HELP !

have you tried yoga? still a great workout but focuses more on streching than muscle building.

You know, I'm a dancer too, and I had the same problem. I actually found things like lunges (if you do Jillian workouts, especially the ones she calls "pendulum lunges") helped me *lose* thigh thickness and tone my legs more. I think because dance tends to overstrengthen the quads and often ignore the hamstrings - as soon as you balance out both sides of your leg (front and back), you'll lose mass in your quads.

Also, dancers tend to have super tight iliopsoas muscles, which shortens the front of the leg and makes it look more bulky. So combine quad stretches with psoas stretches and lunges, and you should do great.

I actually found walking bulked up my quads more, though cardio in general (elliptical, glider) helped.

Both large calves and the "curve in the leg" look when you look at the top of your leg form the side are classic signs of tight/overworked quads/psoas and underused hamstrings.

Curve in the leg = your iliopsoas connects from the inside of your knee, though the front inside of your hip, to the back outside of your pelvis, to the 5 lowest vertabrae on your spine (the knee-hip = psoas, the hip-back = iliacus, but they sometimes function together, so you put the words together and get iliopsoas). When this is tight, it draws all those points closer together, effectively moving your femur (thighbone) forward and deeper into the hip socket and creating that curved look.

Big calves = when you jump, you can get power from your lower leg (calves, some foot/ankle muscles) and also from your upper leg (quads and hamstrings, but more hamstrings). If your hamstrings are weak, then more and more of the work is done in your calf, creating the bulky calf look. (It's also a sign you may be jumping off the outside of your foot more than the inside, especially if you do anything in turnout.)

Your body's alignment is off. (This is ok - almost everyone's alignment is off somehow!) Until you change that, no workouts will change the shape of your body. Your body may get smaller from burning fat, but the overall shape will stay the same. (Meaning zumba, elliptical, walking, etc - all of this will shrink the overall circumference of your legs over time, but they will still be bulky in comparison to the rest of you.)

To change your body's alignment, you need to (1) stretch the tight muscles and (2) strengthen the weak muscles. So make a point of every day stretching the psoas, quads, and your two calf muscles, the gastronemius and soleus (one is stretched when your knee is bent, the other when your knee is straight). If that's too much, make sure you at least do your psoas - that's the number one most important muscle to be strong and flexible, rather than weak and tight!

To strengthen the weak muscles, I would first concentrate on gluteals and hamstrings. I think Biggest Loser Power Sculpt does a pretty good job of targeting those, but you can also look up other exercises. To work on your shin splints, you'll also eventually need to strengthen the front of your shin/ankle - but I think once you've strengthened your hamstrings you'll take a lot of pressure off your shins.

IF you stretch 7 days a week and strengthen (these muscles) 3-4 days a week, I bet you will notice a difference within two weeks and look completely different in about 3 months!

Good luck!