Turnout whilst rolling down

[ami1436]

 

This week in class one of our adage exercises at the barre involved rolling down from a releve to retire whilst completing a developpe. My turnout is not stellar (and I'm working on some pelvic hypermobility issues with my PT), but this is driving me crazy. I'm concentrating on staying aligned so that my pelvis doesn't tilt, and imagining the increasing turnout of both legs as I lower and extend. Yet, I still feel like I'm losing turnout on my standing leg - it's almost like a moment of disconnect at some point, and I'm not aiming for a high extension (can't do it anyway), so am really focusing on placement. Any tips/pointers/imagery from teachers here? Often hearing things in a different way is helpful for me.

[Mel Johnson]

This is where the lower abdominals really come into play! Lift inward and upward with the muscles below your navel, and it will help support turnout of the supporting, and the extension of the working leg. Don't let your shoulders rise!

[moreilly]

I've found it helpful to think of pushing my heel even more forward when rolling down. I don't think my heel actually moves more forward (or if it does it is certainly a negligible distance) but thinking of it in that manner helps me hold the turnout in my standing leg.

[ami1436]

Yes, moreilly, I am thinking of trying not just to maintain, but to increase turnout, on both legs, as I lower.

 

Mel -- thanks for that. I think we have new exercises tonight, but I'll try at the barre. Today I had a PT appointment and without me telling her about this difficulty, she pinpointed a weakness in external rotation strength and added some new exercises to my rota -- I definitely have a few structural issues to deal with, which helps me from getting too frustrated! I'll keep you posted as to how it goes. Thanks again!

[ami1436]

Mel, I think that both ways (rolling up or rolling down), I'm over-correcting in weight placement. This seems to be only happening in open positions, as opposed to retire. For example, I can balance in attitude devant or derriere, extend, close and lower. Or, I can easily (usually, not always!) roll up and down in a retire position. But even just tendu devant, and then roll up, and I'm over-correcting, and often taking the leg in tendu and over-crossing it or opening it to compensate. I know it, and am working on it with my torso... but you folks here usually have great 'visualization' suggestions which work well for me. Thoughts?