#dance advantage

I suspect that dancers who have danced for years without injury probably discovered early that it is not how much turnout you have that is important, it is how you use what you have.Therefore, it is imperative to know how to use it!

What you need to know to make the most of your turnout:

How the hip functions

What is improvable and what is not

How to increase turnout safely and without injury

What you can do to maintain optimum turnout for your body

This joint is a ball and socket joint, which allows for a wide range of motion on all three planes (sagittal, lateral, and transverse).  The hip joint can produce flexion (forward of the body), extension (as in standing, not the unfortunately labeled lifting of the leg which is actually flexion in anatomical terms), abduction (away from the midline of the body), adduction (toward the midine of the body),inward rotation (turning-in), and outward rotation (turning-out).  Most dance movements are a combination of these actions.

Turnout Is A Verb

Although we sometime use the word turnout as a noun or a position (i.e. “Your turnout could be better.”), it is more appropriately thought of as an action, a verb.

Because outward rotation is not the body’s natural state, the work does not stop once the position or desired degree of rotation has been attained. Instead, outward rotation of the hips requires continual action within the body, even when the rotation is held in a position (like ballet 5th).

Awareness

Awareness comes from developing an understanding of how the body, or specifically the hip joint in this case, works. We’ve talked about this in Part I. And then adjusting or bringing attention to the way you think as a result of this understanding.

Release

Too much tension in the musculature around the hip joint is often responsible for limiting the degree of turnout. Therefore, releasing that tension is key if you’d like to improve outward (and inward) rotation. Tight inward rotators inhibit outward rotation and visa versa. Dancers have varying methods which they use to accomplish release in the hips. Some use passive and lengthening stretches and others utilize props like balls to facilitate an opening within the joint.

Strengthen Without Tension

Many dancers have more turnout capability than they are able to use because they lack the strength in their outward rotators and supporting muscles to fully open and maintain turnout in the hips. Strengthening these muscles is a gradual process and can be done primarily during technique class, focusing particularly on rotation during plié, fondu, and passé/retiré exercises. 

What I hope you take away from this article is that it is not the degree to which you are capable of turning out, but the healthful and educated approach to achieving your potential for turnout that is important.

As for the importance of turnout itself, I believe it is only as important as we allow it to be. Even most ballet professionals, I think, would agree that having extreme turnout is trumped by mastering the ability to properly execute and maintain the degree of outward rotation that exists.  This attitude, when applied to training or teaching, can transform a student’s technique. Coupled with the knowledge of how turnout works, it allows the dancer to dance longer and stronger.

It is never too early for a dancer to begin to make anatomical and kinesthetic connections to the movements they are producing in dance class.

Dancers should always strive for better efficiency in movement. It’s about making the effort count, rather than wasting it.

“If the turnout is mastered early and properly, the student, and later the dancer, does not have to waste energy on the placement but instead can concentrate on the muscle energy needed to  jump higher to turn better, and to control the weight of the leg.”

– Istvan Ament, A Systematic Approach to Classical Ballet: A Four-Year Program

Do you think too much emphasis is placed on the degree of turnout? If so, what are some ways that teachers or educators can correct this?

Do you think the ballet aesthetic is changing?

How to “Start a Dance Blog” E-Book

Some of my fellow dance bloggers recently released an e-book about how to start a dance blog, and graciously provided me a copy to read over before I told my readers about it. The book is pretty much perfect for anyone who wants to start a blog and doesn’t know where to start. While the book is written directed towards people who want to start a dance-focused blog, a lot of it can apply if you’re…

Go vote for Rince go Bragh to be THE Top Dance Blog overall, and in the recreational dancer category!

My blog, Rince go Bragh, is a finalist in Dance Advantage's Top Dance Blog contest!  It'd mean a lot if you went to the voting site and voted for me to win the overall contest, as well as my category, recreational dancer.

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Do you add a shot of spirulina, wheat grass or other energy promising supplements when you order a green juice?  If so, you may be wasting your money.

These fillers are expensive and aren’t a long term solution, they only supplement what’s missing from your diet.  If you are eating regular balanced meals and not restricting calories, you don’t need to spend the extra cash on these costly miracle health boosters.