Tour en l´air

[Dance_Scholar_London]

I am trying to improve my tours for my RAD Inter. The setting is as follows: posé, changement, posé, changement, posé, tour, posé, tour, finish.

 

Teacher told me that I have to change my feet immediately when I do the changement (and then in the tour), as this will make me going around. It works for my right side. My left side seems to ignore this advice Although I spot, I have a hard time to land, and often fall backwards. My landings are very wobbly to the left side and I wonder what I might do wrong.

[Mel Johnson]

Your problem is a variation on the flinch. You know that your left side is weaker in tours, so you unconsciously let your shoulders come forward and collapse your chest when you turn. Or, alternatively, you know that you do this, and overcompensate by leaning backward during the tour. The thing that "broke the ice" for me in doing tours en l'air came from a wonderful teacher, Muriel Stuart, who had danced with the Pavlova company. She explained that in a tour, you must jump VIGOROUSLY! STRAIGHT UP! It may have been more how she said it than what she actually said, but she got me going! In both directions yet!

[Dance_Scholar_London]

Could it be that I dont jump high enough causing that I dont get around fully before landing? The leaning backward does apply to me as well. As I almost felt yesterday, I am afraid to practice now :-( but I will have to.

[Garyecht]

I would never say that I knew anything about tour l’airs, as I can recall only doing them once or twice in all the classes I’ve taken. Certainly, no one has ever taught me anything. I remember trying them on my own not too long after starting ballet and of course not even being able to either make a single turn or to land without taking a step somewhere. At that time all my other turns, pirouettes, pique turns, souteneu, and others were similar in the sense I couldn’t do them very well. I would only practice tour l’air rarely and then just for fun, but I was pretty diligent in practicing my other turns. With the years, I got a whole lot better with my regular turns. And almost like magic, my tour l’airs got better even though I might only do them once every 3-4 months and then perhaps only 3-4 times. With that passing of time, I can also tell you that my jumping ability actually decreased, so the height of my jump certainly wasn’t contributing to my improved tour l’air.

 

Now, doing a single is nothing. With a tombe pas de bouree assemble preparation I can even manage a double if I cheat both the take off and landing, certainly not an artistic display, but still not bad for an old man who can no longer really jump.

 

My sense is that turning is a complex skill that is semi-foreign to most humans and takes quite a lot of practice and diligence to do even reasonably well. The good thing is that a tour l’air is just another kind of turn so that by practicing all the other turns that we do, our tour l’air also gets better. Diligence and patience are powerful learning tools.

[Dance_Scholar_London]

I could live with the fact that I am not good at it but as they are part of my exam syllabus I have get them clean. But you are right about practicing other turns, this definitely improves turning ability. In general I like turns, but the combination of turn & jump is not my favourite.

[Guest Aleksander]

I am trying to improve my tours for my RAD Inter. The setting is as follows: posé, changement, posé, changement, posé, tour, posé, tour, finish.

 

Teacher told me that I have to change my feet immediately when I do the changement (and then in the tour), as this will make me going around. It works for my right side. My left side seems to ignore this advice  Although I spot, I have a hard time to land, and often fall backwards. My landings are very wobbly to the left side and I wonder what I might do wrong. 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

Actually I know this exercise, because I have my RAD Intermediate exam. I had the same problem. Strange thing, but I am improved my tours by spotting upwards( I mean over the eye line) not forward. Keeping the spot over eye-line made it possible to keep my back stright. This way it was easier to land in clear plié.

[Dance_Scholar_London]

Do you mean when you spot higher up when you start from posé en demi pointe? Will have to try it out. Thanks

[Mel Johnson]

Just a variant on the old correction, "Keep your chin up!"

[Garyecht]

Mel, that correction may be an oldie, but it’s really a goodie. Amazing what it can do in my opinion.

[Mel Johnson]

That's why it's still around! It's so handy for so many things!

[Dance_Scholar_London]

Will definitely try it out when we do tours next time

[Guest Bryan Lawrence]

You have to be aware of your posture and don't let it go when you think of doing a turn. Your upper body must be held securely. As you take off on your turn make sure that your lower ribs are held in place. Don't let them pop out and keep a feeling of being over your hips. You will probably realise when you try this that you are letting your ribs out. Altering your body position is fatal. While keeping the length in your body still feel your chest in a forward position. However, first and formost make sure your weight if definitely on both feet evenly in your plie before take off, not more on the back foot.

[Dance_Scholar_London]

Update: tours are getting better now - at least to the right side. IMO, this is mostly due to better posture, especially as I seem to have fixed my rib problems (they are not sticking out anymore).

[Mel Johnson]

Good news, indeed! Once you've found the right place, there's little or no backsliding.

[Guest Bryan Lawrence]

As to your tours to the left, try the take off with the same thought behind it as when you turn to the right but not even doing a complete turn. Just start the turn, so have the feeling for it in the take off. Do this a few hundred times until your body gets used to the feeling but don't get slack about the finer points that you have in mind when turning to the right. Good luck!