Turns!

[ballet24/7]

My turns are aggravating me so much! At my ballet school year round, we do all of our pirrouettes and turns en pointe. Last year I could do consistant doubles, and even triples on a daily basis. I went away to a summer intensive, and during it we did most of our turns on flat, then some en pointe, and was still doing clean doubles en pointe. (I find that my placement is different for turns on flat than on pointe, so if I get used to turns on flat, I generally can't get them en pointe, and visa versa) I just came back 4 days ago, and took a class last night and tonight. I was falling out of my doubles en pointe! I feel like my muscle memory for pirrouettes has gone totally blank. I'm really really aggravated, and I was wondering if anyone had any idea why this is happening to me or what I can do to improve.

[Victoria Leigh]

We are not robots, dancer24/7, and all of us have good turning and bad turning days. When changing situations, like moving from one studio and one teacher to another, things often go "off" temporarily. It's not the end of the world, and they will come back. Relax. You were working differently for several weeks, so things are bound to feel a bit different when you go back. It probably will turn out to be even better than before in a few days.

[Guest imadancer]

I have have a problem with turns too. When I went to an SI, the turns were different. I got used to them but when I came back my turns were horrible!

(The floors at our studio are also very very slick compared to the floors at the SI.) but our teacher doesn't want us to use rosin

[EmilyPdancer]

I have problems with my turns also...

I could to consistant tripple turns on flat and double turn en pointe, and then I had a sudden growth spurt, and i was really off my leg. I could barley do a single on flat, let alome en pointe. Then, once i had reganed my inner streingth, and stopped growing, my arms were so weak that even ifi could do a double or tripple, my arms through me of my leg.

So, i just really have to work on my streingth in y arms and in my center.

But...ya, turns are realy hard for me too.

Edited August 11, 2004 by EmilyPdancer

[Victoria Leigh]

Emily, remember that arm strength really comes from the back muscles! When you you are well placed and using the abdominals, then the back muscles can work too, and they provide the strength for the arms.

[Guest dancergal]

I also took a classes at my studio for the past two days and have been having a lot of trouble with my turns. At my SI, I think that I imrpoved immensely on my turns, being able to do clean triples, but now I am having trouble doing clean doubles. And I hate to blame my trouble turning on something that doesn't have to do with myself, but my guess is that it's the change in floors. I am spending most of my time slipping and not being able to land, but we are strictly not allowed to use rosin. I just have to hope that I get re-used to the floor.

[pink_tutu]

Its okay if you have a few days of bad turning. Sometimes I get those... it is either if I have a bad headache, or else if I am about to get a cold/ getting over one. Maybe you are getting sick??? or not. I also have the problem of trying "too hard" in pirouettes. Like when you really want to do a bunch of them, so maybe you are just thinking about going around and around and around, and maybe not about pulling up. I don't know, maybe you should ask your teacher what is wrong with your turns, and they can help you. Here are some tips: ~Pull up ~Make sure that your elbows are lifted and that your arms are in a perfect first position. ~Make sure that your passe` leg is all the way to the side, you know, all the way turned out. ~Stretch the bottom leg, it will help ~SPOT! ~Don't spot the floor, or the ceiling... haha, I usually spot the floor, and I know it is bad. Try to spot your own eye level. ~Keep your shoulders down and your back very straight. ~Try to balance after the turn sometimes. And only think about doing to 2 pirrouettes at first, and then work your way up. When you say, "Oh! I am going to try to do 5 pirrouettes!" Then you usually end up doing 1 or 2 and falling out of it. ~Keep your hip down. ~Don't wind up. ~Don't take too much force. ~Take lots of plie! ~Use both arms to help you. (Bring them in fast, and also bring your leg up to passe` quickly.) Just some tips... hope this helps! I learned most of these in pirouette class at ABT last summer, and they all seemed to help me. Good luck!

[Mel Johnson]

And bear in mind, that if you grow an inch, or lose five pounds, or almost anything else to do with weight distribution, you have to find your center all over again. I remember it as very frustrating!

[ballet24/7]

Thanks so much for the explanations/tips. I finally have my outside doubles and triples en pointe back (well, to the right atleast), and now I need to work on keeping my front heel down and turned out until the minute before the turn. Anyone have any tips on that? Also, I'm not very consistant in my inside turns. I did clean doubles last night, but I most definitely did not have them today. ugh. so frustrating! lol

[Victoria Leigh]

Keeping the front heel down before the en dehors pirouettes is simply a matter of keeping your weight into that leg and pushing down on it just before you go up.

 

En dedans turns require a bit more force because you are actually doing a one and a quarter turn or a two and a quarter turn, since you don't finish at the same corner you start. Be sure to move your spot to where you are going.