A dancer’s technique is extremely important! Turnout is a major part of a dancer’s technique. I personally struggle with turnout, since I do not have impressive natural turnout. I found a few tips I though I would share to help improve a dancer’s turnout at nextdance.com.
1 . The “frog” stretch. This is the popular stretch where you lay on your stomach with your knees bent, legs turned out, and feet pressed together. This stretches your inner thighs, which will help enable better turnout, especially in pliè.
2. Stretching your hips.
– Lay on your back with one leg stretched out away from your head, bend the other leg to your stomach and then twist slightly so that leg is going over your body. You should feel a stretch on the outside of your hip.
– Sit up with your knees bent and your feet on the floor (as if you were about to do sit-ups), and then taking one foot, flexing it, and putting it above your other knee, then pushing the knee of the turned out leg away from you gently.
3. Always turn out from your hips!!!! If you turn out from your knees or your ankles while trying to get a perfect first or fifth position, you risk serious injury and lifelong problems, which can ruin a dance career.
For more information, click this link!
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