, three, four, five. Reverse, circle one, two, three, four, five. Pull the leg in closer towards you. Give yourself a nice stretch.

And when you're ready, let the leg come all the way back down. Beautiful. Reach the arms up to the ceiling. Drop your shoulder blades down, pull your ribs in, take a deep breath in. Inhale, exhale, roll all the way up.

Good. Place your hands by your seat. Lift your seat towards your feet and come forward, preparing for rolling like a ball. Pull the legs in nice and deep. We're gonna massage our spines.

Find that beautiful balance. Here we go. Inhale, roll it back, exhale, come back on up. Good. And inhale, roll back, exhale, up.

Inhale, roll back, exhale, up. Inhale, roll back, exhale, up. Inhale, roll back, exhale, find your balance, and hold. Bring your right hand down to your right ankle, left hand at that right knee, extend your opposite leg out. Elbows are wide, scoop and squeeze your stomach.

You have five counts to roll to the base of your shoulder blades. Coming down five, four, three, two, one. Nicely done. Stay where you are, exchange. Good, and exchange.

Really hugging your leg in as deep as it will go, and extending the other leg out as long as it will go. Good, going right, and left, and right, and left, and right, and left. Two more sets, right, and left. One more set, right, and left. Bend both knees back in.

Curl a little bit higher, and relax back down. Variation. Reach your arms out to the side, back behind your head. Elbows point up slightly, slide your shoulder blades down. Pull through your powerhouse, lift your upper body up.

Stretch your legs on out, all the way out. This is your start and finish positions. Working in parallel, bend just your right leg in, just your right leg, and press it back out and pause. Bend your left leg in, press out and pause. So parallel passes.

Bend your right leg in, press out, and pause. Bend your left leg in, press out, and pause. Bend your right leg in, press out, and pause. Bend your left leg in, press out, and pause. Now curl a little bit higher.

Bend your knees back in together. Curl even higher, and relax back down. Good. Second variation on that. Now we'll work in our turnout with our turned out passes.

So curl up nice and high, tummy is nice and tight. Press your legs out to your start position. Find that rotation from the top of the thighs. Bend your right leg on in, and then press out and pause. Bend your left leg in, press out and pause.

Bend your right leg in, press out and pause. Good, bend your left leg in, press out and pause. Curl a little. Bend your right leg in, press out and pause. Bend your left leg in, press out and pause.

Squeeze those inner thighs. Bend your knees back in. Curl a little bit higher, smile, and relax back down. They're working so hard. This is great.

Alright, bring your hands down at your ankle for double straight leg stretch. Go ahead and curl on up. Pull deep into your powerhouse. Inhale, arms and legs pressed straight out. Squeeze your stomach, exhale.

Open your arms out and around, bend back in. Inhale, press out, squeeze those inner thighs. Exhale, bend back in. Inhale, press out. Exhale, bend back in.

Inhale, press out. Exhale, bend back in. One more, inhale, press out. Exhale, out around, and hold, curl higher. Relax back down.

Variation. This time when you press out, the arms will stay still, and you'll cross at the top of the thighs for three times. Heels together, then the arms come in. Curl up nice and high, tummy is tight. Inhale, arms and legs, press out, we cross.

One, two, three, heels together. Open arms, out around, curl higher, and reach long stretch, and cross one, two, three, heels together. Open arms, out and around, bend back on in. Inhale, press out, stretch, cross one, two, three. Heels together, open arms, out and around, bend back in.

One more time. Inhale, press, cross one, two, three. Heels together, open arms, out around, curl higher, and relax back down. Woo. (class laughs) Good morning stomach.

(class laughs) Stretch the legs straight up towards the ceiling for single straight leg stretch, a well deserved stretch at this point. Curl up nice and high, grab ahold of the right ankle, give yourself a double pulse. Stretch stretch, and exchange, stretch stretch. And stretch stretch, exchange, stretch stretch. And stretch stretch, exchange, stretch stretch.

And stretch stretch, exchange, stretch stretch. One more set, going right, and left. Draw your legs together, and relax back down. Variation. Reach the arms out and around back behind your head.

Helicopter. Stretch your legs straight on up. Curl up nice and high. Everybody will drop their right leg first. We scissor one, scissor two, good.

Open out and around and hold. That's alright. Stretch your legs straight back on up. So we'll drop our left leg this time. Here we go, scissor one, scissor two.

Open out around and hold, there we go. Scissor one, scissor two. Open out around and hold, beautiful. Scissor one, scissor two. Open out around and hold.

Last set of two. Scissor one, scissor two. Open out around and hold, this is our last one. Scissor one, scissor two. Open out around and hold.

Draw those legs together, curl higher, and relax back down. You guys have long beautiful legs, so you did hit into each other, but it did look pretty. (class laughs) Stretch the legs back up towards the ceiling. Hands are back behind our head. Double straight leg stretch.

Curl on up, and then curl a little higher. Good, drop the legs, three, two, one, one count up. Drop down, three, two, one, and up. Inhale, drop down, three, two, one, exhale up. Inhale, three, two, one, exhale up, variation.

Drop down, three, two, one, hold. Go down, three, two, one, and up. You got it. Three, two, one, hold. Three, two, one, smile.

Three, two, one, hold. Three, two, one, up. Last one, three, two, one, hold. Three, two, one, up. Bend those knees back in, curl a little higher, and relax back down.

(class member mumbles) (class laughs) Hands back behind your head. Crisscrosses is next. Ladies we'll have you start by twisting towards this beautiful view back here. So curl up nice and high, twist towards me, extend the opposite leg out, hold, two, three, and then switch. Think more armpit to knee, hold, two, three, and switch.

Hold, two, three, and switch. Hold, two, three, and switch. Variation, the leg that's straight, lift up three times. Lift it one, lift it two, this one, lift up three, hold. Bend in, twist to the other side.

The leg that's straight, lift one, good, lift up two, lift up three. Bend your knee in, twist towards me. Lift that leg up, we lift one, good, lift two, lift three. Bend it in, twist to the other side. Last set, lift up one, lift up two, lift up three.

Bend the knee back and curl higher, and relax back down. Stretch your legs out nice and long on the mat. Reach the arms up to the ceiling. (class laughs) Take a nice deep breath in. It is the hardest roll up ever.

Inhale, exhale, roll all the way up, because your stomach has been working so hard ladies. That's it, reach for your partners. Open up the legs, and flex the feet. Spine stretch forward. So spine stretch forward is a stretch into yourself.

So let's get that stretch. Reach those arms forward, flex those feet back. Take a deep breath in. Inhale, exhale, round forward, pull back into a strong C curve, keep the shoulders down, and then sit up nice and tall, one vertebrae on top of the other. Good.

Deep breath in, flex those feet. Inhale, exhale, round forward, stretching. Beautiful. And then roll all the way up, shoulders staying down. One more time.

Inhale, exhale, round back, flex feet, and then roll up one vertebrae at a time. Open leg rocker is next. Soften your knees, tilt back slightly. With the legs, left up and see if you can grab ahold of those legs at the ankle. Perfect.

If you need to bend the knees, you may. Take a nice deep breath in. Inhale, exhale, roll back, and then come all the way back up, scoop and squeeze. Beautiful. Inhale, exhale, roll back, and find that lift.

Inhale, exhale, roll back. Come all the way up, find that balance, and hold. Draw your legs together. Point through the feet, flex through the feet. Point through the feet, and flex.

Now you have an option. You can keep your hands where they are, or you can choose to grab ahold of those toes. Whichever one you wanna do is perfect. Take a deep breath in, inhale, roll back. Exhale, come all the way up, and find that balance.

Beautiful. Fight for it, you got it, you got it, good. And inhale, roll back, and exhale, come all the way up. Nicely done, good, beautiful. Reach your arms out nice and long, or do an extra roll up, (class laughs) and start to roll back down through your spine.

Allow the legs to start to float on up and the arms to float down the mat. Here we go. And we get ready for corkscrew. Heels together, toes apart. And if you need to adjust, by all means go ahead.

We're gonna drop our legs towards the window first. Drop down and around, back to center, and pause. And then away from the window. Drop down and around, center, and pause. Towards me, down and around, center, and pause.

Away from me, down and around, center, and pause. So this next time, we're going to lift the four lowest vertebrae off the mat when you come back to center. Dropping your legs towards me, drop down and around, come back to center, and lift. And drop away, down and around, right to the center, and lift. And down and around, and lift, and reverse.

Drop down and around, and lift, and good, hold. Back to our ballet floor exercises. Bend your knees. Good. You know what ladies?

I wonder if we should stagger a little bit. Erin, I'm gonna bring you down, and Amy, I'm gonna bring you down a little bit more. Alright. So the legs are straight on up towards the ceiling, and then bend them back down. We go back to the beginning.

We're gonna rotate our knees on out. Extend from the knees, flex your feet. Squeeze the inner thighs and slowly draw them up. Point the feet, turn parallel. Bend your knees, drop them down, rotate.

Extend from the knees, flex the feet. Squeeze the inner thighs. Point through the feet, turn back to parallel. Bend your knees one more time. We rotate outward, extend from the knees.

Flex your feet, squeeze the inner thighs. Point through the feet, turn parallel, now pause. We reverse, rotate, flex your feet. Open wide, pause, point your feet. Bend from your knees, squeeze your inner thighs together.

Flex your feet, press up. Point their feet, rotate out, pause. Flex your feet, open wide, pause. Point your feet, bend from your knee. Squeeze the inner thighs, flex your feet.

Last one, stretch back on up. Point through your feet, rotate. Flex your feet, open wide. Point through your feet, bend your knees. Squeeze your inner thighs, and good.

Stretch your legs out nice and long on the mat. Reach your arms up to the ceiling for your roll up. Take a nice deep breath in. Inhale, exhale, roll all the way on up. Once you come up, stay up.

Open the legs on out to the corners of your mat for your saw. Reach your arms out to the side, lift up, and everybody's gonna twist towards me. Take a deep breath in, inhale, exhale. Reach your pinky finger towards your pinky toe. Reach and stretch, and then come all the way back on up.

Lift up, inhale, exhale all the air out, and reach. Can I give you a stretch? And reach, and come all the way back on up. Inhale, exhale, flex those feet, and reach, reach, and reach, and up. Last one, inhale, exhale, and twist, and reach.

Can I give you a stretch? Open up through here, reach, and come all the way back on up. Beautiful. Draw your legs together, and very slowly roll back down on your mats. Once you come down, you'll lift your right arm up and rotate onto your right side, then onto your stomach.

Our neck roll is next. Your hands are in line with your shoulders. You're pulling your navel to your spine, and your legs are drawn together, and go ahead and lift your chest up off of that mat, and you can stretch the arms as long and high as you'd like. Turn your head towards the window. Drop, roll it around.

Good. And then come back to center. Turn your head away from the window. Drop, roll it around. Come back to center, hold, lower down with control.

We prepare for our swan. So it's very important you draw your legs together and your legs work as one. So draw them together, pull up through your powerhouse. Press down through your hands. Start to lift up your torso.

Keep lifting, lifting, lifting in that torso, and when you're ready, you'll shoot your arms straight on out and go for swan. So swan. Draw those legs together. Beautiful. Nice everybody.

One more, and hold. With control, begin to lower back down. Draw your knuckles together, and draw your elbows inward for single straight leg kick. Yes, now, pull your shoulder blades back, pull your chest forward, pull your powerhouse up. Bend your right leg and kick your glutes.

Kick kick, exchange, kick kick. And kick kick, exchange, kick kick. One more, kick kick, exchange, kick kick. Beautiful. Go ahead and lean your chest forward.

Bring your arms back and around behind you for double leg kick. Now when those hands come down behind you, you wanna bring them up as high as you can, and then open up through the shoulders. Get the beautiful stretch. The legs again are working as one. You're pulling up through the powerhouse.

We kick three times. Kick one, two, three. Press down, lift up, get a beautiful stretch, and come back down. And again, we kick one, two, three. Press down, lift up, beautiful stretch, and we go to the other side.

We kick one, two, three. Press down, lift up, stretch, and come back down. Good, kick one, two, three. Press down, and lift, stretch, and good. Beautiful.

Shift back onto your knees, stretch out your back. Get a lovely release in rest position. And then we're going to lie down on our sides facing away from the window. Beautiful. Stretch your legs out nice and long.

You're lining up your shoulder and your hip in one long line. Your legs are reaching out on a long diagonal. Your hand can support your head, or you can rest your head on that hand. Tummy is nice and tight. Going back to our ballet floor exercises.

Both legs are going to lift up off the mat. Squeeze, hold, two, three, and bring it back down. Good. And lift back on up. Letting the shoulder drop, hold, two, three, and bring it down, and lift up.

This time, stay up. Rotation. Rotate from the top of the hips back to parallel. Rotate out, back to parallel. Rotate out, hold, and lower down with control.

Good, staying in your rotation. Lifting your top leg up hip height, we start with our front kicks. We go to the front, and kick kick, and lengthen to the back. Try not to move your torso. Kick kick, and lengthen to the back.

Keep the leg hip height. Kick kick, and lengthen to the back, one more. Kick kick, and lengthen to the back. Bring your leg down. Rotate from the top of the hip.

With a pointed foot, kick your leg up. With a flexed foot, lengthen it longer and bring it down. Good, point kick up, and flex, and lengthen down, staying long in the waist. Point kick up, flex, lengthen down. And point kick up, flex, lengthen down, and hold.

Point your foot. Circles, brushing heel, one, two, three, four, five. Reverse, circle one, two, three, four, five, and hold. We go back to those ballet floor exercises. Begin to passe just to your calf.

Then from here, flex your foot, kick your leg up, and battement up one. And point back down to your calf. And press out, flex up, two. And then point, brush your leg back out, and flex, and three. Good, now hold, and we're going to go to our knee.

We're gonna point to the knee, press it out long, flex. And again, point to your knee, press out long and flex. And point to the knee, press out long and flex. Now we slow it down, we add a developpe. Point, drag your leg up to your knee, extend from your knee, flex your foot, squeeze the inner thighs, lengthen down.

Point, draw it on in, extend up, flex your foot, and lengthen down. Point, draw it in, extend up, flex, lengthen down, and pause. We reverse. With a flexed foot, bring your leg up, then point your foot, bend your knee, stretch it out long. And flex your foot, lift up, point your foot, bend your knee, stretch it out long, and again.

Point, good, bend your knee, stretch it out long, and hold. Bend your top leg and place the foot down flat. Thread your arm through. Reach your bottom leg out nice and long, and we lift it up, and then lower down, and lift up, and lower down, lift up, and hold. Circle five in each direction.

Five, four, three, two, one, reverse. And five, four, three, two, one, and lower that leg down. Take your top leg, lengthen it back onto your bottom leg. Bend both knees as if you were sitting in a chair. So into tabletop.

Make sure the knees are in line with the hips, and then the knees are in line with the ankles. Perfect. In this position, we lift just our top leg up. We lift it up and then bring it back down. Lift up and bring it down.

Lift up and hold. From your knee, extend the leg out one, and bend it back in. Extend out two, and bend it back in. Extend out three, hold, flex your foot. We pulse it up five, four, three, two, one.

Bend it in and relax back down. Draw your feet back into your clam position. Perfect, working our hip flexors. Lift your top knee up slightly, and then squeeze those inner thighs. Bring it down one, and lift up.

Slowly squeeze, bring it down two, lift up. And bring it down three, lift up. Bring it down four, lift up. Bring it down five, hold. Alright, clam in the air.

Lift your legs, your heels up, excuse me, off of the mat. And lift the top leg up. Lift it up one, and squeeze the inner thigh. Bring it down. Lift up two, and bring it down.

Are we having fun? Lift up three, and bring it down. Lift up four, and bring it down. Lift up five, stay here. From your knee, extend the leg out.

Yep, you're right. Extend the leg out. And then bend it back in and drop just your knee down. Perfect. Lift your knee up, extend the leg out, bend it in, drop the knee down.

Lift your knee up, extend it out, hold. Now try and get in line with your hip, flex your foot, and we're gonna pulse it up. Five, four, three, two, one. Bend in back on in, and relax the legs down. Woo, alright.

Stretch your legs on out nice and long. You're gonna lie down on your stomach. Make a pillow for your head. And guess what, we're gonna do our clams on our bellies. So at this time, your navel is to your spine.

I'd like you to bend your knees. Heels are together, toes are apart. In this position, you're gonna lift your thighs up off the mat. Keep them lifted, squeeze the inner thighs together. Draw together, squeeze, and open, that was one.

Draw together, two, and open, good. Draw together, three, and open. Draw together, four, and open. Draw together, five, and open. Draw together, six, and open.

They're working hard. Draw together, seven, and open. Draw together, eight, and open. Draw together, nine, yes, and open. Draw together, 10, hold, relax down.

And guess what, we get to do the whole thing on the other side. So turn and face me. (class laughs) Reaching those legs out on a long diagonal. You're all doing fantastically well. Alright, so those legs are out nice and long.

The tummy is in nice and tight. We start with our leg lifts. So both legs are going to lift up off the mat and then drop back down. And lift up and drop down. Lift up, stay up.

We rotate from the top of the hips back to parallel. Rotate, back to parallel. Rotate, hold, and lower down. You can't see it, but they're all smiling. (class laughs) Alright, in this position, we're going to lift our top leg up hip height.

We go to our leg kicks. So we go to the front. Front front, lengthen long to the back. And again, front front, keep ribs in, lengthen. And again, front front, and lengthen.

Front front, and lengthen. Last one, front front, and lengthen. Relax the leg down. Rotate, point your foot, kick your leg on up. Flex your foot, lengthen it longer than the bottom leg, and point to lift up, and lengthen down, point to lift up, and lengthen down.

Two more. Point to lift up, and lengthen down. One more. Point to lift up, and lengthen down. Point your foot, tiny brushes.

We brush one, two, three, four, five, reverse. One, two, three, four, five, and hold. Good. We go back to those ballet floor exercises. We point up to our calf.

We stretch the leg out long, flex, lift up one, and point just to the calf, flex the foot, lift up two, point just to the calf, flex, lift up three, point just to the calf. Sorry, that shoulda been to knee flex up, but you guys got it. Point to your knee, and stretch it on up, flex. One more. Point to the knee, stretch it out, flex, lift up.

Now we slow it down. Begin to passe, extend from the knee up, flex your foot, lengthen that leg down nice and long, and again point. Begin to passe, extend up, flex that foot, lengthen long, begin to point. Passe, extend, flex long, and pause once you get to the bottom. We reverse, with a flexed foot, go up, then point your foot.

Bend your knees, stretch your leg out long, flex your foot, lift up, point your foot. Bend your knees, stretch out long, flex, lift up, point your foot. Bend your knee, stretch out, lengthen long, beautiful. Take that top leg, bend it, place it down in front, thread the arm through, keep your hips stacked, lift the bottom leg up, and lower it back down. And lift up and down.

Lift up hold, we circle. One, two, three, four, five, reverse. One, two, three, four, and five. Lower the leg down. Take the top leg, place it onto the bottom.

Bend both knees as if you were sitting in a chair. Again, make sure that the knees are in line with the hip, the knees are in line with the ankles. Lift your top leg on up hip height, and extend the leg on out. Good. Lift up, sorry, three times up, and bring it back down.

Lift up, hold, and now we get to extend it out. I'm just so excited to do this. And bend back on in, and extend out, and in, extend out. Keep it out. We flex our foot and we pulse up five, four, three, two, one.

Bend it in and relax back down. Good. Our clam, our heels come back, the tummy is nice and tight, and we lift our top leg up, and then bring it down with control. And lift up, and bring it down with control. Lift up, and down.

Two more. Up, and down. One more. Up, and down, hold clam in the air. Lift your heels on up.

Lift your top leg on up. And then with control, bring it down. One, lift up, two, we do give of these, and we add on. Lift up three, and down. Lift up four, and down.

I know. Lift up five, stay here. From your knee, extend your leg out, bend it back in, drop it down, lift it up, extend out, bend it in, drop it down, lift it up, extend out, hold, flex your foot, and we pulse. Five, four, three, two, one. Bend it in, drop it back down.

Woo, alright. Lie back down on your backs. And now, we get to do a teaser prep. So excited. So lift up your right leg, press it into the side of the left.

I know, suck it up, suck it up. Now it's okay this foot that's on the ground, your left foot, if it starts to slide out a little bit as you're rolling up, that's perfectly fine. Make sure you're engaging through the inner thighs, pulling up through your powerhouse. So reach the arms up to the ceiling. Take a nice deep breath in.

You can do it. Inhale, exhale, and go ahead and roll all the way on up. Beautiful, beautiful. With control, begin to slowly roll back down one vertebrae at a time. And arms come up, ribs drop down.

Take a deep breath in. Inhale, exhale, roll all the way on up. And then slowly start to roll back down. And again, inhale, exhale, roll all the way up. Stay up, hold, lower your leg down, and lift it back up.

And lower, lift up, lower, lift up, hold. Exchange legs. Squeeze the inner thighs. With control, roll back down. We've gotta do the whole thing on the other side.

Alright, yay. Inhale, exhale, roll all the way on up, squeezing those inner thighs. And then slowly start to roll back down. And again, inhale, exhale, roll all the way on up. And slowly roll back down.

This next one we stay up. Inhale, exhale, roll all the way on up. You've got it, good, good, good, good. Lower the leg down and lift it up. Lower it down, and up.

Lower it down, and up. Bend your knee, place your foot down flat, roll back down. Bend your knees into your chest preparing for teaser two. Stretch your legs out to your teaser position. Reach your arms on up.

Take a deep breath in. Inhale, exhale, roll all the way on up. Find that teaser position. If you need to bend the knees, you may. That's alright.

You're going to lower the legs just a little and lift back on up. I'm happy to help. Down and up, down and up, hold, and then roll all the way down with control extending your legs out nice and long. Good. Teaser three is next.

So stretch your legs all the way out long on the mat. Good. And again, as you come up, if it is feeling like one of those days where the teaser just isn't happening, which we all have, we all have, feel free to bend those knees into the tabletop position. Okay? So we just always have to listen to our bodies.

Alright, reach the arms on up. Smile, we've got this. Inhale, exhale, come all the way up into your teaser or tabletop position, whatever you need to do for today. It's just not happening. That's okay, don't worry about it.

Alright. And then everything's gonna go back down, arms and legs. You've worked very hard in this class. (laughs) Inhale, exhale, come all the way on up. Beautiful, beautiful.

Hold, and then go all the way back down. Now this next one, we have a variation. Okay? Out of it, I should say. So inhale, exhale, come all the way up.

We find the beautiful teaser. You can bend the knees in if you need to. Once you're up, then bend your arms. Bring 'em down by your side. Place your hands down.

Bend your knees, touch the big toes down onto the ground. Our can can. You're gonna drop your knees towards me. It's okay to come onto your hip. So side, side, side, extend out.

And again, to the side, side, side, extend out. And again, ooh we got some smiles. Side, side, side, extend out. One more time, to the side, side, side, extend out. Bend the knees, stretch them out long.

Guess what, it's a stretch. Reach the arms up, take a deep breath in, inhale, exhale, round forward, get the beautiful stretch and release. Roll all the way up through your spine. Let's do that again. Deep breath in.

You've worked so hard, enjoy the stretch. Inhale, exhale, round forward, and then roll all the way back on up. We'll draw the soles of our feet together. Sometimes they call this butterfly position. Let the knees fall onto the outside, and actually our hands are going to come down in front.

We're still gonna stretch. Let the legs come out a little bit further. I want you to round back into a strong C curve. Then scoop and dive your head down to flatten out your back to then lift all the way up. This should feel lovely.

It's a great hip release. Yes, and round back. Scoop into the powerhouse. Dive your head forward, flatten out the back, come all the way up, and now we're going to reverse. With a flat back we go forward, drop the head, pull back into a strong C curve.

Roll through the spine one vertebrae at a time and sit up tall. Again, reaching forward with that flat back, drop the head, round back, and then roll all the way back on up. Beautiful. We draw our soles of our feet down flat, getting ready for our seal. I couldn't think of the name for a second.

(class laughs) So we're gonna draw our hands on in. You want to lift the legs up. Remember the beats are from the inner thighs, not the ankles. So we beat three times. We beat one, two, three.

We roll back, and come forward. And again, if you wanna add extra beat in the back, you can. That's up to you, seeing how you're feeling. And again beat one, two, three, roll it back. Good.

And again, one, two, three, roll it back. Good. Everybody's gonna pause on this next one. We're going to get ready to try and come all the way up the way we came down. So here we go, we beat one, two, three.

Uncross, recross, and try and come up to standing. Beautiful, beautiful. Woo. Alright, so now, we will do our pushups. So I'm wondering if we should step back just a little bit more.

Reach the arms on up, pull everything in and up. Round forward, try not to stick our tushies out. (laughs) Once you come down, you have four counts to walk on out to a pushup position. One, two, three, four. Now you may choose to hold your pushup or add three pushups at this point.

Go ahead and bend if you're adding the pushups. One, good, bend, two, bend, three, good. Walk on back. Round up that spine. The head is the last to come all the way back on up.

Challenging our balance. Arms are lifting, tummy is tight. Lift your right leg slightly off the ground. Begin to round forward, keeping your leg lifted. It doesn't have to lift very high at this point.

Walk out four counts. One, two, three, four. Again either hold the plank or add three pushups at this time. One, good, two, three. Now, begin to walk back, but allow your leg to lift up as high as it wants to go to get that beautiful stretch.

Once you're in that stretched position, let's open our hips. So you're gonna bend your knee and just open that hip. I know right? Stretch your leg back on up. Let it come square and lower it down just a little bit.

Begin to bend your left leg and allow your right arm to reach in front of you as your left arm reaches out to the side to find an arabesque position. Good, stretch that left leg, lengthen, beautiful. And bring your leg back down. Nice everybody. We gotta do it on the other side.

(class laughs) That was beautiful. Arms lift up, tummy is nice and tight. We're channeling that inner dancer. We're gonna lift that left leg slightly off the ground. Pull everything in and up.

Begin to round forward. Once you come forward, you have four counts to come out. Walking out one, two, three, four. Again either hold plank or do three pushups at this time. One, good, two, three.

Good, begin to walk it back, allowing your leg to lift up nice and high. Get that beautiful stretch, wherever that is for you. Bend your knee and rotate, open that hip. Bring your leg back towards that ceiling and square off the hips. Lower the leg down just a little bit.

Walk your hands in a little bit closer. Bend your right leg. Reach your right arm out to the side, left arm in front. Find the arabesque position. Beautiful everybody.

Pull everything in and up, and allow that leg to come back down. Standing, lifting, lengthening. Ladies, you are done. (class applauds) Thank you so much for a wonderful class. I hope you've enjoyed this class.

I know I've enjoyed teaching it. Thank you.