My Constricting Male Hips

[jamesters]

I found the turn-out test on page 10 of Classical Ballet Technique so I took pictures of mine.

 

 

http://a.imageshack.us/img715/1906/ballet1.jpg

 

 

http://a.imageshack.us/img715/6245/ballet2.jpg

 

 

http://a.imageshack.us/img715/7224/ballet3.jpg

 

I don't think it's in the "recommended" range, though I do think it's probably in the "acceptable" range.

 

The thing is, ballet is pretty new to me, I've been into contortioning long before I got into ballet, so I wonder if this will have implications for contortioning. For a long time I've thought the coolest skill in contortion was being able to kick one's leg behind one's head. For example:

 

I can hold my feet behind my head with relative ease, but I've been practicing for years and haven't been able to kick them over. I'm wondering if external rotation of the hips is the main problem why, and I wonder if I have the potential with continued training, or if my hips will never allow it!

 

So here's my feet behind my head:

 

 

http://a.imageshack.us/img819/7095/ballet10.jpg

 

 

http://a.imageshack.us/img819/3616/ballet11v.jpg

 

And here's me attempting to externally from the hips as much as I can:

 

 

http://a.imageshack.us/img819/74/ballet6.jpg

 

Based on my turn-out test, do I still have much more potential? Also, how will I know when I've reached my limit, can you eventually just feel your hip joint won't let you go any further? Because as of now it just feels more like a muscle struggle to make my legs turn that direction.

[Mel Johnson]

Certainly nothing wrong with that amount of passive rotation. It's the active rotation, when weight is on a supporting leg that really determines how well your turnout is supported.