How to do second turns in dance
Yes, you CAN Turn! 5 Hacks to Master your Ballet Turns — Ballet Online Happens Right Here.
Yes, you CAN Turn!
Pirouettes, for some, they are easy as pie. For others, they are the most difficult step of all. Some people are natural turners, they turn as easily as a pinwheel. Some people are natural jumpers, they could jump for hours on end. And, some delight in adagio combinations others may dread, their stability seems unshakeable.
But, today, we’re going to talk about Pirouettes. They are still (and probably always will be) one of the most asked about steps in all of ballet. And, the question we hear the most is, “Why can’t I seem to get this? Why can’t I turn?”
5 Hacks to Master your Ballet Turns (Pirouettes)
Don’t Panic.
Seriously, one of the first things we need to remember is it’s just a turn, don’t panic. If you know there is a turn coming up, and you’re already anxious about it, you’ll panic during your preparation, and your take off will send you shooting off to different direction.
Stay calm, breathe, and tell yourself, “It’s just a turn, it’s not life or death.” Trust yourself. If you doubt yourself halfway through, you’ll fall. Take a breath, be brave, and trust yourself.
Be Patient.
If you struggle with turns, you must be patient with your progress- no matter how slow it seems. Progress is progress. Start slow, pace yourself. Break it down. Start with quarter turns, then half, then one single turn. Little by little, your body will start to remember the feeling, and the panic will slowly subside. Be patient, take your time. Don’t put too much pressure on yourself, it’s just a turn- you will get it.
Be Consistent.
Consistency is key. Whether it’s working on getting your passé up quickly, practicing the action of the relevé, or working on spotting- do something every day. Be consistent. You’ll get the fundamental elements of a pirouette down faster if you are consistent in your efforts. Decide how many turns you are going to do, and work on starting and finishing cleanly.
Focus on a clean start and clean finish. Practicing this way will build good habits. Quality over quantity. A clean single turn is far more beautiful than a sloppy double or triple.
Don’t Be Afraid to Ask for Help.
If you’re having a difficult time mastering your pirouettes, there is nothing wrong with asking other instructors for some help. You may love your instructor to bits, but something about pirouettes just isn’t “clicking” for you. Don’t be shy about listening to other instructors’ advice. The same concepts can be explained in so many ways, maybe hearing it explained in different words is just what you need to hear.
Practice Correctly.
It doesn’t matter how advanced you are in other areas, if you’re having a hard time getting your pirouettes down, don’t throw yourself around with more force than you’re ready for. Don’t set yourself up for injury. Again, a clean start and finish is more important than how many turns you do. Decide how many turns you’re going to do, and finish clean.
Trust yourself, and listen when others offer advice. Be patient, and try not to get frustrated. Eventually, you will get it.I’m always listening, so if you have any questions or suggestions of your own, leave them in the comments- I read all of them! Best of luck, and lots of love!
If you find yourself feeling short of inspiration, remember you can download the Get Ballerina Fit workout. What helps you the most when fatigue sets in? Let me know in the comments below, so we can all learn from each other. Let’s keep dancing!
‘Get Ballerina Fit’ Free Guide
Lazy Dancers Ballet Workout Plan: Get Ballerina Fit!
This totally free Guide will take you through the strength and skill building techniques you need to gain a ballerina’s confidence and poise, no matter of your schedule, or what age and fitness level you’re at.
All achieved from the privacy of your living room ― no, really!
Of course I’m here for you, so if you have any question or want to start a conversation, feel free to leave a message below or send me an email to hello@lazydancertips.
com :)
Love
Alessia
tutorial, life hacksAlessia Lugobonihow to master ballet turnsComment
0 LikesPopular Ballet Turns: Ballet 101
17 December 2020
From pirouettes to fouettés, here is a list of popular ballet turns that will have you spinning with enthusiasm.Mimi Tompkins in Ballet Arizona’s “The Sleeping Beauty.” Choreography by Ib Andersen. Photo by Alexander Iziliaev.
Chaînés
Chaînés, meaning “chains” in French, is a two-step turn where both feet alternate back and forth to keep moving in a line or circle. Dancers complete a full rotation for every two steps taken.
Piqué Turn
Meaning “to prick,” the term piqué has multiple uses in ballet. In terms of turning, the dancer is traveling across the stage, with one leg stepping en pointe or the ball of the foot and the other leg in the passé position.
They also don’t just need to be single turns, a dancer can to a double, triple, etc.
Pirouette
Pirouette means “spin” or “whirl.” They are very common in variations, pas de deux, and in corps de ballet pieces. Pirouettes are done by turning on one leg, with the other off the ground and most likely in passé. There are three types of pirouettes:
Pirouette en dehors – meaning “turning outwards,” the dancer’s body turns towards the raised leg.
Pirouette en dedans – meaning “turning inwards”, the dancer’s body turns towards the supporting leg.
Pirouette à la seconde – This pirouette is commonly seen in men’s variations. What makes this turn unique is that one leg is raised at a 90 degree angle the entire time and finishes with bringing the leg into a passé, resulting in a whirlwind of pirouettes!
Fouetté
In French, fouetté means “whipped.” There are two main types of fouettè turns in ballet, Italian and Russian.
Russian – Russian fouettés are the most well-known! They are commonly performed by women in the coda section of the pas de deux. First, the dancer starts with one full pirouette in passé . Next, the dancer will do a plié on the standing leg, while the other leg extends to the front and “whips” to the side or a la secondé. Lastly, the dancer pops back up en pointe and brings the leg back in, to a passé, to turn again.
Italian – The Italian fouette is not as common but none-the-less just as stunning! It is mainly performed by women and starts with the dancer bringing one leg up into the air while going onto pointe, also known as a relevé développé. Next, the dancer will turn slightly and brush that same leg through the first position, now facing the back diagonally. Lastly, the dancer will do the fouetté by bringing the leg into an attitude and whipping around to the opposite diagonal…now, repeat!
Attitude
An attitude turn is considered to be one of the more difficult turns on this list.
To perform this turn, a dancer must stand on one leg with the other lifted (either in the front or back). The lifted leg is slightly bent creating a 145-degree angle.
Rotations and turns in dancing (practice)
- Posture
Rotations are performed with a taut and even body, "coccyx retract", "long neck", chin looks up. This will help you balance and tighten the axle needed for long term spins.
- Dot
All dancers know to "hold the dot" to spin, but I wonder if you can change dot fast enough? In order to rotate long and hard, you need to train a sharp and lightning-fast change of point. The point should be kept at the level of your eyes and a little higher. Don't look at the floor or you'll end up there.
- Alignment (cross)
Concentrate on aligning the line of the shoulders with the line of the pelvis, they should be parallel.
If you do not align the lines of the shoulders and pelvis during the beginning of the rotations, you will not be able to catch the balance and your rotation will not be long, a maximum of 3 pirouettes. To do this, you should train in front of a mirror, stand in a relevé and make sure that the lines of the shoulders and pelvis (hips) are parallel. Also, in front of the mirror, you should control the position of the body, become sideways and make sure that you are not leaning forward or leaning too back.
- Balance
When pirouettes, you balance on a half-finger (relev), practice balance without rotation. If you can’t stand on a half-finger without spinning, then you won’t be able to stand in a turn either. Practice balance on half toes without rotation, train both the left and right foot, you should stand eight counts at a very slow pace, this will strengthen your axis. What type of spin do you train, classic turnout or jazz closed? Practice every type of balance until you can, it will come in handy in your career as a dancer, modern show groups use all kinds of techniques.
- Your thumb
Where does your thumb point when you rotate it? If your finger is not pointing in the same direction as your knee, this rotation is not considered correct and you will not be able to achieve a multi-spin. Stand on your half-finger and make sure you don't "clubfoot" that your thumb is pointing in the same direction as your knee. There is nothing worse than a clubfoot dancer! If the foot is placed correctly, the weight is also distributed correctly and you will be able to build the best axis for rotation. Make sure that during the rotation you do not jump on the half-toe, do not "play" up and down and your instep is stretched as much as possible. Throughout the rotation, you should stand on the maximum possible half-finger.
- Use the dance floor (parquet)
Push off the deep plié floor with all your strength to set the maximum possible rotational energy.
Imagine a Devil in a Box spring toy, you push it down into the box and when you open it, it kind of shoots up with maximum force, while you direct this energy into rotation with your hands. Push off from the plié with enough force to get on your half toe and extend your knee, and of course not more than necessary, otherwise you can not resist. Also, there is a technique in which, during the performance of the plie, the dancer exhales and then briefly inhales during the first turn, which allows you to increase the moment of rotation using an additional force.
- Matching shoes
Depending on the choreography, wear specialized dance shoes. It is not recommended to do rotation without shoes, you can comb the skin on the balls of the feet.
- Arms
Have you noticed that when doing a series of pirouettes, the arms are closer to the body in subsequent turns than in the first turn? Quite right! During a series of pirouettes, it is very important not to lose the energy of rotation, for this the dancer must skillfully collect his hands to the body, distribute energy for each turn, so that in each subsequent turn the hands are a little closer than in the previous ones.
Try it in practice, if you do not bring your hands together, then the rotation will not be fast and not long, but if you sharply take your hands to the body, then you will sharply spin at a higher speed. Now that you know what to do, you should train the most important condition - while bringing your hands together, hold the "cross" (the line of the shoulders and the line of the pelvis should be parallel).
- Pulling
Imagine that while you are spinning, someone is pulling you up by the top of your head. This will allow you to keep a straight axis and rise as high as possible on the half-finger with the involvement of the main muscles of the body.
- Practice
Pirouette, like a circus trick, performing a series of pirouettes requires long hours of regular practice.
"When I was preparing to break the world record, I worked out at least three days a week for several hours.
And it took about a year for me to start rotating from 19up to 55 turns without stopping" - says Lucia Sofia.
Read also
Salchow, Axel and sheepskin coat.0009
Skating is evaluated by two panels of arbitrators - directly by the judges and the so-called technical team. At more or less major competitions, there are always nine judges, and the technical team, as a rule, consists of three people. Each category of arbitrators has specific roles.
Athletes in all disciplines of figure skating compete in two programs - short and free. It is by the sum of points for two rentals that the winner is determined. In turn, the assessment in each of the programs consists of two categories - technical and so-called components, and each of them is quite detailed. If you understand the referee protocols, you can understand how well the skater performed this or that element, even despite his performance. This scoring system has been in operation since 2005, replacing the less convenient "six-point" system.
GOE coefficients and their influence on the final mark
Two panels of arbitrators work on points for technique at once. The technical panel calculates the number of revolutions in jumps in real time, sets the difficulty level of the elements (step tracks, rotations, lifts, death spirals, pattern sections, etc.) from basic to maximum fourth, and also notices the main mistakes. These include falls, under-rotations on jumping elements, or the wrong choice of the edge of the skate when performing the lutz and flip.
An attentive viewer during the performance can notice flaws in the performance on their own. Underrotation can sometimes be recognized by a large amount of small crushed ice flying out from under the athlete’s skate upon landing. Most often, this is a sure sign that the skater was forced to twist the jump already on the ice. But for technical specialists, of course, it is much easier to calculate the error, if only because they have video replays at their disposal.
See also
Death, ejection and spiral. We explain how to watch pair figure skating correctly
The result of the work of technical controllers is the derivation of the base cost of an element. The score, of course, is not kept manually - the manual of the International Skating Union (ISU) already states how many points are due for each element in accordance with what type of mistakes were made and whether they were made at all. In addition, if the skater fell or was forced to interrupt the skate due to his own fault, the technical panel immediately deducts his points in the Deductions column. For example, for one fall, athletes immediately get minus one point from the final score, for the third and fourth - already minus two, and from the fifth and, so to speak, to "victorious" - minus three.
Then the judges get involved. Their task is to distribute bonuses or deduct points for each element, depending on the quality of its execution. All these points in the broadcast and in the final protocols are displayed in the GOE scale (GOE - Grade of Execution, coefficient of execution).
The scoring system for this coefficient is quite complicated. Its essence is as follows - all nine judges give an assessment for an element (do not confuse it with points) from "-5" to "+5". After that, one worst and one best rating is removed, then the remaining seven numbers - GOE coefficients - are converted into specific points in accordance with the base cost of the element according to the ISU table, summed up and divided by seven. The number obtained as a result of division and rounded to hundredths will be the final score on the GOE scale. These points are then added to (or subtracted from) the base cost to arrive at the final item score.
Anna Shcherbakova's short program test report
© isu.org
This example shows the referee's report of Anna Shcherbakova's short program test at her first stage of the adult Grand Prix series in Las Vegas. It contained almost everything that is written above, so it is impossible to imagine a more visual probe. At the very beginning, the figure skater brilliantly performed a double axel, for which she received a positive GOE (1) in accordance with the set judicial coefficients (2).
The allowances go to the base cost (3), after which the final technical score for the element (4) is obtained. Also in the protocol, you can see that the Russian woman completed all the rotations (5, 6, 7) and the step sequence (8) to the highest possible fourth level of difficulty. However, at the very end of the track, she stumbled and fell, for which she received a penalty of one point on the Total deductions scale (9) and negative GOE (10). In addition, the technical team ruled that Shcherbakova under-rotated (11) the triple loop in the cascade with a triple lutz, for which a minus GOE is also due. The overall technical score can be seen here (12).
GOE scores may change in real time during a broadcast. Most often, this is due to the fact that the technical team decided to revise the quality of the element and, for example, found an underrotation on the jump. Consequently, the scores for the already set GOE coefficients will be different, since the base cost of jumps with underrotations is lower than the net ones.
Components - the domain of uncertainty
Next, the judges take on the second assessment - the components. This is exactly why figure skating is often called a subjective sport. Referees, based on their own impression of the performance, give points (from 0 to 10 with a spread of 0.25) in five columns - skating technique, possession of connecting elements, artistry, program composition and music interpretation. As in the case of GOE, one best and one worst score is discarded in each column, the remaining scores are averaged and multiplied by a special coefficient to derive an overall average score for each item. After that, the scores for all five columns are summed up, which gives the final scores for the components. The coefficient in women's singles for the short program is 0.80, for the free program - 1.60. For men, 1.00 in the short and 2.00 in the free. In pair skating, the coefficient corresponds to the women's "single", and in dancing there are different rules in this respect.
In rhythm dance, the component coefficient is 0.80, in free dance it is 1.20.
Alina Zagitova's free program protocol
© isu.org
Here is Alina Zagitova's free program protocol from her victorious World Championship in Japan. The overall score of the Russian woman for the components is listed here (1), the full picture of the scores can be found in this block (2). Please note that one of the arbitrators rated the artistry of the Olympic champion at the maximum 10 points (3). No one else at that tournament received such marks.
Most of the controversy regarding figure skating marks comes down to the components. They can only compete with under-rotation on jumps. But if the latter can somehow be proved or disputed in accordance with clear criteria, then the points for the components can only be accepted and reconciled, because there are no strict criteria at all. With the exception of the sliding technique and the possession of connecting elements, each arbiter interprets them at his own discretion.
When scoring components, arbitrators are often guided not only by the impressions of the rental, but also by the titles of a particular athlete, belonging to a certain national federation, and the complexity of the technical content. And in other cases - a number of subjective factors that contradict everything else.
See also
Pattern, twizzles and supports. We explain how to watch ice dancing
Because of this, ambiguous situations often arise, for which there are simply no rational explanations. For example, this season, the world and European champion Elizaveta Tuktamysheva, who performs as many as three triple axels in two programs, receives one of the lowest components in the entire world top. Why? Partly due to the fact that the Russians really do not have a lot of choreographic delights and connecting elements between jumps in the box office. But this is only one side of the coin, but the other, according to the judges, does not exist in principle.
Also, fans often blame the judges for artificially inflating the component scores of leading skaters in the first season after leaving the juniors - they say, the second score for some athletes grows too fast.
So, for example, it was with Yulia Lipnitskaya, Evgenia Medvedeva, Alina Zagitova, Rika Kihira. Probably, the same awaits yesterday's juniors from the group of Eteri Tutberidze Alexandra Trusova, Anna Shcherbakova and Alena Kostornaya. This claim is true, what it is connected with is a big question.
See also
Flawless Alexandra. A little more, and Trusova can surpass the men's records
However, the problem is actually a little deeper than it might seem at first glance. For example, why do even very "component" junior skaters get marks lower than adults? Kostornaya and Shcherbakova faced and continue to face this. Often, "metamorphoses" with scores according to the second assessment after the skaters enter the adult level are not associated with lobbying the interests of some individual athletes, but with bringing their scores in line with "adult" standards.
The talk about the fuzziness of component criteria has been going on for years, and now it has finally reached the ISU.
