The Pelvic Girdle and Hip Joint 201to the side, dancers will often describe a very intense
sensation related to the use of the hip adductors and
make a comment that now they understand what their
teachers wanted when cueing them to use more of
their “inner thighs.” Additional research using EMG
is needed to clarify the specific use of muscles desired
to achieve the aesthetic and biomechanical goals of
specific dance forms and schools. However, care must
be taken to not consider “average values” obtained
from dancers necessarily “optimal.”
Extensions to the Front
Many dancers seek to improve the height they can
lift their leg to the front in movements like exten-
sions. This presents a challenge because many of the
muscles that effectively contribute to hip flexion in
lower ranges (e.g., adductor longus, adductor brevis,
upper fibers of adductor magnus, and gracilis) are
no longer able to aid with flexion past 50° to 70°, and
other muscles such as the rectus femoris lose theirFIGURE 4.34 Sample strength exercise for improving front développés and extensions. (A) Front développé on
elbows, (B) front développé with hands back, (C) front développé with hands back and torso more vertical, (D) front
développé with torso vertical against a wall and no hand support.