Pirouettes

[phoenome]

When ever try to do more than three turns I

just can't. I was wondering what tricks some of you

guys do to turn successfully.

[Mel Johnson]

Don't stop.

 

There's no trick to turning. You just balance and rotate around a vertical axis. There is no "pirouette fairy" who comes in through the window, sprinkles you with centrifugal force dust and departs without leaving a trace. You have to do it yourself. Don't try to kill the pirouette. Many students I see put so much force into the arms that they knock themselves off-balance. Take it easy, if you can do three, then go to four. If you can't do four, do three-and-a-half. Then move on from there.

[phoenome]

I know a girl who tries to add one more pirouette on each day.

Is this a good strategy to use?

[Mel Johnson]

That student will be very unhappy by the end of a week. And where will she be at the end of a month?

 

No, get a good triple in class. That will give you a secure double onstage. As you go, make the pirouette cleaner, more correct, better placed, with a beginning, a middle, and an end, all very safe and right.

[phoenome]

Ok thanks for your imput

[cutiepi]

Mr. Johnson, isn't it centripetal force that you use? We were talking about this in ballet class the other day and we decided the centripetal is the one that rotates about the center, and centrifugal is the one that goes in a line and counterbalances that.

 

Anyway, as to pirouettes, what explains having a month of solid turning followed by a month of bad. I don't get it. One month my turns are good and I think I'm getting more pirouettes and the next I'm being hoppy.

[phoenome]

yeah thats kind of the same with me.

Some days I have good turning days and other

days I have bad turning days.

Why is that?

[Mel Johnson]

Centripetal force is what keeps gyroscopes upright. And the analogy is quite correct. Now, imagine if you have a gyroscope that has a large bulge in its rim somewhere. That's going to throw things badly out of whack, and the device will begin to precess almost immediately.

 

Why are there good turning days and bad turning days? Especially when you're a teen, you have a lot of things going on. A certain set of muscles may be worn out from carrying a 50-lb. bookbag all day (don't get me started on THAT topic!) You may have retained some water in a place you don't normally do that. It goes away. You may be unusually nervous, and place the body with the shoulders forward as if to protect the vital organs of the body. It happens. It goes away. Believe me, there are lots of reasons for teens to have good and bad days at everything!

[lovedance56]

I can only do a triple on the left and a double which is not perfect on the right... anyone have tips on how i can improve my right side????

 

oops... have to go 2 dance class now!!!

[Victoria Leigh]

Hello lovedance56, welcome to Ballet Talk for Dancers

 

I moved your post to the newest pirouette thread on the Young Dancers 13-16 forum. You posted on the How to Do Things site, which is about how to do things on the board. The Young Dancer Forums are about technique, performance, etc. On this forum your questions will be answered by one of our 3 teacher/moderators.

 

I'm guessing you are about 13, right? If so, right now is the time to work on getting really well placed and correct turns. It's not important how many, it's how good they are. So first you get the placement and alignment and the correct position, the use of the head and arms, the back muscles, etc., and then when you have very clean single and double pirouettes you can start to think about more.