Is yoga infused in ballet

by Leslee
(San Francisco, Calif.)

Some one who I know has studied ballet and yoga. She mentioned that in the history of ballet, yoga was infused in ballet. I am looking for documentation of this. I feel that this is correct intuitively. However, I would like documentation.

Do you have any documentation of this or a way to find one in research?

Thank you,

Leslee

Comments for Is yoga infused in ballet

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Mar 31, 2012

Answer from Maria
by: Maria

Dear Leslee,

It is a fact that ballet dancers use yoga as a cross-training alternative. That is something you can confirm by just checking the current training routines of many ballet companies worldwide.

Concerning the creative productions, there are also easy to find videos in the web, where you can see the use of choreographic vocabularies that are derivatives from traditional hatha yoga positions. Here's one example, in case you haven't seen it yet:

Unfortunately, I don't have information about documents that register this fact and after some fast research I did, it seems that finding that might need a good spending of time.

I suppose that the infusion of yoga within ballet might have started since the beginning of the twentieth century, as that is the time when western dance (both classical and modern) got interested in eastern bodily practices (at least in North America).

I will be attentive to the topic and will post any information I get in this same thread. For the moment I will leave it opened, hoping that one of the colleagues that visits the forum gives us a hand with the answer.

Warm regards,

Maria

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