Developpe A La Seconde

Hi,

I’m now pushed to the limits because my ballet teacher said that i have a very bad turn out when i do developpe a la seconde (90 degrees). Is there any tips for me so that i can have a better turn out and so that i won’t have to lift from my hips?

October 26, 2006 | In Questions |

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  1. Hey there, here are some stretches and exercises to help improve turn out:
    Check out the beginner ballet boards, there are quite a few posts on this, you may have to go back a few pages to find some posts, hang on, I’ll find some… Okay I searched back a few pages and couldn’t find any, I swear there are some, heres some advice someone gave me:

    1) Froggy pose: Lie on your stomach with your knees bent and bottoms of your feet together, with your toes facing upward as much as possible. Work on each hip individually by allowing one foot to raise while pressing the other lower leg further towards the ground. Repeat on the other leg. You can also use one foot on top of the other to press the lower one down. Press up into a cobra position for an extra stretch!
    2) Modified Froggy: Lieing in your froggy pose, place the insides of your feet flat on the floor, allowing your hips and pelvis to rise off of the floor, but pressing them down as far as possible for a good stretch!
    3)Butterfly for turnout: Lie on your back with your feet in the butterfly and heels lifted. Using your hands, try to push your knees towards the ground.
    4)Advanced butterfly: Lie in the butterfly with your feet flexed and together. Have someone else push your knees down while you try to straight your legs completely to first position without letting yourself turn in. You can really feel this one working!!
    5)Passé turnout exercise: Stand however gives you the best balance (turned out, parallel, it doesn’t matter) Bring one leg to passe parallel, and rotate it out and in, slowly, out and in, about 10 times. Then push a little farther when you turn it out, past 180 even, letting your hip go up a little to get that extra stretch. 10 times again.
    6) Piriformis/rotator stretch: To relax and stretch out your piriformus muscle after an intense workout: Lie on your back with both knees bent and your feet resting on the floor. Take one leg(we’ll call this leg A) and rest that ankle on the thigh of leg B, turned out. Now using both hands, grab underneath the thigh of the Leg B and pull towards you, stopping when you begin to feel a stretch high in the back of the upper thigh of your turned-out leg.
    7) Rotating out and in: Lay on your side with your knees bent one on top of the other and your elbow resting on the ground to allow you to sit up a little (make sure you are really over your hip and not sinking back). For the best strengthening exercise, get a theraband and wrap the theraband around your legs, midthigh. Rotate the top leg out and in, about 10-15 times. Don’t overdo this one because you could injure your piriformis muscle, a tiny muscle that controls most of your turnout.
    8) Bridge: You can do this with or w/o a theraband. Lay on your back with your knees bent, wrap the band around your thighs, then roll your pelvis and back up so that you are making a flat surface with your thighs and stomach, then slowly roll through your spine back down. Repeat. To make this harder, do it with one leg crossed over the other, like in the periformus stretch.
    9) Rond de Jambe: When you do rond de jambe at the barre, focus on your turnout! Modify rond de jambe with a theraband: Stand in first position and tie the theraband around both leg tightly midthigh. Holding onto a barre/something for support if needed, do eight rond de jambes en d’hors(outside) and eight rond de jambes en de dans(inside). Do this on both legs. The resistance should make these harder than normal rond de jambes. Focus on rotating out and going through each position.

    I hope these help you

    Abbie

    Comment by Abbie Etheridge — October 26, 2006 #

  2. Try standing at the barre or anywhere that you can balance yourself and try lifting your knee up directly in front of you, then take it out to the side and down, try doing this on both sides starting with you knee going out to the front first and then the side. If don’t properly it can help

    Comment by Ashley — January 17, 2007 #

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