TURN OUT!

[DanaD]

I need help with my turn out. In developes (sp?) I always feel it in my quads. I know thats incorrect. I try everything my teacher says, weight out of the heels, core, tailbone down, but i never get it! What muscle controls the turnout?

[Mel Johnson]

Turnout is generated by rotation of the femur (thighbone) in the hipjoint. There are seven muscles which are generally responsible for rotating the femur: the gemelli, the obdurators, the piriformis, the quadratus femoris and the gluteus maximus. You have to use the quads in rotating the leg. That's one of the things they're there for. All these muscles are in and around the pelvic girdle.

[DanaD]

then should your quads feel it when you develope?

[Victoria Leigh]

Well, they ARE working, but if you are OVERUSING them, then that would be from gripping them during the développé, not from the rotation.

[Abt3Royal79]

I used to feel my quads all the time. But this past year, I don't feel them at all. I only feel the back of my legs and core! I just went in the studio one day and thought of all different things that might help me. The thought that worked, was act like a string if pulling your bun up (so you stay completely lifted) and take your knee to your hip using your bottom and then extend the lower half of you leg with your heel facing front, not to the side. The minuet my heel would face the side I felt it in my quad. My teachers have told me these things in the past, but when I put these two specific things together it all worked! Not saying this works for everyone, but it helped me get my extension higher and feel it in the correct spot.

 

Sorry if I'm not aloud to post this, please delete if necessary.

[companymem07-08]

Yeah! That works for me too!

[DancingGeek]

I've actually been told by several different people that at around age 11 or 12, something happens to your hips that makes it impossible to develop more turnout. Is that true?

[vrsfanatic]

No, not true at all. Quite a few dancers do not even start studying ballet seriously until age 12 in the US (Natalia Makarova was such a studentin Russia). There must be a misunderstanding somewhere a long the line. With quality and patient teaching and an interested student, there should be no problem in achieving correct turn out.

[Doubleturn]

If not appropriate Mods please delete, but I think I can shed some light on this. There have been studies that say the way the head of the femur is angled into the pelvis can be affected i.e. improved, by early training, but that it is set at about age eleven.

 

However, as I think most people on this board agree, turnout is just as much affected by the soft tissue, tendons & ligaments and correct working will improve turnout for many years after this.

 

Sadly even people at the Royal Ballet School have quoted this - that turnout is set by age eleven.

[Victoria Leigh]

I'm going to leave it, Doubleturn, as it is valuable informtion. (But next time if it is the YD board, please send the info to me and I will post it and say where I got the information. )

[Doubleturn]

Of course Miss Leigh, I will do that in future.

[tillie]

this is a sort of extension (no pun intended) off of the topic question, but i have noticed that a lot of dancers/classmates that i have talked to mentioned a period of a few months or so where their developes and extensions just "got it" and had an epiphany of sorts. does this commonly happen with dancers?

 

i think i may be in the middle of something like this..? of course, it's impossible to tell while it's happening i suppose.

[Mel Johnson]

Ooohhh, yes! Frequently, you see students just get their minds and bodies working in sync, and suddenly, things start to click. It's good to be able to recognize when it's happening to you!

[vrsfanatic]

Yes, this can occur at different times with different students. The problem can also be however that "all of a sudden" students can lose what they got! Good teaching, patience, a positive attitude and constant self examination is key!

[tillie]

thanks, that's certainly reassuring to hear! hopefully, this will turn out to be a lasting epiphany.