Rolling in and turnout question

[futureABTdancer]

Yesterday my ballet teacher kept correcting me because I was rolling in on my feet. I couldnt help it! Also, I heard that after a certain age you cannot fix your turnout because your hips have settled. Is this true? If it is true what age is it? Help!!!

[Mel Johnson]

There is some controversy over whether that age cutoff is real or not, but the people who do believe in it generally identify it as 26-28, so relax.

 

Your problem is almost certainly related to insufficient rotation of the femur (thighbone) in the hipjoint. Turnout refers to where the feet end up on the floor. Rotation refers to the movement of the thigh from the hip. If you roll on your feet, then you are almost certainly not turning the leg out from the hip sufficiently.

[futureABTdancer]

Ok thank you... but how do I fix this?

[Mel Johnson]

Ah, the teachable moment.

 

Here's a golden opportunity to learn how to use the "search" function on the board. If you scroll up to the head of the page and click the link "search", you will be taken to the Search page. As you will have come from the Young Dancers' 13 forum, that one will be preselected for you. In the search box, simply type in "rotation" and you will reach, as of right now, 646 posts to the Young Dancers' 13-16 forum containing the word "rotation", most of which have to do with this kind of question. Select from the list, read the whole thread, if you like, and then you can return to the list using your browser's back button. If you can't find an answer there, return here and ask!