Quickies on double tour en l'air

[Dick]

Hi,

 

Is it even thinkable of being able to do a decent double tour en l'air with proper landing without...

 

1- Being able to jump at least 2 feet high : the guys I watch on videos seem to jump that high...

 

2- Leaning forward a bit in preparation for take off : again, the guys I watch do it but my teacher insists it's a no no.

 

3- Cheating 1/4 turn in preparation for take off and again 1/4 turn on landing.

 

4- Being able to do a double pirouette from fifth in position coupé : this I can't do yet so should I work on this before working on double tour en l'air?

 

5- Spotting: trying to spot seems to trow me off my spinning axis everytime. Is there any trick that would make it easier for me to practice spotting?

 

Foretanks,

 

Dick

[citibob]

How is your single tour en l'air?

[Garyecht]

Dick raises an interesting question for me. That is, is there some minimum vertical jump an individual must have to successfully complete a double tour? Intuition would seem to indicate yes, at least until I see someone do a double tour and raise his center of gravity only one inch from the ground. If some minimum is needed, then how much height is necessary?

 

I know in my own case, my jumping ability has deteriorated significantly with age. But at the same time my turning ability has increased. I recall my first attempts at jumping and turning were comical (using the term “tour” gives the attempt too much dignity). And now if I can cheat the beginning and end and ignore all aspects of good technique, I can manage to turn twice. And the reason, I am sure is just because I’ve improved my turning so much during that same time. As I said, my measurable jumping ability has decreased during the same time.

 

If there is any good thing that has come from this it is that my single tours are not unreasonable from a technical standpoint. I know I’m never going to do a real double tour, which is fine by me anyway.

[Hans]

I'd say that if you can jump high enough to do entrechat-six, you can probably jump high enough to do a double tour. I wouldn't go for measuring it in feet or inches because it will vary from person to person--the height of the jump and the speed of the turns. Of course, the ideal is to jump very high and turn very fast .

[Dick]

Citibob,

 

I'm doing good with my single tour. Sometimes, I'll get 1 1/2 tour but cheating the start and finish 1/4 turn each (wihch sums to one actual tour and 1/2 tour cheat). But most of the time, I'll get thrown out of my axis the moment I go for the last 1/2 tour and start to try spotting. The net result then looks like anything but a tour...

 

Dick

[Guest Steve]

Hey to all,

 

What worked wonders for my double tours was working on fast double pirouettes from fifth. The goal should be to turn as quick as possible and finish cleanly. A quick turn will not require a huge jump.

 

I also have another combination that will help finishing tours on specific facings. Its a relatively simple alternating changement combination. Just do changements turning on every third one in the follow ing sequence: quarter turn, quarter turn back to front, half turn, half turn back to front, 3/4 turn, 3/4 turn back to front, and so on. I think the hardest is the 7/4 turn. If you hold your arms in preperatory, you will focus solely on the head directing the direction of your body.