Plié means to bend the knees; relevé means to rise onto the balls of the feet (demi-pointe). They show up in almost every ballet step, from the first exercise at the barre to jumps, turns and balances. From the front, the camera reads whether your knees track over your feet in plié, whether your heels lift, and your balance on relevé. Ankle sickling is only a rough read, so check it in the mirror too.
Plié: knees over the feet
Stand in first position with only as much turnout as your hips can hold. Spread your weight evenly over three points of each foot: the ball of the big toe, the ball of the little toe and the heel.
a level base under both feet.
Demi-plié: bend your knees as far as they will go while the whole foot stays on the floor. All demi-pliés keep the heels down. Then straighten back to the start.
the heels heavy, the body staying tall.
Bend your knees directly over your second and third toes, with the rotation coming from the hips. Don't roll the feet in or twist the knees to look more turned out. If your shins are naturally rotated (tibial torsion), your knees may not sit exactly over your toes; keep your weight even on the feet instead.
Keep the movement continuous: take the same time going down as coming up, with your weight shared evenly between both legs. Stay lifted through the body as you bend and as you rise.
sinking down while the top of your head keeps lengthening up.
Grand plié: go through demi-plié and keep bending until your thighs are about level with the floor. In first, third and fifth, let the heels release only as much as you need on the way down and put them back as soon as you can on the way up. In second (and open fourth) the heels stay down the whole time.
Relevé: rise to demi-pointe
Relevé: rise high onto demi-pointe, standing on the balls of the feet and the under part of the toes, not on the tips. Schools differ in how you get there: the French school uses a smooth, continuous rise; the Cecchetti method and the Russian school use a little spring.
lifted onto the balls, the legs long.
Keep each ankle in a neutral line: weight toward the big toe and second toe, not rolling out to the little toes (sickling) and not pushed over onto the big-toe side (winging). Teachers vary slightly on the exact toes; ask yours.
the heel pulling straight up behind you.
Control up and down
Lower with control through the foot until the heels are down, keeping the ankles in line. Fix a sickle at the start of the rise, not at the top. The ankle is least stable partway up, so don't hover there or drop down onto a rolled ankle; rolling out on relevé is a common way dancers sprain the outside of the ankle.
the same straight ankle line going up and coming down.
Feel it
In plié you sink evenly through both legs with the knees over the feet, heels heavy, and the body staying tall as if it were floating over the legs. In relevé the heels lift straight up behind you and the weight sits on the balls of the feet toward the big and second toes, never on the little-toe side. Up and down take the same care.
Fix-its
- Your knees fall inside your feet in plié Your feet are turned out further than your hips hold. Close the V a little and bend the knees over the second and third toes, rotating from the hips.
- Your heels lift in a demi-plié That is the bottom of your demi-plié: stop just before the heels want to come up. Demi-pliés always keep the heels on the floor.
- Your heels come up in grand plié in second In second (and open fourth) the heels stay down. Only go as low as you can with flat feet, aiming for thighs about level with the floor.
- Your ankles roll out (sickle) on relevé Send the weight toward the big and second toes and think of the heel lifting straight up. Correct it at the start of the rise. Practise with a small ball between the heels; if it drops, you are sickling. Rolling out on relevé puts the ankle at risk of a sprain.
- You push over onto the big toe (wing) or stay low on relevé Keep a neutral foot rather than forcing a wing on supporting relevés; pushing toward the big toe can irritate tendons. Rise high onto the balls of the feet, not halfway, and not onto the tips of the toes.
Drill
- Demi-pliés in all five positions at the barre, heels down, knees over the second and third toes. Film from the front to check the knees.
- Grand pliés in first and second: count the way down and the way up and make them equal. Heels stay down in second.
- Relevé progression: two-legged relevés first, then single-leg relevés at the barre, then slow single-leg relevés in the centre. Keep calf work to a few reps per side in class.
- Ball-between-the-heels relevés: hold a small ball between your heels as you rise and lower. If it slips out, your ankles are sickling.
- Seated band work: loop a band under the forefoot and point, flex and turn the sole in and out against it, 10-20 reps in each direction.
- Stop if you feel pain in an ankle or knee. Don't force range your body can't yet reach.
Sources
- American Ballet Theatre — Ballet Dictionary (Plié, Relevé, Demi-pointes)
- Kassing — Beginning Ballet: Learning barre exercises in beginning ballet class (Human Kinetics excerpt)
- Worth — Dance Studies 8.8: Alignment (LibreTexts)
- Brandt (with podiatric surgeon J. Brummer) — Ask Amy: The Truth About Forcing Your Turnout, Pointe (2017)
- Henderson — Sickling Is More Than Just a Technique Problem. Here's How to Fix It, Dance Teacher (2023)
- Dance Spirit — The Ins and Outs of Sickling and Winging (2017)
- Russell — Breaking pointe: Foot and ankle injuries in dance, Lower Extremity Review (2012)
Last checked 2026-10-26.