Standing leg hold

A single-leg balance with one hand catching the back foot, the knee bent and the torso nearly upright.

Here the raised leg folds backward rather than forward and the same-side hand reaches back to hold the foot. That connection closes a loop behind the body: hand, ankle, bent knee, hip. Because the hold is low, the torso stays fairly upright compared with the deeper version of this shape, and the lifted knee drops below the hip line.

The pose offers a good study of the back of the leg, which is the part most often drawn from memory and got wrong. You see the hamstring stretch from the hip to the raised knee, the calf shorten, and the foot turn to reach the hand. It is also a natural silhouette for a character in loose clothing, since the folded leg pushes fabric out behind the body.

Make sure the grip is anatomically plausible: the hand catches the top of the foot or the ankle, which means the forearm drops and the elbow points down and back. A common error is a hand that reaches the middle of the shin, stretching the arm into an impossible length. Keep the support hip stacked over the support ankle and check the pelvis does not rotate toward the raised leg too far, or the torso will follow and lose its vertical.

• balancing
• single leg
• foot hold
• back view