The 5 Basic Ballet Positions (of the Feet), Explained Simply

If ballet were a language, the five positions of the feet would be the alphabet. Everything else, every tendu, plié, pirouette, and grand jeté, is just letters arranged into words. So if the positions feel a little boring at first, hang in there. You’re learning the building blocks that every single step is made of.

The good news: there are only five, they’ve been the same for over 300 years, and once they click, they click for good. Let’s walk through them.

First, a quick word on turnout

Before the positions make sense, you need one idea: turnout. That’s the rotation of your legs outward, so your knees and toes point away from each other instead of forward. Every position below uses it.

Here’s the part beginners always get wrong, so listen up: turnout comes from your hips, not your feet. It’s tempting to just crank your feet outward to hit a wider angle, but that twists your knees and ankles and is a fast track to injury. Start with the turnout your hips actually give you, and let it grow over time. A modest, honest turnout beats a big, forced one every time.

Okay. Feet.

First position

Stand with your heels touching and your toes turned out to the sides, so your feet make a kind of shallow V. Not a straight line (that’s a myth, and it wrecks your knees), just a comfortable V based on your natural turnout.

Think of first as home base. It’s where you’ll start most exercises, and it’s the position you’ll return to a thousand times. Cues teachers love here:

• Weight even across both feet, spread over the whole foot, not dumped on your inner edges.
• Legs straight but not locked.
• Stand tall, like a string is pulling up through the top of your head.

Second position

From first, slide one foot out to the side until your heels are about shoulder-width apart. Keep both feet turned out the same amount. That’s second.

The most common mistake is letting your ankles roll inward once your feet are apart. Fight that. Keep your weight lifted off your arches so your ankles stay stacked over your feet. Second is your friend for balance work, because that wider base gives you something to stand on.

Third position

Third is the shy middle child that a lot of studios skip, but it’s a great stepping stone. Tuck the heel of one foot into the middle (the arch) of the other, both still turned out.

It looks like a gentler version of fifth, which is exactly why it’s useful. Younger dancers often learn third before their hips are ready for the tight cross of fifth. If your teacher uses it, treat it as fifth’s training wheels.

Fourth position

Now it gets a little harder. Take one foot and place it in front of the other with a gap between them, roughly the length of one of your feet, both turned out. The front heel lines up in front of the back toe.

Why is fourth tricky? Because your feet aren’t touching, so there’s nothing between them helping you balance. That’s also why fourth is the launch pad for pirouettes: that gap gives you a stable, spring-loaded base to turn from. Keep your weight centered between both feet, not leaning onto the front one.

Fifth position

The big one. Cross your feet so the front heel touches the toe of the back foot, and the back heel touches the toe of the front foot. Done well, your feet look like two tightly stacked lines.

Fifth asks for the most turnout and the most control, so do not be discouraged if yours looks more like a loose fourth for a while. It will tighten as your turnout and strength grow. Pushing your feet to fake a perfect fifth just strains your knees, so build it honestly. Every dancer, and I mean every single one, started with a wobbly fifth.

How they fit together

Here’s the thing that makes it all worth memorizing: steps travel between positions. A tendu is just your foot brushing out from fifth and closing back into it. A plié is bending in whichever position you’re in. A pirouette often launches from fourth and lands in fifth. Once you know the five positions cold, your teacher can call out combinations and your feet already know the map.

A few habits that make the positions look pro instead of beginner:

• Point through the whole foot, not just the toes, whenever you’re moving between positions.
• Keep your turnout consistent. Both feet should match, every time.
• Stay lifted. Almost every correction in ballet is some version of “pull up.”

Where to go next

Once your feet feel solid, the arms are the natural next step, and they have their own positions that pair with these. Start with our guide to the positions of the arms, then look at the 8 body positions that combine the feet, arms, and the direction you’re facing into the shapes you see on stage. If you want the whole beginner picture in one place, our ballet basics guide ties it all together.

Learn these five, and you’ve got the alphabet. Everything else is just learning to spell.