- Hello, beautiful dancers!
Today I'm gonna teach you how to do a penche.
So, little disclaimer.
You wanna make sure that you're warmed up before this video.
Anytime I teach you a technical skill,
especially your flexibility tricks,
you wanna make sure that you're nice and warm.
So pop over to one of my warm-up or stretching videos,
Get your blood pumping, and then jump back to this tutorial.
Okay, so some of you are like,
"What's a penche, Miss Auti?"
Well, step one, let me show you.
So, a penche could be without your hand, or with.
This is with your hand.
So, it's basically just like,
also called a six o'clock, or a 180,
I think that's what it is.
Is that the right term?
That's what it would be right?
Like a flat 180?
- [Matt] It would be.
Mine's not 180.
- That's okay.
- [Matt] Mines more like, 75.
Maybe a little past, maybe like 110.
- Matt, this is not about you.
Okay, so a couple important things about that penche
that you need to remember is, keep your chest up!
Oftentimes, people just dip that chest all the way down
and that is wrong so keep your chest lifted,
shoulders down, chin up, okay?
Another thing is, you need to have a strong back
because think about it.
You're lifting up into an arabesque first.
So, if those back muscles aren't developed enough
to hold your leg high, you're gonna struggle with this.
So, make sure to do some exercises
that we're gonna do later in this video, okay?
So, chest up, strong back,
and then hamstring flexibility.
So all of those stretching videos that I have up,
go watch them.
You wanna make sure your sweet little hammies
are nice and stretched for you to be able
to (clicks tongue) into this Penche.
So the first thing that I want you to try
is just take a tendu derrière.
So, a Tendu back, think of your alignment chest up.
Don't already start with your chest forward.
And we're gonna do a little pulses.
One,
two,
three.
You're gonna feel this in your booty
and in your low back.
You're getting those back muscles ready to go.
Maybe try like 15 or 20 on both sides
with three sets on both sides
and a 30 second break in between.
Lift,
and lift
and lift.
You're gonna wanna dip forward because this is easier,
I don't feel anything in my back right now,
but the moment I lift my chest up,
I can feel the muscles working
and those are the ones that you need to get really strong.
So, 15 to 20 on both sides.
Three sets each, 30 second break in-between.
Yeah.
Hi guys, if you want more help with you flexibility
I have a flexibility program on Patreon.
You get a new flexibility video, every single week
and you can talk to me individually
about your flexibility questions.
So, pop onto patreon.com/MissAuti and join us!
So, the first penche we're gonna try
is with your hand, okay?
You can either hold onto something,
if your brand new for your penches
don't just go willy-nilly in the middle.
You wanna hold on to something
and what we're gonna do is,
we're going to take our knee up up to a passé
grab your knee on the outside.
You're gonna shift it out to the side,
your palm is gonna shift to the inside of your knee
as you shoe back into an attitude.
If this is already to straining on your body,
take it lower and pull on to your thigh,
instead of your knee.
Once you're back, you're going to start to lean forward
without dropping your chest.
Lean up and over.
And extend that leg in the back.
Now, some of us may be here and feel a stretch.
That's okay, what I want you to do is
to keep getting to your fullest potential.
And in-between working on your penche,
work on your hamstring stretches.
Remember to go to my stretching videos.
That can be anything from your toe touches,
to your wide leg stance, over the one knee,
over to the other knee.
Those are your hamstring stretches,
so pay attention to those in my other videos.
Now, once you're here.
You wanna make sure to lift up and over.
Instead of hyper extending into that bottom leg.
Did you see that dip here?
Even though that's easier, it's not proper technique
and it's also not good for the back of your legs.
You can hyper extend the back of your knee and get injured.
So, passé up, leg to the side,
switch your hands to the inside of your knee,
lift up and over, and extend.
Keep your chest lifted, now that top leg
needs to be as stick straight as possible.
And return nice and slow through an aranbesque
and lower down.
I'm gonna show my not so good side,
so that you can see--
Actually let's rephrase that Miss Auti,
I'm gonna show the side that needs more improvement,
that we're gonna keep working on.
Positive mindset!
We're gonna go passé up, take the leg to the side,
shift your knee or your hand to the inside of your knee.
And extend it up, so right here
I'm starting to feel stretch in my other hamstring
and my hip doesn't wanna go,
doesn't wanna lift that leg up as high.
So, what I'm gonna focus on is staying here
shifting my weight forward
and using my back muscle to lift that leg even higher.
Straightening it out and I'm gonna hold.
Now, I am wanting to lean back cause it gets my leg higher,
but I'm gonna stay forward with my weight.
Not hyper extend my bottom knee
and use my back muscles to pull that leg up.
And stretch.
Slowly but surely you'll get there.
All right dancers, I'm going to attempt the impossible!
A penche with no hands.
(surprised sound)
All right everyone, so you're gonna start with a tendu back
I'm gonna do the side that I'm stronger at,
so I can show the true technique with it.
You want to make sure, again,
that you're not going to hyper extend back
into that supporting leg.
Try and keep your leg forward as best as you can,
Shoot your arms back into length and elbow, and blades,
this can kinda differentiate
if you're doing ballet penches, but I do think
the cleaner the line, the easier it is.
Shoulders down, chin up.
You're gonna lift, using your back muscles
into a beautiful arabesque.
From there, you're keeping your chest up,
you wanna walk your spot onto something that's not moving.
And then, control the way back up.
Now, if you don't have
a super extensive range of motion right now, it's okay.
You can start by doing something little,
just getting the mechanics of it and then coming back.
Because this takes a lot of stability and balance
which just comes with practice.
(chuckles)
I'm talking here to Matt, like he's my audience.
- [Matt] I'm taking notes over here.
- Take notes baby!
One more time, we're here.
We lift up, up, up.
We're keeping our chest up,
we're not going to dump our chest down.
We're gonna lengthen, squeeze, push our feet into the floor.
Come up with nice control,
shoot your arms back for stability.
Finito.
Good job, sweet friends!
So, just a reminder.
Make sure to be gentle on your body through this.
Before you do your penches, warm up!
During your penches start with the foundational steps.
You never wanna just jump straight to doing something,
you're gonna hurt your body.
And then after, make sure you do a nice little cool down.
Do a little bit of stretching,
if you're sore maybe put a little bit of heat on it,
before you dance next or ice after this.
Just take care of your body,
as you're building all of these skill
because it'll help you in the long run.
I love all of you!
Don't forget to go to patreon.com/MissAuti
for more flexibility help.
You can get a video, every week.
I love you guys!
(upbeat music)
♪ Spread my wings and fly away ♪
♪ I believe I can soar ♪
- That was my part - No
♪ I see me running through that open door ♪
♪ I believe ♪
- Is that too high?
I can go like even lower.
(laughs)
(upbeat music)