Stretch your knees, straighten your legs, lift your knees, pull up your knee caps...if you are a dancer you have heard it said a zillion ways. I am sure you are aware that your knees need to be straight during certain technical exercises so the fact that this little critique keeps popping up is probably a little frustrating. So what are you doing wrong and what can you do to get the straight knees every teacher/judge/mentor is talking about?
The fact is, that in order to obtain the straightest knees possible, you have to not only straighten your leg but you need to activate your Quadricep muscle. Doing that will then pull on the quad's tendon, that is attached to the shin bone, pulling it forward to straighten the knee and, because the knee cap is embedded in this tendon it will pull up your knees and fully straighten your legs. That was a lot of important info in two short sentences.
Let me break it down. You have two major large leg muscles-hamstrings (back of the leg) and quads (or quadriceps, the big muscle on top of your thigh). When speaking of straightening legs, the hamstring (back of your leg) has to elongate so that the back of the knee is straight. The quad muscle needs to tighten and activate to then lock the knee in place and pull up your knee cap to get your leg as straight as possible.
If you are struggling with straight knees, chances are you need to do a little work on strengthening your quads. By learning how to engage your quad muscles, you will be able consistently get to that perfect straight knee every time you need it because your body relies on muscle memory. The more you practice, the more your body remembers, and will continue to do it automatically (pretty cool, huh?),
I have several favorite exercises for engaging the quad and knees. The simplest is just doing a series of elevés. This is when you rise up to your demi point with out using a plié. The slower, the better. Two legs or in passé or coupé. Everyday.
My other fav exercise is just about engaging the quad and knees and is done on the floor with a rolled up yoga mat or towel. You simply place the mat under your hamstring while sitting on the floor and you straighten your leg and release...Check out the full video below, like it, share it, do it.
Hope this solves the problem and helps you straighten up a little :). As always, reach out for questions or things you need help correcting to lizborom@gmail.com.
Take Care of YOU, dancers!
Liz