Enroll in a ballet class. Ballet classes are formal and incorporate special components such as barre, adagio, turns, allegro, jumps and denouement. Professional dancers take class every day. Ballerinas take class en pointe.
Perform warm-up exercises at the barre. The barre is a long wooden pole attached to a wall. Ballet class begins with work at the barre to warm up and practice basic positions. Barre work also allows the dancer to work on turn out, which is essential to proper line. Turn out is achieved by turning the leg out from the hip and turning out the feet as well.
Plie like Barbie at the barre. Perform a series of slow knee bends through all of the basic positions; first, second, fourth and fifth. This allows you to warm up and stretch. Arm movements follow each position. Hold your body still and aligned. Plies assist dancers in jumps, turns and en pointe.
Execute a tendu. Tendu is a quick movement performed from each of the basic positions. The foot is brushed out along the floor, ending in pointed toe and then rapidly brought back to the starting position. This exercise helps dancers to stretch their legs, feet and hips.
Perfect your frappe. Frappe is a rapid movement of the foot against the ankle (also known as a petit battement or small beat). This is a basic movement done either on demi-pointe or en pointe. It is also executed as a jump; the more beats performed while in the air, the better.
Perform grand battement like Barbie. Grand battement is the movement of a high leg kick with toes pointed and leg turned out. The movement ends in a tendu and you return to the starting position. Grand battement is usually done from fifth position but can be executed from any of the basic positions.