How can I practice Fouettes

[SugarPlumFairy1]

I need some help on how to do them, I try but, I always mess up and I cant keep going I always stop after one.

[Victoria Leigh]

Well, you can practice the "action" of fouetté turns, one at a time, at the barre. In the center it is really a matter of being able to turn on pointe and maintain your center as you continue to spot and relevé while whipping the leg from front to side to retiré. ;) Not so easy, and it is very important that you are strong enough to do consecutive relevés on pointe on one foot, and that you have pretty consistent double en dehors pirouettes on pointe before you try to do fouettés. The spotting is critical, as you will be all over the place without that remaining consistent.

 

While there are different ways of starting, like from a pas de bourrée en dedans or a single turn, the best, in my opinion, is a double pirouette, because that starts you with the momentum to help you keep going.

 

Foutettés just take a lot of time and a LOT of practice. Do not neglect the usage of the abs, or your center will collapse. Do not neglect the ARMS either! Most people have arms that look like they are doing karate when they do fouettés. And of course the rotation of the leg at the side, and maintaining it into retiré, not allowing it to turn in as it goes to the side or as the knee bends. And then there is the shape of the foot, always critical!

 

Lots of ingredients in this pie, and they take a long time to master!

[SugarPlumFairy1]

thank you, I will try to do that!

[sballetgrl]

Practice makes perfect!

[greta]

-There´s a girl at my studio who performs fouettes very well,I asked her for any tips and she told me to do them every day -(don´t exaggerate ,I got tendonitis in my knee by doing them 2 hours without stop!

[Guest Chrysocolla]

There is an article about how to work on fouettes in the newest issue of pointe magazine

[little_dancer123]

Make sure you co-ordinate the arm with the leg. Also stay on your leg, don'pull away when your working leg goes to the side. From little_dancer123 x

[Myfairlady]

*Knock knock*

Fouette turns are spectacular to watch, but as a teacher I prefer my students not work on fouettes 2 hours a day. I would rather see them work on extensions, stretching, doing crunches, pirouettes, turnout exercises, releves--all the basics. Nothing irks me more than seeing a performer doing fouette turns on stage but the rest of her dancing looks terrible. It's not worth it to spend that much time daily on one trick while neglecting all the other aspects of ballet.

[Guest GetThePointe?]

How do I keep from moving across the studio in my fouettes?? I travel like 30 feet in 16 of them!!

[Victoria Leigh]

You need to learn to relevé using the spring up method, where the foot comes under you with each relevé. Practice consecutive one foot relevés first, without traveling, and then try your fouettés. This may take a while to master this relevé, if you have only done the role up kind before. Both ways of going up are needed in ballet, so do not limit yourself to one way only.

 

Another factor in traveling is your spot. If you are traveling sideways, then move your spot in the other direction from the way you are traveling. This will not, of course, help if you are traveling forward or backward.

[Guest GetThePointe?]

You need to learn to relevé using the spring up method, where the foot comes under you with each relevé. Practice consecutive one foot relevés first, without traveling, and then try your fouettés. This may take a while to master this relevé, if you have only done the role up kind before. Both ways of going up are needed in ballet, so do not limit yourself to one way only.

 

Another factor in traveling is your spot. If you are traveling sideways, then move your spot in the other direction from the way you are traveling. This will not, of course, help if you are traveling forward or backward.

 

 

Thanks so much. I tried practicing the releves at the barre and in the cnter, and I am rally traveling less!! Now is only that spotting trick would work...

[Eileeno671]

I have heard something about practicing fouettes on a swingset. Has anyone heard of this?

[Mel Johnson]

Never in my entire life!

 

Ah, wait a minute. That's for spotting, and a swing doesn't give you the same kind of rotation that you get while you're on your feet.

[Skye90]

I went to some autum masterclasses. Our teahcer took us right back to basics with our fouttes; we did lots of different steps to build up to doing them. The whole class of us improved alot. I don't remeber every single step but most of them:

* First we had to releve one to one, with our leg in retiere.

* Next we did those releves, while whipping our leg out devant when on demi pointe and back to retiere when in plie (a normal action, just devant instead of to the side).

* Next we did our releves while doing the grand ronde jambe action with our leg, and whipping it back to retiere...which is often done at the barre when you first start fouttes. This with the coordination of arms and legs!

* After that we prepared for our normal foutte excersise (with a single pirroutte) and then when it came to the 'first' foutte we didn't whip our leg back in, but let ourselves 'sail' round for as long as we could, with our legs in second before falling off balance. The more we did this step, the more we gained balance.

* We worked on spotting too, but I forget the exact excersise used.

* We then put together, our arm action, head action and leg action. They improved when we did this in class each day (and at home) and did each step several times.

[SugarPlumFairy1]

I have pointe magazine and as the girl a few posts before said they had an article about it. Thats how I learned then from that article, but I can't do them on pointe yet, im not strong enough.

 

So yay and also I have not been on here in a looooooooooooong time so yeah im just kind of updating on my progress i guess. lol