Alignment is how your body parts stack over each other when you stand and move: seen from the side, ear, shoulder, hip, knee and ankle sit close to one vertical line, with the pelvis in neutral and your weight spread evenly through both feet. "Pulling up" is the teacher's word for lengthening upward through that line without gripping, tucking or lifting your ribs. Good alignment lets the right muscles do the work, which is why it sits under every turn, balance and jump. From the side the app reads your posture line, and from the front your shoulder placement and symmetry; pelvis tilt and rib position are only estimated from that line, so check them in the mirror too.
Stack the alignment
Stand in parallel, feet about hip-width apart. Spread your weight evenly over both feet and over three points of each foot: the base of the big toe, the base of the little toe and the centre of the heel.
Both feet equally loaded, no rocking forward or back.
Find a neutral pelvis: the pelvic bowl sits upright over your legs, not tipped forward into a swayback and not tucked under. Don't squeeze the glutes to get there. Tucking feels "correct for ballet" to many students, but it rounds the lower spine and pulls your legs out of line.
A small crease at the front of each hip, which disappears if you tuck.
Let the ribcage sit directly over the pelvis. If the lower ribs push forward, soften them down rather than lifting the chest.
Ribs resting on top of the pelvis, not thrusting out.
Let your shoulders settle level and relaxed on top of the ribcage, arms hanging freely. Let the shoulder blades slide gently down and wide. Don't pinch them together or force the chest open.
Shoulders resting, neck long, no tension in the upper back.
Check from the side in the mirror: ear, shoulder, hip, knee and ankle should line up close to a vertical line, eyes level, knees straight but not pushed back.
Stacked, not leaning forward or hanging back.
Pull up and lengthen
Pull up by getting longer, not by lifting your ribs or shoulders: imagine your whole body as a flexible tube growing long and thin from the feet to the crown of the head. Keep breathing normally.
Taller through the crown while the feet stay heavy on the floor.
Keep the lift as you bend the knees into a small demi-plié and straighten again. The pelvis stays upright and the ribs stay over it the whole way.
The pelvis travels straight down and up like a carousel horse on its pole.
Ground through the feet
In turned-out positions, only turn out as far as your hips allow. Your knees should point over your feet and your feet shouldn't roll in toward the arches. If they roll in, bring the feet closer to parallel until they don't.
The rotation comes from the top of the legs; the feet just follow.
Feel it
Tall and easy rather than held stiff. Weight spread through both feet, pelvis upright, ribs resting over it, shoulders loose and the neck long. If you feel gripping in the glutes, a clenched jaw or raised shoulders, you're holding the position instead of lengthening into it. Teachers often use imagery here: the body as a long flexible tube, shoulders hanging like sails.
Fix-its
- You tuck the pelvis under to look "pulled up" Tucking flexes the lower spine and pulls the legs and feet out of line. Let the pelvis come back to upright: look for the small crease at the front of the hips and stop squeezing the glutes.
- Swayback with the ribs pushing forward Bring the pelvis back to upright and soften the lower ribs down so the ribcage sits over the pelvis. Don't fix it by lifting the chest higher.
- Shoulders raised, or pinched back hard Let the shoulders rest on the ribcage and the blades slide down and wide. Cues like "pinch your shoulder blades" or "open your chest" tend to add tension; drop them.
- Hanging in the hips: pelvis pushed forward, upper body leaning back This is a common tired-posture habit. Bring the pelvis back under the ribcage until ear, shoulder, hip and ankle line up again in the side mirror.
- Feet rolling in, or knees not over the toes, in turned-out positions Reduce your turnout until the knees point over the feet and the arches don't collapse. Forcing turnout from below the hip has been linked to more injuries in dancers, though the research is still limited.
Drill
- Hip-crease check: do a demi-plié in parallel and notice how the pelvis hangs, then straighten the legs keeping the pelvis upright. The front-of-hip crease should stay.
- Wall plié: stand with your back to a wall, pelvis lightly touching it and shoulders off it. Do slow demi-pliés, keeping the glutes lightly on the wall and the weight even across the three points of each foot.
- Slow bridges: lie on your back, knees bent, arms by your sides. Lift into a bridge slowly and lower slowly, breathing throughout. Stop if you feel pain in your back.
- Mirror check: look or film from the side (ear, shoulder, hip, knee, ankle line) and from the front (shoulders level, weight even on both feet) before you start barre.
Sources
- Quin, Rafferty & Tomlinson — Safe Dance Practice, excerpt "Common deviations from ideal alignment" (Human Kinetics, 2015)
- Eric Franklin — Dance Imagery for Technique and Performance, 3rd ed., excerpt "Force absorption in plié" (Human Kinetics)
- Debra Worth — Dance Studies: Choreographing Dance and Life, 8.8 Alignment (Folsom Lake College / LibreTexts)
- Deborah Vogel — Ask Deb: How Can I Help Young Children Stand Correctly? (Dance Teacher, 2018)
- Rachel Rizzuto, with Megan Williams — Love Your Curves: Spinal Edition (Dance Teacher, 2016)
- Jenkins, Wyon & Nevill — Can turnout measurements be used to predict physiotherapist-reported injury rates in dancers? (Med Probl Perform Art, 2013)
- Kaufmann et al. — Does forced or compensated turnout lead to musculoskeletal injuries in dancers? A systematic review (J Biomech, 2021)
Last checked 2026-10-26.