Dynamic Flowing Cadillac

Hi. My name is Deborah Harris and I'm so excited to be back here at Pilates Anytime. Most dancers spend their entire lives working their legs and their feet, leading to those areas becoming exceptionally strong. However tempting it may be, we can't ignore our upper body, our arms, or fail to think about the small joints in our hands and our feet. Today's dynamic flowing Cadillac routine offers ideal conditioning for dancers.

It focuses on strengthening the upper body while improving flexibility. On top of it being a challenging routine, we're going to learn some fun variations for the arm springs, the trapeze, and end with a very unique variation of the ballet stretches. Participating in today's class, I have Gia. Alright let's get going. Are you ready?

Alright. So, we're going to start standing, and go ahead and measure from the bar. So measure from your hand just to make sure you're the right distance back, so back just a little bit more, and we begin with our press downs. So bring your thumb onto the other side. Heels are together, toes are apart, tummy is nice and tight.

Begin to press the arms straight down, hold, two, three and then release, beautiful. And again, press straight down and hold, two, three and release. Pressing down, stay down and we'll add a nice stretch for our neck. Turn your head towards the side, back to center, to the side, back to center and release. And again, press down.

Turn your head to the opposite side, back to center, to the side, back to center and release. And again, press down, turn your head towards the window, to the center, to the side, back to center and release. And again, press down, turn your head to the side, to the center, to the side, back to center and release. Go ahead and place your right hand in the middle of the bar. Left hand comes back behind your head.

Press your head into your hand and slide your shoulder blade down, keep ribs in, press the arm straight down, hold, two, three and release. And again, pressing straight down working to keep those shoulders square, and release. And one more time, press down, hold, two, three and release. Switching to the other side, again, allow your head to press into your hand, slide your shoulder blade down, and press the arm down. Hold, two, three and release.

And again, press down, hold, two, three and release. One more time, press down, hold two, three and release. Bring your arm back to the bar, make sure they're in line with your shoulders. Press straight back down to open across the chest. Hold.

Let your fingers be long, two, three and release. Preparing for your hundred. Pressing the bar down, fast vigorous pumps, we take a deep breath in. And in two, three, four, five. Exhale two, three, four, five.

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.

In two, three, four, five. Out two, three, four, five. Smaller pumps and out two, three, four, five. In two, three, four, five. And out two, three, four and five.

Press down and hold, and release. Good. Warming up our feet. Press the arms straight down. Pull everything in and up into your powerhouse, rise up into a relevé.

Keep the bar close to your thighs and slowly roll down. Metatarsal arched heel without moving that bar. And again, lift up and roll down metatarsal arch heel. And lift up, and roll down metatarsal arch heel. And lift up, roll down metatarsal arch heel.

Lift up, and roll it down. Let's do five more, and roll it down. Four more, and roll it down. Starting to feel those legs and feet waking up? Good, three.

Two more. One more, slowly roll it down. Keep the bar close to your thighs and then release, beautiful. Go ahead and stand underneath the bar. Working on our push-ups.

Lunge forward with your right leg forward, and really press your left heel down. Bring the bar right in line with your chest. Let your thumb come underneath. Stretch your arms out long, keep your wrist long, and bend back in one, and press out. And bend in two, press out, pull ribs in.

And bend in three, press out. And bend in four, press out, And bend in five, press out. Bend in six, press out. Bend in seven, press out. Bend in eight, press out.

Bend in nine, press out. Bend in 10, exchange legs. Good, lunging forward again, and really take the time to press down that back heel, elbows are wide, press out one, and bend back in. We'll do 10 of these as well. Press out two, and in.

Press out three, and in. Press out four, and in. Press out five, and in. Press out six and in. Press out seven, and in.

Press out eight, and in. Doing great, nine, and in. One more, 10 and in. Exchange feet. Adding a variation, press the arms out and hold.

Lower the arms down. Bring the arms back in line with your chest and bend back in one, five of these. Press out, lower, lift. Bend in two. Press out, lower, lift.

Bend in three. Press out, lower, lift. Bend in four. Press out, lower, lift. Bend in five.

Exchange feet. Second variation. Press the arms out, now hold. Reach the arms up as high as they'll go, lower them all the way back down, bring them back in line with your center line, and bend in one. Press out, lift up, lower down, and bend back in two.

Press out. As you lift up, the shoulders slide down, lengthen all the way down. Back in line with your chest, three. Press out, lift up, lower down, bend back in four. One more time, press out, lift all the way up, lower down, bend back in five.

Good, exchange feet. The bar is gonna come right in between your index finger and your thumb, the hands come right onto your far head. Absolutely bring them up just a little bit higher, lunge a little bit more, shoulder blades are down, tummy is tight. Go ahead and press out on a high diagonal, and widen the elbows as you come back in. One, five of these, press out.

Bend in, two, press out. Bend in, three, press out. Bend in, four press out. Bend in, five, hold and exchange feet. Shoulder blades down, tummy nice and tight, elbows wide.

Press out, one, and bend back in. Press out, two, and bend back in. Press out, three, and bend back in. Press out, four, and in, one more. Press out, five, and in, good.

Carefully come on out. And now we'll get ready for our roll back. Preparing for a roll down. Grab a hold of our roll back bar, sitting up nice and tall, first just start by pressing the bar down. Allow the shoulder blades to slide down your back.

Hold, two, three and then release, beautiful. And again, the shoulder blades slide down, the arm presses down, the energy goes straight up, and release. And again, press down, hold, two, three, and release. This time just a little less pressure. Press down the bar, hold.

Begin to tuck your tailbone under and slowly roll down and find your lower vertebrae, your middle vertebrae, your upper vertebrae, your shoulder blades and then your head. Beautiful, ribs draw in. Nice deep breath in, inhale, exhale. Lift your head and hang from the bar as you roll all the way up, peeling yourself off of the mat. Beautiful.

Roll through the spine, let's do that one more time. Press the bar down just a little bit. Begin to tuck the tailbone under finding your lower vertebrae, your middle vertebrae, your upper vertebrae, your shoulder blades. Lengthening long through the spine. And now lift your head, hang from the bar and roll all the way back up.

Adding on. Put a little bit of pressure, begin to round back, tuck your tailbone under. Once you get down, stay down. With straight arms, think of your knuckles reaching towards your toes. Press the arms straight down.

Open across the chest, hold, two, three and then release. And again, press straight down and hold, two, three, and release. And again, press straight down, hold, two, three and release. Begin to lift your head round and peel off of the mat, hanging from that bar as you come up. Working through the spine as you roll all the way up.

We repeat, press the arms down. Begin to tuck the tailbone under. Once you get down, stay down. Second variation. Widen the arms, hold, two, three and press back on out.

Let the ribs drop down a little bit more and go ahead and bend the elbows. Keep the shoulders away from the ears and press back on out. And one more time, bend and hold, two, three. Press it back out. Start to peel off of the mat, rolling up on vertebrae at a time.

And we'll combine the two now. Put a little bit of pressure on the bar. Press down, begin to round back, tucking that tailbone under. Once you get down, stay down. With straight arms, press down, hold, two, three, and release.

Widen and draw in, hold, two, three and release. Straight down, press down, hold, two, three, and release. Widen, hold, two, three and release. One more set, straight down, hold, two, three and release. Widen and bring it in, hold, two, three and release.

Pulling deep into your powerhouse, hang from the bar, roll all the way back on up. Nice. Once you get up, turn your hands so they face you. Draw your legs together, bend your knees, place your feet down flat. In this position, pull everything in and up, and begin to round back.

Find a beautiful C Curve, and hold. Bending at your elbows, bring the elbows into the side of the body, hold, two, three and bring it back up. That was a nice adjustment with the wrist, keep them in alignment, which you're doing a great job of, hold, two, two, three and release. And bring it back down, contracting those biceps. Three, two, three and release.

And again bring it in four, two, three and release. One more time. Hold, two, three and release. Begin to come all the way back on up. Roll through that spine, second variation.

A round back, you're ready to go. Good, hold, scoop and squeeze. Bend at the elbows, bring it to the side of your waist. From your forearms, reach it down towards your thighs, and bend back in and hold, two, three. Stretch it long and bend in.

Hold, two, three and down long. Beautiful, and bend in hold, three, two, one and out. Good, bend in, four, three and good, one more. Press in, hold, two, three and lengthen long, come all the way up. You made that look so easy, but that's a really hard exercise.

Stretch your legs long so they touch the poles. Turn your hands to face the other direction. Now with a long, flat back, you're pulling everything in and up. Go ahead and hinge back in one straight line. Right to there, hold.

Widen the elbows, pull in towards your chest. Good, and then press out nice and long. Stay long through the sides, a little bit longer, there we go. And press in, hold. Two, three, and press back out.

And bend back in, hold, three. Two, one, and out. Good, and bend in, hold. And out, one more time. And bend in, hold, keep the elbows lifted.

Press back on out, and then come all way back up. Beautiful, so now we get this lovely stretch for our spines. Keep your feet connected to the poles. Place your right hand in the middle of the bar. Your left hand is going to cross overtop of it.

Slowly start to roll down by pressing your left foot into the bar. You're gonna roll down your right side, making a circular port de bras, the arm circles. Now press your right foot into the bar, and then roll all the way up. And the arm will cross on top, perfect. Slowly roll down, put pressure, so you get that counter stretch through the right leg.

Circle, now through the right leg, and all the way on up. And again, cross it over, pressing into that left leg. Good, now press into the right, and up. Beautiful, how's that feel. Really good Good! Let's do it to the other side.

So, cross the right arm over, start to roll down, put pressure into that right foot. Right here's where you feel that counter stretch, and then open, press into the left, and all the way up. Try and keep your arms straight, and again. Rolling down, press into that right foot, circle, and around, press into the left to come up. One more time, crossing over.

Press into the right, press into the left. And all the way back up. Nice, and let's bring that back on up. Alright, we're gonna turn you around, do some arm work, some more arm work. So, turn around, lie down.

Alright, scoot back just a little bit more, alright. We'll do a test to figure what position is best for you. Reach those arms out nice and long, let the ribs drop, and the feet are on the mat, the knees are bent, press those arms straight on down. Really reach them out nice and long, hold. Two, three, and reach the arms back up.

Does that feel like that's good tension for you? Would you wanna come down just a little bit more? A tiny bit more. Good, alright. I think you can, too.

Alright, in this position, reach those arms nice and long. Press them straight down, scoop and squeeze. Allow your upper body to lift up. Good, stretch the arms even longer, curl a littler higher, hold. Two, three, keep your arms still, roll your torso back down.

The head comes down, once the head is down, then the arms can lift up slightly. Press the arms back down, scoop and squeeze, lift your upper body up, reach even longer, hold. Two, three, keep the arms still. Roll your torse back down. Head comes down, then the arms release slightly.

Let's add on, press the arms down, scoop and squeeze, lift on up. Bend your right leg in. Extend it out long, one, and bend back on in, slide shoulders down, press out, two. And bend back in, press out, three. Bend back in, hold, place it down, lift the left leg up, press out, stretch, one, and bend back in.

Press out, two, beautiful adjustment, and bend back in. Press out, three, bend back in. Place your foot down flat, curl a little bit higher, keep your arms still, roll your torse down. And then allow the arms to come back up, really engaging into that powerhouse. Pressing the arms down, curling on up, look right at your powerhouse.

Pull your right leg in. Extend it out nice and long, and we lift it up three times. One, and bring it back down. Lift up, two, and down. Lift up, three, and down.

Bend your knee, place it down flat. Left leg, extend it on out. We lift up, one, and lengthen down. Lift up, two, and down. Lift up, three, and down.

Bend your knee, place it down. Press the arms down, roll down your torso. And then allow the arms to come back up. Combining the two together. Press the arms down, tummy nice and tight, curl on up, look right into that powerhouse.

Pull your right leg on in. We extend out three times, one, and bend it in. Press out, two, and in. Press out, three, hold, we lift up, one. And bring it down, two.

Three, bend your knee, place it down flat. Extend your leg in, we extend out, one, and bend it in. Extend out, two, and bend it in. Extend out, three, hold, lift up, one, and lower. Lift up, two, and lower.

Lift up, three, and lower. Bend your knee, place it down flat. Curl higher, arms stay still, roll your torso down. Bring those arms back on up. Good, relax those arms for a second.

Nice! Bend your knees back into your chest. We're gonna get ready for a single straight leg stretch. Reach those arms out nice and long, press the arms straight down. Scoop and squeeze, curl on up, now curl a little higher. Pull your right leg in, extend your left leg on out, and then exchange, and exchange, and exchange, stretch those arms long.

Good pulling deep through your stomach. Beautiful. Going right, and left, and right, and left. Two more sets, right, and left, one more set. Right, and left, bend both knees in, curl higher, and then roll back down, keeping your arms still.

And then allow the arms to come back up. Alright, variations. Press the arms down, curl up nice and high. Stretch both legs on out, this is your start and finish position. Lift your right leg on up, bend your knee, stretch it out long, and pause.

Lift your left leg up, bend your knee, stretch it out, and pause. Lift your right leg up, bend your knee, stretch it out, and pause. Lift the left leg up, bend, stretch out, and pause. One more to each to leg, lift up, bend, stretch, and pause. Lift up, bend, stretch, and pause.

We hold two, three, bend, two, three. Roll down the torso, and then the arms come up. Beautiful! We're gonna reverse that. Press the arms down, tummy is tight, curl on up. Stretch both legs on out.

Begin by bending the right leg in, extend it up, lower down, and pause. Bend the left leg in, lift up, lower down, pause. Bend the right leg in, lift up, lower, pause. Bend in, lift up, lower, pause, one more to each leg. Bend in, lift up, lower, pause.

Bend in, lift up, lower, pause. Hold, two, three. Bend, two, three. Hands stay still, roll your torso down, and good. So, this is preparing us for our bicycle, okay?

With our bicycle this time, as your bend your leg in, see if you can touch the mat as you're bending the leg in. Lengthen out, pause, when it lines up with the left leg, then bend in, lengthen out, and pause. Of course, we never compromise our back, so if touching the mat means you're going to arch away, then I don't want you to touch the mat, I want you to keep everything imprinted into the mat, okay? Press the arms down, tummy nice and tight. Curl up nice and high, stretch your legs out.

Begin by bending your right leg, touch that mat if you can, reach it up long, lengthen, hold. Left leg, bend, lift up, lengthen, hold. Right, bend, lift up, lengthen, hold. Left, bend, lift up, hold, one more each leg. Right, beautiful! Make sure you get that full circle though.

Pull it in, lift it up, lengthen, hold. Two, three, bend, two, three. Arms stay still, roll down, and relax back down, good. It's hard, our body starts to get fatigued, but we wanna make sure we're hitting that circle. Alright, we're gonna reverse it.

(laughing) Press those arms down, curl up nice and high. Stretch the legs out nice and long. So, start by lifting your right leg up. Bend your knee, touch the mat, reach it out long, and pause. Left leg up, bend your knee, touch the mat, reach out, and pause.

Right leg up, bend your knee, touch the mat, reach it out, lengthen, and pause. Left leg, bend, stretch, and pause, one more to each leg. Right, bend, stretch, and pause. Left, bend, stretch, and pause. Hold, two, three, bend, two, three, and roll it back down.

Nicely executed, and release. Good, take those hands on out, stretch your legs out nice and long on the mat. Reach the arms up to the ceiling. Nice deep breath in, inhale, exhale, roll all the way up to transition. You can give yourself a little stretch too, if you'd like.

And then roll up through your spine. We're gonna set up our bar here, as if we were doing our tower at this time. So, here we're gonna hook on one little notch. And we're gonna put on one bottom spring. And then, after this is all set up, you can carefully lie down underneath, watch your head.

Beautiful. And scoot back just a hair for me and make sure you're right in the center. Your feet are gonna go right onto that bar. Good, and stretch the legs straight on up. Good, and you feel okay?

Alright, stretch the arms long, press the sides of shoulder blades down. And flex at that foot, ahh. Drop the glutes down, feel that deep hamstring to heel stretch. In this position, soften your knees slightly, make sure they track in line with your shoulders right to there. And the first thing I want you to do is your aim your sit bones down, so press down through the sit bones, and then stretch your heels long up towards the ceiling.

One, and again, soften. And slowly stretch, two, really flex out that heel. Ahh. Heels soften. Stretch, three, beautiful, soften.

Stretch, four, soften, making sure the knees are tracking. Stretch, five, soften. Stretch, six, soften. Stretch, seven, drop through your ribs, soften. Stretch, eight, soften.

Stretch, nine, soften. Stretch, 10, and hold. Go ahead and come either right in front of your heel or on your heel, that's a preference, whichever one feels better to you. You're still going to flex though, reaching your toes towards your shins, dropping your glutes down into the mat, stretching those arms, and keeping the shoulders down. Begin, soften, just a couple things to think about.

And stretch, one, and then soften. And stretch, two, soften. Stretch, three, soften. Stretch, four, soften. Stretch, five, soften.

Stretch, six, soften. Stretch, seven, soften. Stretch, eight, good, soften. Stretch, nine, soften. Stretch, 10, and hold.

Go ahead and take your right leg off of the bar, stretch it long on the mat. Now, if you happen to be a little bit tighter, you could always have this leg bent, but you're nice and loose, so we're gonna keep it night and straight. Keeping your foot flexed, keeping your hips square, soften your knee. Make sure it's tracking in line with that shoulder. One, good, and soften.

And stretch, two, and soften. Stretch, three, soften. Stretch, four, soften. Stretch, and pause, five, there we go, soften. Stretch, and pause on the top, six, soften.

Stretch, seven, soften. Stretch, eight, soften. Stretch, nine, soften. Stretch, 10, hold, really drop that glute down, really flex at your foot, feel that nice stretch. And then exchange feet.

So, again, on the heel or slightly in front of the heel. And stretch that leg out long. Hips are square. Flex your foot a little bit more. Uh-huh, soften the knee.

And from your heel, really stretch up, one, and soften. Drop the ribs, stretch, two, soften. Stretch, three. Stretch, four. Stretch, five, good.

Stretch, six. Stretch, seven. Stretch, eight. Stretch, nine. And stretch, 10, hold, dropping that glute down, flexing at that foot, getting a beautiful stretch.

Now, you're gonna come onto the metatarsal of both feet. We're gonna work a little bit on our demi-pointe from here. So, we're learning a little variation. I want you to point your foot, stay in that pointed position as you bend your knees in slightly towards you, then stretch your legs straight back up towards the ceiling and flex your foot. Yes, that counts as one set.

Point, bend, stretch, flex, two. Ribs down, point, bend, stretch, flex, three. It's a great way to really work through that foot. Point, bend, stretch, flex, four. Point, bend, stretch, flex, five.

Point, bend, stretch, flex, six. Point, bend, stretch, flex, seven. Point, bend, stretch, flex, eight. Point, bend, stretch, flex, nine. Point, bend, stretch, flex, 10, hold.

When you're ready, take your right leg off. Stretch it out nice and long. Staying in that flexed position, so really, yes, beautiful. And you can feel that stretch, hamstring all the way to the heel. Soften you knee, 10 in this position.

And then stretch, leading your heel up towards the ceiling, one. And then soften. And stretch, two, soften. Stretch, three. 10 of these.

Stretch, four, good, soften. Stretch, five, soften. Stretch, six, soften. Stretch, seven, soften. Stretch, eight, soften.

Stretch, nine, soften. Stretch, 10, hold, really flex that foot. Drop the glute, ahh! And exchange. At least that's what I feel when I do it. (laughing) The exchange, feet freeing the leg, all the way down.

Are you in a good position? Okay, beautiful. Go ahead and soften your knee. And then stretch up, one, flex a little bit more. Yeah, soften, and stretch, two.

I'm gonna rotate you a little bit more, too. Soften, stretch, three. Soften, stretch, four. Soften, stretch, five. Soften, stretch, six.

Soften, seven. Stretch, eight, good. Soften, nine. And soften, 10, and hold. Exchange feet.

Bring your foot back down flat. That variation we did, we're now gonna do on one foot. So, point to the demi-pointe. Bend your knee, stretch your leg, flex your foot, one. And when I say demi-pointe, I just mean to the metatarsal.

Beautiful. Bend, stretch, flex, two. And again, point. Bend, stretch, flex, three, point. Bend, stretch, flex, four.

Good, it's great to strengthen the ankles. Point, bend, stretch, flex, five. And all the muscles in your feet. Bend, stretch, flex, six. Point.

Bend, stretch, flex, seven. Point, bend, stretch, flex, eight. Point, bend, stretch, flex, nine. Point, bend, stretch, flex, 10, hold. Really flex, really drop that glute for that deep hamstring to heel stretch.

She's smiling 'cause she feels it! And when you're ready, you're gonna exchange, and do the exact same thing on the other leg. Good, stretch it out nice and long. Flexed foot, I'm gonna rotate that way. Good, soften your knee. I'm sorry, go all the way up, I got excited.

Point, now I get to soften the knee, bend, stretch, flex, one, and point. Bend, stretch, flex, two. Point. Bend, stretch, flex, three, point. Bend, stretch, flex, four, point.

Bend, stretch, flex, five, point. Bend, stretch, flex, six, point. Bend, stretch, flex, seven, ribs down. Good, point. Bend, stretch, flex, eight, point.

Bend, stretch, flex, nine, point. Bend, stretch, flex, 10, hold for that nice stretch, beautiful. Place both feet back on the bar. Getting ready for our monkey. So, bring your hands back.

Lift your head, slide back if you want, you can rest your head on my knee for just a second. Good, draw your feet in closer together and grab ahold of the bar. Lift all the way up, stretching up nice and high, hold, beautiful. Hold, and then slowly roll back down. We're gonna do a variation with that.

Go ahead and lift all the way on up. Once you get up, stay up, I want you to bend your right knee. Oh, but keep it on the bar. And flex your left heel, hold it for me. And good, press down, do that, glute.

And now it goes nice and deep. And then exchange, good. So, now we're really flexing at the ankle, the right leg, and dropping the right glute down. And then exchange, beautiful. And exchange.

Nice. Bend both knees and come all the way back down. And then a third variation of this. Come all the way back on up. Widen the elbows out to the side, flex the feet, get that beautiful deep stretch.

And then come all the way back down. Once you're ready, take your right foot off. Stretch it long on the mat. We're gonna do one leg monkey. Press the bar straight on up.

Never forcing, simply guiding the stretch, beautiful. Go to where you can, and then slowly come back on down. We're gonna do that again. That looks nice, and lift all the way up, and it should feel nice, if you can, now flex your foot to bring it a little deeper. Mm-hmm.

And slowly come back down. And we'll do one more. Lift all the way up, elbows to the side, flexing at the ankle, hold. And come all the way down. Once your down, exchange your feet.

And we're gonna repeat on this side. Stretch the leg out nice and long, beautiful, go ahead and lift on up. Stretching long. And then slowly rolling back down, this looks gorgeous. (laughing) It feels really good?

Oh, I'm glad. Stay here, flex, good. And come back down. And this next time, we do a flex with the elbows wide. Lift all the way up, flexing the foot, elbows wide, deep stretch.

Lift, lift, lift, lift! And good, come all the way back down. Nice! We'll take our foot down, we'll bring this down. You'll slide back on to the main mat. I'll unhook this. And we'll bring this down.

And then we'll get ready for some trapeze work. And now we're ready for breathing. So, I will have you measure your own distance, the fingers just touching the pole out to here. Oh, look at that, it's in line, yay! (laughing) And I'll have you go ahead and lie down, please. Let me come to the top and just make sure that this is secured.

Good, and everything's in alignment. Nice! Stay where you are. And you get this, my friend. Alright, tummy is nice and tight, ribs are dropping down. Now, first, we'll break it down.

So, just reach your arms straight down, open across your chest, and hold. Two, three, and bring the arms back up. Let's do one more of those, ribs dropping down, pressing the arms long, knuckles reaching long. Hold, two, three, and bring it back up. Stay there.

Lifting, just the lower part of your body, lift your hips up nice and high. Hold, two, three. And then slowly roll down, find your ribs, your waist, and then your hips. Beautiful, and you can rotate out here, if you'd like. There we go, and again.

Lift on up nice and high, hold. Two, three, and slowly roll down through the ribs, through the waist, through the hips, and down. Alright, we're gonna combine the two. So, here we go, the arms pressed down, the hips lift up. Hold, two, three.

Exhale the air out as you roll down through the ribs, through the waist, through the hips, and down. So, we inhale as we press everything up. Inhale, hold. Two, three, exhale that air, and roll down through the ribs, through the waist, through the hips, and down. And one more time, inhale, press down, lift up, hold.

Two, three, exhale, roll down through the ribs, through the waist, through the hips, and down. Nice. Go ahead and release the bar. Take your legs on out, and we're gonna come up to standing for some hanging pull ups. And as you come up, I'll have you hand me down the rollback bar, 'cause it's a little too high for me.

(laughing) And we'll get this out of your way. Thank you so much. Alright. So, we're gonna bring you back just a little bit more. Your hands are always slightly in front of you, and they're always in front of the shoulders.

Tummy is nice and tight, and in a second, your legs will pull up through the center, and extend out, and you can rotate, and flex the foot. Pulling everything in and up, extend, and hold. Find that beautiful V-position. Come up to a straight line. Arch back.

Beautiful, come back to a straight line. And pull up, now come back to a straight line, that's okay. And we pull up three times, one, good. Pull up, two. Pull up, three, hold.

Pull up just a little bit, draw your legs together, and jump out, hold, and down. I think I'm gonna step you back a little bit, I think you were a little too close for that one, perfect. A variation on this. This next time you'll jump up, both legs will come out, you'll pull up just a little bit, and you'll twist away from the window to extend your right leg out three times, trying not to dip your hip, alright? Pulling both legs in and up, extend out.

Good, hang in a V first, get the beautiful stretch. Lift up, arch back. Come back to that straight line, pull up just slightly. Lift up your right leg. Rotate, flex your foot, extend out, one, and bend back in.

Extend out, two, and in. Extend out, three, and in, bring it in. Place it down, I'll get out of your way. Lift your other leg on up. Twist, extend, one, and in.

Extend, two, and in. Extend, three, and in, come back to center. Let's hang into our V. Come back to that straight line, arch back. Come back to that straight line, pull up a little higher.

Jump both legs out together. And good, okay. Cross over arabesque. So, it's a similar setup. Both legs are gonna jump in.

And then you're gonna bring your right leg down, and I'll cue the rest for you. So, tummy nice and tight. Here we go, go ahead and lift up. Extend those legs out, hang in your V first for the stretch. Come back to a straight line, then arch back.

Come back to a straight line, pull up just slightly. Lift up your right leg. Cross it over, look for the Cadillac, find the Cadillac. Thread your arm down, and around, beautiful. Try and stretch your back leg out into an arabesque line.

Yes! Now begin to soften your knee, uncross those arm, pull your leg up, beautiful. Nice, lift back on up, we gotta do the other side. Cross your left leg over, find the Cadillac. Beautiful, you've got it. Thread the arm through, stretch your leg into the arabesque.

Begin to soften both knees, uncross, find the trapeze. Yes, hang into your V. Good, pull up, arch back. Come back to that straight line. And jump both legs on out.

And good, nicely done. Very good, how'd that feel? Good. Good! Let's turn you around and let's do some ballet stretches. So, at this time, because this is a Balance Body Cadillac, it's a little bit wider and a little bit higher up off the ground.

I did grab a box from the Reformer, just a long box that we're going to end up putting out to the side. Because it's up higher off the ground for something else that we'll need in a little bit, okay? If you happen to be taller, and you don't need the box, awesome, but if you do, it's a great alternative piece to use. Alright. So, our ballet stretches.

Go ahead and lift up your leg. And for your ballet stretches, we're gonna cross over this way, there we go. The very first thing I want you to do, come in just a little bit closer, and it's okay to have your foot near that bar. Both legs are very active. Keep the rotation in your thigh, okay?

Square your torso, and walk your hands forward towards me. Drop your head down, give yourself that beautiful stretch. Begin to walk back on up, walking your arms back on up. There we go, and now calm, bourree back. So you're taking your chest back towards the ceiling.

And then come back. Walk those hands forward, and we add a variation. Turn your head towards me. So, you're reaching your ear towards your knee, and you'll feel that stretch go a little bit deeper, right? She's shaking her head.

Good, bring your head back to center first. And then roll all the way back on up, and calm, bourree, bring your chest towards the ceiling keep the ribs pulled in. And then walk back to center. Walking the hands forward, we're gonna turn your head in the opposite direction that you were in last time. And again, it's a different stretch.

Bring your head back to center. And walk back on up. Calm, bourree back, bring your chest towards the ceiling. Beautiful. And then come back on up.

Sliding our leg through, it goes on the inside. You can stay forward, and you're gonna walk those hands forward a little bit, and you slide through, you find that beautiful split. And then bring it on back. Keep your hands where they are, and hang back, get a little bit of a counter stretch, traction. And slide it through again, opening through the front of the hips.

Beautiful. And come back, and find that traction. Lengthening out. And shift forward. Good.

And then pull back. Nice. Roll all the way up through the spine. And then rotate towards me, toe, heel, toe, heel, making sure your bottom leg is in line with your hip. Perfect, your palms face you.

Begin to tilt your pelvis slightly forward. And then tilt your pelvis back. Good, and tilt your pelvis forward. And tilt your pelvis back. One more, tilt your pelvis forward.

And tilt it back. Come back to center and pause, the hip is nice and dropped. Lifting your arm up and over, reach towards your leg, really stretch from your elbow out. Beautiful, but I'm gonna twist you there. And then come all the way back on up.

Hand goes under and reach up and over in opposition. And again, rotate there. Beautiful, and up. Hand under, reach up and over. Hip is dropping, lengthening long.

And come back up. And again, reach up and over, lengthen. And up, let's do one more. Reach up and over, really stretch, lengthen from that elbow out, fingers long, reach. And up, last one.

Reach up and over. And come back on up. Hands face you, this will leg will go on the inside of the bar, and it's very important that these arms stay in line with your chest, so they're going to walk along with you. Alight, so start to slide your leg through, walk along, find that side jump, the side split. Beautiful.

And then walk it on back, keeping those arms in line with the chest. And here you get that counter stretch. Yes, good. And walk those hands forward. Keeping in line.

Stretch. And come back, keep your hands here, and then find the counter stretch, the traction. Last one. And bring it back, keep your hands still, and get the counter stretch. Beautiful, come all the way up.

We rotate back to the front. Pause. For arabesque, the leg comes out, we change fuzzies. And we pause for a second. Rotate to your side.

Good, rotate to face the trapeze. It's okay to let this foot use this bar, don't be afraid to use the bar. You can hop this foot up just a little bit if you need to. Beautiful, squaring everything off. Both hands will reach towards the top, they'll reach towards the middle, and then the bottom, and then all the way down, and hold.

Feel this beautiful stretch. Begin to bend your standing leg, and then slide your leg through. Beautiful. And come forward, now if it's in your vocabulary, for your body, you're gonna start to slide it back, and start to stretch your front leg straight to go into your beautiful, beautiful split. But again, never forcing, only guiding.

Shift forward. So now, we're gonna learn a little bit of a variation. Bring your hands slightly forward. You're gonna press down on the hands, pull up through the stomach, and hover, and then carefully bring your foot back down. Shift back and give yourself this beautiful stretch, and allow your head to drop down.

Surrender to the movement. Don't you feel nice? Good, take your chest forward, lift, lengthen, open up. And again, shift back. Beautiful.

And shift forward. The reason why we put that box there is 'cause I'm actually gonna take you off of the Cadillac, but we're gonna keep your foot in the strap. So, in this position, you're going to round, drop your head, find the box, turn and rotate towards me, beautiful. Allow your forearms to come down. Good, in this position, bend, exactly what your body wanted you to do, go ahead and plie, and stretch your legs straight.

But do toe, heel this foot out just a little bit more, so the hip is in line with the leg. And go ahead and plie. And stretch, how does that feel? Good. Good.

One more, plie. And stretch, and again, if you had a Gratz Cadillac, you'd probably be able to touch the ground. And stretch and hold. Now, square off to the frame. Drop your head down, pull up into a pike position, and carefully come back down.

Shift back into the original stretch we did. Release, relax, beautiful. Shift your body forward, and again, you're going pike up and place your foot down flat. Get your weight evenly distributed, and when you're ready, both hands to the lower rung, to the middle, to the top, to the hands to the side. Turn your back leg parallel.

Begin to walk your hands back, get the arch in the upper body. Feel this beautiful stretch. As you start to bring your upper body up, allow your leg to come out. Find the passe. Reach your arms up into a fifth.

And come back down. Now let's do it on the other side. Alright, tummy is nice and tight, we're gonna lift our leg on up. It's okay, again, to use that bar, both legs are active, square your hips towards me. Now walk the hands forward.

First time, the head stays center. Dropping, releasing, relaxing. Walk it back on up. Once you get up, lift up out of your waist, bring your chest towards the ceiling. And then come forward again.

Walking, but this time, turn your head. Think of your ear reaching towards your knee, and you'll feel that stretch go a little bit deeper. Head comes back to center. Walk the hands back, roll up through the spine, and calm, bourree back, bringing your chest towards the ceiling. Woop, keep the ribs in.

Walk back up, walk forward. And this time, you turn your head in the opposite direction. Head comes back to center, and walk back on up. Stay here, lift up out of the waist, and calm, bourree back. Come back to center and hold.

Alright, sliding our leg through, allow the leg to go forward, and you can go into your split or wherever your body wants to take you. Never force a movement, and then we come back, we find traction, keep your hands still, and pull back, and feel that deep stretch. And again, slide it through. Opening up through the hips. Relaxing shoulders, and come back.

Good. And again, slide through. And then come back. And hold, beautiful. Square the body, and then rotate towards the side.

Nice, stay right there. I'm going to take a quick second to move this prop out of the way, so it's ready for us when we get to our arabesque. In this position, begin with your pelvic tilts where you're tilting forward, and then tilting back. And tilting forward. And tilting back.

And tilting forward. And tilting back. Come back, hold. Lift your right arm up. Reach up and over, lengthen through the side body.

Stretch. And then come all the way back on up. Drop this hip down a little bit more, uh-huh! Reach up and over to the opposite side, lengthening out at the side body, beautiful. And then come back up. Hand goes underneath that bar, and reach up and over to repeat.

Stretching, lengthening, ahh! And come back up. And then reach up and over in opposition. And come back up, we do one more to each side. Lift up out of the waist, reach up and over, stretch. And come back up.

And again, reach up and over, lengthen, stretch. And up, both hands face you, and again, it's important that these hands stay in line with your chest. The leg's gonna go in the inside. Walk the hands through as you find that side split. Beautiful.

And then keep those hands moving, let them walk with you, staying in line with the chest, and get the counter stretch. And again, walk it through. And walk back. Good, one more, these are my favorite. Slide through.

And bring it back, nice control. And up, and hold. Rotate back to the front, good. In this position, our foot comes on out. Good, rotate to your side, square everything off.

Then rotate to your arabesque and face the back. And pause for just a second, so I can get the box in alignment for you. Alright, in this position, once you squared everything off, and you're ready, both hands reach towards the top, to the middle, to the bottom, and down. Good, just feel that stretch to begin with. And then, begin to bend your knee.

On the inside, you're gonna stretch. And then come forward. And again, only if it's available to you. Begin to walk those hands back, so you have to stretch your legs straight. Find that split, beautiful.

Shifting forward, and hold. Square those hips, tummy is tight. Pike up, balance, and carefully bring your foot down. Shift back, open the hips, release, relax, enjoy. Good, shift forward, opening your chest towards the ceiling.

Beautiful. And then, pull back, let's do it one more time. Stretching. And shift forward, bring chest towards ceiling, look up. And good, now round, find the beautiful pike position.

You're gonna lift up, hover, bring your foot down to the box. Rotate, turn, good. Bring the elbows down. In this position, plie. And then stretch.

She's got a smile on her face, plie! And stretch, let's do one more, this a great hip opener. Plie. And stretch. When you're ready, square your body, tummy is nice and tight. You're going to pull everything in up, find a hold, and carefully bring it down.

Shift back, get this beautiful stretch. When you're ready, take your body forward. Finish the stretch by opening the chest. Then drop the head round. Press down, pike, place your foot down.

When you have your weight evenly distributed, you will go for the lower, the middle, the top. Stretch your leg, square off. Start to walk your hands back, find that beautiful arch. And as you start to come up, allow your leg to come out to find the passe. Reach those arms up for a beautiful fifth.

And carefully bring everything down. And good, you are done! That finishes our Cadillac routine. I hope you've enjoyed this class. I know I've enjoyed teaching it, thank you. Thank you. Thank you.