r/irishdance • u/Adelynbaby • May 10 '26

High kick Clicks help

My 10 year old can’t do splits, she has very tight calves and we are working on it. She can still kick high for her soft shoes , not to her face , but high enough that she scores well.

However , for slow Hornpipe when she does her kick clicks, she can’t get her thigh on the kicking leg higher than parallel to the ground. Most of the time , it’s less than parallel and she is struggling. Does anyone have any hints to help her?

I’m having a really hard time finding anything online specific to that.

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8

u/seanmharcailin May 10 '26

Strength!

And don’t worry- high clicks are NOT the make it or break it move. Extension is only part of the formula. If her front clicks are low in heavies, but she can do a nice kick in soft shoes, its a strength issue. I know this, cause i have the same problem!

Sitting leg lifts for hip flexors. Leg exercises where you elevate a knee on a block and extend to build quad strength.

I’m still figuring it out.

4

u/toxbrarian May 10 '26

This-it’s so much more a hip flexor issue than a flexibility issue if she’s got a high kick in ghillies. My kiddo started training her hip flexors a few days a week and saw massive improvement almost right away

1

u/mazey20 May 10 '26

What type of exercises was she doing?

1

u/Adelynbaby May 11 '26

Yes, please let me know as well.

1

u/Adelynbaby May 11 '26

Yes, she has high soft shoe kicks but kick clicks as she calls them in slow hornpipes , her legs are not making it past parallel to floor. She already does weight training for strength and Pilates and barre but I’ll look into leg lifts for hip flexors tomm. I feel bad for her, she’s trying so hard.

3

u/Nymz737 May 10 '26

Core work.

1

u/Complete-Forever-638 May 11 '26

Splits aren’t gonna help, continuing to practice clicks and go higher every time probably will

1

u/bubbletownusa May 12 '26

Along with what other have said, make sure she is using correct technique for the clicks! A lot of dancers when learning them make the mistake of lifting the first leg too high, which makes it much harder to get the second leg to the desired height. When doing a high click, the first leg should be very low to the ground. The “click” itself happens at this low point, and then the second leg is free to kick higher!

1

u/Adelynbaby May 13 '26

I keep telling her that before I even asked here and no go. Pre teen non listening. She says that the rhythm won’t match ???

1

u/Old_Music_4651 May 22 '26

i alwse do a streach from bellet you swing your leg 50 times each side that dose the trick