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Articles
A list of informative articles on ballet and pointe.
The Truth About Turnout
Oct 1, 2010 by Kristin Lewis.
Correct turnout. Photo by Eduardo Patino.
Turnout—a combination of rotational flexibility and the strength to properly hold that rotation—is the foundation of ballet. But it’s also a source of frustration for many dancers. After all, not everyone (actually, hardly anyone) is born with 180-degree rotation. “When I first started dancing, my hip flexors were strong, but I was forcing my turnout without using the right muscles,” remembers Amanda Cobb, now a dancer with The Washington Ballet.
The good news is that it’s possible to both improve your turnout and to dance beautifully with less-than-perfect rotation. But there’s a lot of misinformation out there about how turnout works and why it’s important. To help separate fact from fiction, DS asked the experts to disprove six turnout myths.
Myth #1
If your feet are turned out 180 degrees, that means you’re using your turnout.
“Turning out requires rotating your legs from the inside of the hip all the way through to your feet,” says Nancy Bielski, who teaches at Steps on Broadway in NYC. That requires flexibility, strength and placement.
To maximize flexibility in the hips, most dancers need to begin training early, while their bones are still growing. Teresa Volkerson, PT, MS, a physical therapist who works with dancers at Orlando Ballet, says the best age range for building turnout-related flexibility is between 8 and 12 years old. Proper stretching can also improve your rotation slightly after puberty. (See the exercise below.)
But all the flexibility in the world will mean nothing if you don’t have the strength to control it. Turning out correctly uses the lower abdominal and lower back muscles, the glutes and the thighs. It requires proper placement, as well. “In order to get the most turnout, you have to pull up to create room between the bones,” says Damara Bennett, director of the School of Oregon Ballet Theatre. In other words, if you sink into your hips and legs, tuck under and grip your turnout, you won’t be able to maintain your rotation as you move from one position to the next.
Myth #2
Walking turned out in your day-to-day life will improve your turnout.
“Some people are naturally inclined to walk with their feet turned out, and some are not,” says Volkerson. Forcing yourself to walk with your feet outward all the time will not improve your rotation. In fact, it can actually lead to ankle, knee and hip pain.
Myth #3
If you want to avoid injury, don’t push your turnout.
“If you’re not pushing it enough, there’s a deadness—you feel nothing—and you won’t improve,” Bielski says. From the first plié to the final jeté of class, challenge yourself to correctly use your maximum rotation. Then be sure to stretch for a few minutes after class when your muscles are warm and pliable. Bennett recommends a second position split, bending forward at the waist and keeping the legs rotated outward.
Just remember that pushing your turnout isn’t the same as forcing it. Never turn out to the point that your hips, knees and ankles aren’t aligned in plié, your hips are tucked under, your feet are rolled in or your back is swayed. (An easy way to tell if you’re faking your turnout at the barre? When you step into the center, you won’t be able to maintain faux-rotation.) Not only will you risk injury to your hips, knees and ankles, but sacrificing placement for a “perfect” fifth position won’t serve you in the long run, either. Eventually, you’ll find that you can’t move efficiently or change weight easily from one leg to the other.
Myth #4
Cross-training activities with your feet in parallel can negatively impact turnout.
It’s actually important to turn in every now and then. “If you just turn out, turn out, turn out all the time, the rotational muscles can get tight,” explains Bennett. “In your free time, do exercises that turn in.” Bennett suggests swimming because it’s a low-impact activity that won’t overdevelop muscles. She also recommends yoga: “Yoga is wonderful cross-training because it stretches those areas ballet doesn’t stretch.” Cobb finds that Pilates and Gyrotonic classes are also helpful.
Myth #5
You have to turn in to complete certain ballet steps.
Many dancers lose turnout during challenging steps—in the front foot in fourth position just prior to a back attitude turn en dehors, for example, or during a fast petit allegro combination. But that’s due to a lack of strength or placement, not because the movements are physically impossible to do turned out.
Myth #6
You can’t be a professional dancer unless you have 180-degree turnout.
Most dancers don’t have perfect turnout—they just have the muscle control to make the best of their rotation. “The stronger your turnout, the easier all the steps will be,” says Bennett. “Turnout gives you a greater range of motion. It allows you to move faster and bigger.”
Improve Your Rotation
When done correctly, this exercise from the American Ballet Theatre National Training Curriculum can increase the range of your hip
flexibility by a couple of degrees.
[ ] tailbone down, not tucked
[ ] pelvis neutral
[ ] lift in the upper body
[ ] hips opening like a book from the center of the body
[ ] weight over the toes, not the heels
Correct turnout. Photo by Eduardo Patino.
Turnout—a combination of rotational flexibility and the strength to properly hold that rotation—is the foundation of ballet. But it’s also a source of frustration for many dancers. After all, not everyone (actually, hardly anyone) is born with 180-degree rotation. “When I first started dancing, my hip flexors were strong, but I was forcing my turnout without using the right muscles,” remembers Amanda Cobb, now a dancer with The Washington Ballet.
The good news is that it’s possible to both improve your turnout and to dance beautifully with less-than-perfect rotation. But there’s a lot of misinformation out there about how turnout works and why it’s important. To help separate fact from fiction, DS asked the experts to disprove six turnout myths.
Myth #1
If your feet are turned out 180 degrees, that means you’re using your turnout.
“Turning out requires rotating your legs from the inside of the hip all the way through to your feet,” says Nancy Bielski, who teaches at Steps on Broadway in NYC. That requires flexibility, strength and placement.
To maximize flexibility in the hips, most dancers need to begin training early, while their bones are still growing. Teresa Volkerson, PT, MS, a physical therapist who works with dancers at Orlando Ballet, says the best age range for building turnout-related flexibility is between 8 and 12 years old. Proper stretching can also improve your rotation slightly after puberty. (See the exercise below.)
But all the flexibility in the world will mean nothing if you don’t have the strength to control it. Turning out correctly uses the lower abdominal and lower back muscles, the glutes and the thighs. It requires proper placement, as well. “In order to get the most turnout, you have to pull up to create room between the bones,” says Damara Bennett, director of the School of Oregon Ballet Theatre. In other words, if you sink into your hips and legs, tuck under and grip your turnout, you won’t be able to maintain your rotation as you move from one position to the next.
Myth #2
Walking turned out in your day-to-day life will improve your turnout.
“Some people are naturally inclined to walk with their feet turned out, and some are not,” says Volkerson. Forcing yourself to walk with your feet outward all the time will not improve your rotation. In fact, it can actually lead to ankle, knee and hip pain.
Myth #3
If you want to avoid injury, don’t push your turnout.
“If you’re not pushing it enough, there’s a deadness—you feel nothing—and you won’t improve,” Bielski says. From the first plié to the final jeté of class, challenge yourself to correctly use your maximum rotation. Then be sure to stretch for a few minutes after class when your muscles are warm and pliable. Bennett recommends a second position split, bending forward at the waist and keeping the legs rotated outward.
Just remember that pushing your turnout isn’t the same as forcing it. Never turn out to the point that your hips, knees and ankles aren’t aligned in plié, your hips are tucked under, your feet are rolled in or your back is swayed. (An easy way to tell if you’re faking your turnout at the barre? When you step into the center, you won’t be able to maintain faux-rotation.) Not only will you risk injury to your hips, knees and ankles, but sacrificing placement for a “perfect” fifth position won’t serve you in the long run, either. Eventually, you’ll find that you can’t move efficiently or change weight easily from one leg to the other.
Myth #4
Cross-training activities with your feet in parallel can negatively impact turnout.
It’s actually important to turn in every now and then. “If you just turn out, turn out, turn out all the time, the rotational muscles can get tight,” explains Bennett. “In your free time, do exercises that turn in.” Bennett suggests swimming because it’s a low-impact activity that won’t overdevelop muscles. She also recommends yoga: “Yoga is wonderful cross-training because it stretches those areas ballet doesn’t stretch.” Cobb finds that Pilates and Gyrotonic classes are also helpful.
Myth #5
You have to turn in to complete certain ballet steps.
Many dancers lose turnout during challenging steps—in the front foot in fourth position just prior to a back attitude turn en dehors, for example, or during a fast petit allegro combination. But that’s due to a lack of strength or placement, not because the movements are physically impossible to do turned out.
Myth #6
You can’t be a professional dancer unless you have 180-degree turnout.
Most dancers don’t have perfect turnout—they just have the muscle control to make the best of their rotation. “The stronger your turnout, the easier all the steps will be,” says Bennett. “Turnout gives you a greater range of motion. It allows you to move faster and bigger.”
Improve Your Rotation
When done correctly, this exercise from the American Ballet Theatre National Training Curriculum can increase the range of your hip
flexibility by a couple of degrees.
- Kneel and place a pillow under your left knee. If needed, hold a barre or chair to maintain balance.
- With both legs turned in, lunge forward on your right leg until your right knee forms a 90-degree angle. Rest your hands on your right knee. Keep your hips level and tuck your tailbone under.
- Continue to push forward into the right leg until you feel a gentle stretch in the outer front part of your left hip, and/or in your left thigh. Be sure to keep your back upright and your hips square.
- Hold this position, keeping your buttocks tight, for 15 seconds. Repeat three to four times.
- Repeat the stretch on the right knee.
[ ] tailbone down, not tucked
[ ] pelvis neutral
[ ] lift in the upper body
[ ] hips opening like a book from the center of the body
[ ] weight over the toes, not the heels
Boys and the Ballet - The Problems
March 2004 by Janet LaCava
On Wednesday March 24, 2004, I attended a presentation in the DeSales University's Trexler Library entitled "Boys at the Barre, Examining the Psychosocial Issues of Adolescent Male Dancers that was presented by Dr. Deborah Williams who has recently completed a 3-year study on 97 boys in dance.
The part of the presentation that was quite interesting to me was that Dr. Williams is not a dance teacher, but an assistant professor of Nursing & Health at DeSales U. and the mother of a male ballet dancer.
As a teacher of dance for over 30 years, I have taught many male dancers, some who have become professional but most who have not. The hardest part of teaching male dancers is watching the lack of support for them. So many who have an incredible passion for dance and the talent to make it have cut their training short due to incredible pressure from the world around them.
In Dr. William’s 3 year study she spent quite a bit of time with boys and teens studying dance, more specifically ballet. She shared the thoughts of the boys she interacted with on how lack of support and understanding is such an issue. After this presentation I was quite angry with what these boys have had to endure. I thought to myself, “Why is it so hard to allow someone to pursue their passion? Who has the right to ridicule and torture these wonderful human beings who only want to dance?”
There was another professor from DeSales present at this presentation. She mentioned how her 7 year old son takes ballet and loves it but feels the pressure at such a young age to hide his ballet shoes from others. I thought that if it were a girl in soccer would she feel the same need to hide her shoes? Why is this so off-balance? It just tears my heart out to see such ignorance causing pain to so many.
In the presentation, Dr. Williams states that men put up this front (guise) of masculinity to prove that they are tough and real men. They must show that they are physically strong, rugged, independent and tough. Males in ballet are labeled sissy, fag, and wimp and are pressured to conform to others idea of what it means to be a man.
This seems to be more of an issue in the United States of America. The majority of male dancers in American ballet companies are from foreign countries because they are more accepting of males in dance. In the US male dancers are mostly considered a contradiction of what men are supposed to be. Dance is soft so male dancers are considered effeminate. Real men do sports, fags dance ballet.
In many dance schools you will see larger enrollment of boys at younger ages. Once they reach puberty it dwindles and many schools have no male dancers or none past puberty. Outside pressure from peers is strong but is equal in strength from friends and family members. The support system from mothers of male dancers is 42.2%. That is quite sad to think that less than 50% of male dancer’s mothers don’t support them. Even sadder is that only 7.8% of the fathers support these boys. They are disappointed that their sons choose this path. My feeling is that fathers feel it is a reflection on their parenting skills that they could not raise a manly man.
The boys in this study say that they feel alone and different. They have no one to share their experiences and problems with. Even female dancers cannot share what they experience. It is a different world. How can they talk of stage make-up, torn tights, etc. with others males? They cannot relate to sports talk with their male peers, either. Most of them have never played sports even though their bodies are many times better conditioned than most males who play sports.
It goes beyond peers and family. There is a lack of support from even their own teachers as they do not always see what they are going through. They cannot share their fear of injuries, fathers usually don’t show up to any of their performances because father’s hate that they have chosen ballet. They hide their fears and concerns from other male relatives for fear of being labeled gay.
One boy was told by his father, “You can live here or you can dance, but not both”. These boys don’t want to have to hide their love of dance to be considered normal but they do for fear of the violence that has happened too many of them. When they are beaten for it, they usually hide it from parents and teachers.
Dance teachers and studio owners many times tell people, Look at this famous football player (like Rosie Greer). He studied ballet.”These boys say this makes them look more like a freak because those who do ballet on the side to enhance their athletic performance are NOT dancers. It does not make it okay because they are still looked on as manly because they are still in sports.
There is a large amount of denial of the problems these male dancers face even in the industry. In dance school performances girls are given preference to beautiful dressing rooms, costumes are planned, designed and gushed over. Boys will be last on the list and told, “Oh you need to go out and find this”, or “Use this, it will do for you.”
They have been forced to use janitor’s closets, corners of lobbies, and damp stairwells for dressing rooms. Girls are given wardrobe mistresses and boys are left to fend for themselves if their parents do not become involved, which is more often than not.
Dr. William’s spoke of how she appointed herself in charge of these boys so they would have someone to take care of them and help them prepare for performances. Teachers even ignore the boys in class in many cases. They may know all of the girl’s names and the boys are the “boy in the corner”.
In addition to all those other problems, boys grow at a different rate. They can grow 2-6 inches in a year which completely throws off their balance and lose some skills temporarily. This can be quite discouraging as they may think they have lost these skills forever. Girls usually do not grow as fast and adjust more readily to the changes that affect their dancing skills.
Boys are also injured more than girls because they are expected to be able to pick up girls in lifts without any prior conditioning and training. Males are strong so it should be easy, right? Don’t girls take quite a bit of training to strengthen their bodies for the rigors of pointe? Why is it then that boys are just supposed to automatically lift someone is at least ¾ of their weight?
Do you remember the movie, Robin Hood, Men in Tights”where they performed a dance to a song, “We’re Men in Tights?” Of course you all thought it was hilarious because they portrayed themselves in that song and dance as sissies. It is quite odd that men in medieval times wore tights and were manly but now it is considered gay. Men can wear a skin tight singlet in wrestling, tiny skin tight Speedos in swimming and diving but put a man in ballet tights and they are automatically different. Why is that?
Due to the stigma of wearing tights many teachers allow their students to wear sweatpants and other apparel in class so they are not labeled and teased. I have been guilty of this same thing and now realize it is sending the wrong message. It says that if I put you in tights you must be a sissy.
I have homosexual male friends who are very masculine and never wear tights and I have had friends and boyfriends who were quite straight who wore tights. So why I am so afraid of having my male dancers wear tights? They look darned good in them!
I for one have been in my glory as a teen dance student at the American Ballet Center School for the Joffrey Ballet when I was able to watch male dancers in action in class in their tights. I ogled and had crushes on many but I guess I feel the pressure to protect my male students from ridicule and this is wrong. I should be showing them that this is normal and have my boys in tights but I fear for them in same instance.
Another issue is that most boys spend most of their time in class with girls but past a certain age they do need to study with male dance teachers. That is hard in my area as I can’t find any. My only option would be to send them away to where they can find this training if they are serious about dance. That is so unfair because the girls do not have to move away from home to receive proper training but many of these boys do not have that option.
Then there are the teachers who lump boys in with men in the same class. Boys have different needs than men and they need to be trained separately to avoid injury.
The lack of social support at home, with peers, in school and even in their own studios causes so many problems for these boys. There is a need for social support for male dancers. We need to encourage mothers and fathers to be a part of their world and for others to be understanding. We need to talk to these boys and get them to share their problems and concerns.
More classes for boys, only, need to be offered by male teachers. These male teachers cannot be hired either just because they are men but because they are good teachers who really know how to teach boys. We need to give these boys reasons to stay in class and not give up their dreams!
As for Dr. William’s son, due to her vigilance in supporting him 100% he has grown up into a normal, and may I say, handsome, 17 year old who will be going onto a career in a major ballet company. Too bad the majority of boys do not have such support.
Published March 2004 in Dancer Magazine and Hearthstone Town and Country Newspaper
All rights reserved
March 2004 by Janet LaCava
On Wednesday March 24, 2004, I attended a presentation in the DeSales University's Trexler Library entitled "Boys at the Barre, Examining the Psychosocial Issues of Adolescent Male Dancers that was presented by Dr. Deborah Williams who has recently completed a 3-year study on 97 boys in dance.
The part of the presentation that was quite interesting to me was that Dr. Williams is not a dance teacher, but an assistant professor of Nursing & Health at DeSales U. and the mother of a male ballet dancer.
As a teacher of dance for over 30 years, I have taught many male dancers, some who have become professional but most who have not. The hardest part of teaching male dancers is watching the lack of support for them. So many who have an incredible passion for dance and the talent to make it have cut their training short due to incredible pressure from the world around them.
In Dr. William’s 3 year study she spent quite a bit of time with boys and teens studying dance, more specifically ballet. She shared the thoughts of the boys she interacted with on how lack of support and understanding is such an issue. After this presentation I was quite angry with what these boys have had to endure. I thought to myself, “Why is it so hard to allow someone to pursue their passion? Who has the right to ridicule and torture these wonderful human beings who only want to dance?”
There was another professor from DeSales present at this presentation. She mentioned how her 7 year old son takes ballet and loves it but feels the pressure at such a young age to hide his ballet shoes from others. I thought that if it were a girl in soccer would she feel the same need to hide her shoes? Why is this so off-balance? It just tears my heart out to see such ignorance causing pain to so many.
In the presentation, Dr. Williams states that men put up this front (guise) of masculinity to prove that they are tough and real men. They must show that they are physically strong, rugged, independent and tough. Males in ballet are labeled sissy, fag, and wimp and are pressured to conform to others idea of what it means to be a man.
This seems to be more of an issue in the United States of America. The majority of male dancers in American ballet companies are from foreign countries because they are more accepting of males in dance. In the US male dancers are mostly considered a contradiction of what men are supposed to be. Dance is soft so male dancers are considered effeminate. Real men do sports, fags dance ballet.
In many dance schools you will see larger enrollment of boys at younger ages. Once they reach puberty it dwindles and many schools have no male dancers or none past puberty. Outside pressure from peers is strong but is equal in strength from friends and family members. The support system from mothers of male dancers is 42.2%. That is quite sad to think that less than 50% of male dancer’s mothers don’t support them. Even sadder is that only 7.8% of the fathers support these boys. They are disappointed that their sons choose this path. My feeling is that fathers feel it is a reflection on their parenting skills that they could not raise a manly man.
The boys in this study say that they feel alone and different. They have no one to share their experiences and problems with. Even female dancers cannot share what they experience. It is a different world. How can they talk of stage make-up, torn tights, etc. with others males? They cannot relate to sports talk with their male peers, either. Most of them have never played sports even though their bodies are many times better conditioned than most males who play sports.
It goes beyond peers and family. There is a lack of support from even their own teachers as they do not always see what they are going through. They cannot share their fear of injuries, fathers usually don’t show up to any of their performances because father’s hate that they have chosen ballet. They hide their fears and concerns from other male relatives for fear of being labeled gay.
One boy was told by his father, “You can live here or you can dance, but not both”. These boys don’t want to have to hide their love of dance to be considered normal but they do for fear of the violence that has happened too many of them. When they are beaten for it, they usually hide it from parents and teachers.
Dance teachers and studio owners many times tell people, Look at this famous football player (like Rosie Greer). He studied ballet.”These boys say this makes them look more like a freak because those who do ballet on the side to enhance their athletic performance are NOT dancers. It does not make it okay because they are still looked on as manly because they are still in sports.
There is a large amount of denial of the problems these male dancers face even in the industry. In dance school performances girls are given preference to beautiful dressing rooms, costumes are planned, designed and gushed over. Boys will be last on the list and told, “Oh you need to go out and find this”, or “Use this, it will do for you.”
They have been forced to use janitor’s closets, corners of lobbies, and damp stairwells for dressing rooms. Girls are given wardrobe mistresses and boys are left to fend for themselves if their parents do not become involved, which is more often than not.
Dr. William’s spoke of how she appointed herself in charge of these boys so they would have someone to take care of them and help them prepare for performances. Teachers even ignore the boys in class in many cases. They may know all of the girl’s names and the boys are the “boy in the corner”.
In addition to all those other problems, boys grow at a different rate. They can grow 2-6 inches in a year which completely throws off their balance and lose some skills temporarily. This can be quite discouraging as they may think they have lost these skills forever. Girls usually do not grow as fast and adjust more readily to the changes that affect their dancing skills.
Boys are also injured more than girls because they are expected to be able to pick up girls in lifts without any prior conditioning and training. Males are strong so it should be easy, right? Don’t girls take quite a bit of training to strengthen their bodies for the rigors of pointe? Why is it then that boys are just supposed to automatically lift someone is at least ¾ of their weight?
Do you remember the movie, Robin Hood, Men in Tights”where they performed a dance to a song, “We’re Men in Tights?” Of course you all thought it was hilarious because they portrayed themselves in that song and dance as sissies. It is quite odd that men in medieval times wore tights and were manly but now it is considered gay. Men can wear a skin tight singlet in wrestling, tiny skin tight Speedos in swimming and diving but put a man in ballet tights and they are automatically different. Why is that?
Due to the stigma of wearing tights many teachers allow their students to wear sweatpants and other apparel in class so they are not labeled and teased. I have been guilty of this same thing and now realize it is sending the wrong message. It says that if I put you in tights you must be a sissy.
I have homosexual male friends who are very masculine and never wear tights and I have had friends and boyfriends who were quite straight who wore tights. So why I am so afraid of having my male dancers wear tights? They look darned good in them!
I for one have been in my glory as a teen dance student at the American Ballet Center School for the Joffrey Ballet when I was able to watch male dancers in action in class in their tights. I ogled and had crushes on many but I guess I feel the pressure to protect my male students from ridicule and this is wrong. I should be showing them that this is normal and have my boys in tights but I fear for them in same instance.
Another issue is that most boys spend most of their time in class with girls but past a certain age they do need to study with male dance teachers. That is hard in my area as I can’t find any. My only option would be to send them away to where they can find this training if they are serious about dance. That is so unfair because the girls do not have to move away from home to receive proper training but many of these boys do not have that option.
Then there are the teachers who lump boys in with men in the same class. Boys have different needs than men and they need to be trained separately to avoid injury.
The lack of social support at home, with peers, in school and even in their own studios causes so many problems for these boys. There is a need for social support for male dancers. We need to encourage mothers and fathers to be a part of their world and for others to be understanding. We need to talk to these boys and get them to share their problems and concerns.
More classes for boys, only, need to be offered by male teachers. These male teachers cannot be hired either just because they are men but because they are good teachers who really know how to teach boys. We need to give these boys reasons to stay in class and not give up their dreams!
As for Dr. William’s son, due to her vigilance in supporting him 100% he has grown up into a normal, and may I say, handsome, 17 year old who will be going onto a career in a major ballet company. Too bad the majority of boys do not have such support.
Published March 2004 in Dancer Magazine and Hearthstone Town and Country Newspaper
All rights reserved
