The Urban Dictionary defines Turnt...
"a word used only to describe when someone is excessively excited or prepared for the current event."
I definitely get excited for great turn out. There is nothing worse then watching a gorgeous dancer prepare for coupé turns in a beautiful turned out fourth position then right before they turn, the plié deepens and the front foot turns into parallel...ugh! Holler if you hear me dance educators out there!!!
I grew up in a very strict ballet school where the teachers only spoke Russian and the only words I could understand was through the language of ballet. One of my teachers walked around with a broom and would poke us in the butt cheek and yell, in very broken English, "MORE TURNOUT". We learned to fear the broom and learned to squeeze our glutes as hard as possible as to not have her notice. I never understood what poking us in the butt cheek or, squeezing my glutes as hard as I could, had to do with turnout until I got older.
The hip abductor muscles are a group of 4 muscles located in the buttocks and the outer hip region. When you tighten your glutes it activates these muscles to give you better turn out.
I can't help but notice this year that I am talking about rotation and turn out A LOT. It is something that we hear from our first ballet class and for the rest of our dance career.
How do we improve turn out? Well there are tons of exercises that, I will eventually get to in my blogs, but today we are focusing on the immediate activation of your abductor/turn out muscles and my favorite ballet exercise for doing this is the tendu. Tendus have so many functions and can teach us so much about dance basics-stretching your feet, pushing through the floor, articulating your metatarsal, AND turn out!
A properly done tendu starts with the activation of your abductors BEFORE extending all the way out to a stretched foot. Example-you lead with your heel when doing a tendu to the front.
The most fun way to practice maximizing your turn out in tendus is to use a partner and a small ball. You stand in First position and your partner places the ball right in front of your heel. You then push the ball with your heel as you tendu to the front. When going to the side your partner sets the ball to the tip of your big toe and, to the back, sets it at your pinky toe. The idea behind the exercise is for you to be aware of what you are leading with in order to think more about the rotation/turn out from your hip. It helps learn to immediately activate the abductors.
Of course there is a video starring my lovely assistants Dayna and Isabel from Georgia :). Watch, love, like, share, do!
Send your ideas or things you want to work on my way and in the meantime subscribe to my YouTube Channel!!
Take Care of YOU, dancers!
Liz