The Ballet Bible
Discover the Secrets to Conquering Some of The Most Common Pitfalls You Face When Learning Ballet
Flat feet and bad turnoutI have flat feet and bad turnout. I always get so frustrated in ballet because I feel that is something I cant really fix. When I stand in fifth position and try to turn out the best I can, my feet roll in, so then when I make an arch it forces my fifth to get even worse. It hurts my hips and knees to stand like that. Is there anything I can do to impove my turnout and feet without causing injury? thanks January 15, 2007 | In Questions |23 Comments »RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URI Leave a comment |
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Try the “frog” position, lay on your stomach with your legs bent behind you, try and push your hips, legs and feet to the floor. Or you can sit up on four legs and try to spread ur legs as far as possible and hold if for about 10-15 mins every day…. it hurts but it helps. good luck
Comment by Ashley — January 15, 2007 #
You don’t say how old you are. The younger you are the “easier” and more time you have to fix something like that. It can be done, just takes dedication and time. You need to do daily foot exercises for your feet: get about 50 marbles, put them on the floor, and pick them up one at a time with your toes and put them into a box or basket. 2) Sit in a chair, keep your feet flat on the floor and try to pull your arches up without moving anything else. 3) Stand in first position at the barre (or a chair) and contract your toes and arches, release and repeat many times. Then from first position, try to inch your feet apart by contracting your toes and “crawling” them into second position, then back to first. 4) Point and flex 50 times, then rest, repeat.
For your turn-out, you could try Pilates or extra stretch classes to open up your joints a bit. Remember that your gluteus muscles help control your turn out so make sure you are turning out from your hips, not lower down.
There is a tool called the “Foot Stretch” which is made in Spain — you can find it by googling — it not only improves feet but can also improve turn out.
Good luck.
Comment by Zoe — January 15, 2007 #
sounds like part of your problem is you’re trying to force your turnout from your feet. learning to turn out from your hips by engaging your inner thigh muscles will help. be prepared though, your turnout may get worse at first, just keep working at it.
Comment by Marissa — January 15, 2007 #
I’m going to follow this for a while, I recognize the problem, or part of it anyway.
My feet also tend to roll forward when I try to maximize my turnout.
I can do the frog position and my teacher says my turnout is good (and that I don’t always maximize it), but with less turnout it’s easier to keep my feet from rolling in.
I’m an adult (28) beginner, so I guess there’s not so much I can remedy at this point, but tips are welcome.
What should I do, maximize my turnout, and try to keep my feet from tilting even if I tend to lose my balance, or don’t go all the way and keeping my balance better? Is it to late to try to remedy this?
Comment by Kaat — January 17, 2007 #
It isn’t too late, but it will be a LOT harder and take a lot more work. Don’t stop doing leg, feet and ankle excercises and you will eventually get there
Comment by Ashley — January 17, 2007 #
My teacher says that the rolling in of the foot is cause by pushing the kneew forward in pleas and such and to push your knees back. I heard this also helps turnout. I would check with your docter about Dysplasia! Hope this helps!
Charity
Comment by Charity — January 18, 2007 #
i have flat feet too. -is sad-
u can try to help ur feet out by, when your just standing there in line… doing nothing…, try to have your toes firmly on your [shoe] and kind of lift the inner part of ur foot, which would kind of make an upside-down L with… a dot. … i have no idea. i read something about tennis balls on one of the comments for another question on how to work out the arches……….. -mumbles about tennis balls-
personally, i hate the froggie position. -sighs-
pain.
BUT…. possibly the butterfly position? XD
if you cant really stretch out your inner thighs or anything, or just want to improve the turnout, then sit on the floor with ur legs turned out and bent at a 90-degree to slightly-obtuse angle with the soles of your feet touching, press down on your legs without hurting urself, and/or fold up ur body by laying on them. (yay!)
to stretch, of course, bring them closer to your body, soles touching, and lower them.
after a while your legs with get lower… and lower! and you’ll feel happier. =D have fun! XD
Comment by Nobody — January 18, 2007 #
oh, yes, and i forgot to TELL you this!
your hips might be hurting because theyre really tight and need to be stretched to reach that length, and ur knees might be… twisting? -wouldnt know very much on subject-
all i know is that you should make sure that your knees and ankles align with your hips. id go see a doctor that often treats ballet dancers to check it out, or a teacher who did ballet before (maybe they could recommend a good doctor who knows about such things).
and always remember…
technique is yummy! (for your body!)
Comment by Nobody — January 18, 2007 #
(typo-i-fied)
length? NO not length. im going temporarily insane; i MENT to get something out like…
reach to that extent.. yeah.. that works.. okay…
Comment by Nobody — January 18, 2007 #
Work on your butterfly stretch, and your frog as theese both improve turnout, and do ronds de jambe very slowly, focussing on keeping both legs turned out, the more you work at it the better it will get, and always remember to turn out from your hips, really pull your legs around, and make sure that your knees are always over your toes and your not forcing your turnout or you will hurt your knees.
Abbie
Comment by Abbie — January 23, 2007 #
Im trying to improve my turnout too, but I dont know what frog is!?!
Comment by Someone — January 30, 2007 #
@ Someone: try looking at the first comment by Ashley. She gives a pretty good explanation as to how to do the frog position.
Comment by Big E — January 30, 2007 #
Thankyou I read it but i still don’t feel”enlightened”
Comment by Someone — February 1, 2007 #
to go into the “frog” lay on your stomach with your knees out and the bottoms of your feet flat together. keep your hips and knees flat on the floor and push your feet downward.
hope this clarifies.
Comment by Marissa — February 1, 2007 #
ask your teacher if it’s ok if you can sew ribbons on your shoes that well help you from rolling.
Hope I helped
Comment by Nancy — February 2, 2007 #
What if you are flat when you sit in the froggie position but its just when your legs straighten the turnout becomes bad? Is there anything to do for that?
Comment by kiana — July 1, 2007 #
kiana: the froggie position gives no indication of what your turnout is like with a straight leg. in your case I would guess that you need to strengthen the turnout muscles. there is a video on youtube posted by lisahowell2 called “exercises for pointe work-3-clams and piriformis stretch” that shows a good exercise for this.
Comment by Marissa — July 1, 2007 #
i really need good ideas to help my turnout. i am the only one in my class thats not going into pointe because of it. please help.
Comment by jessica — November 19, 2007 #
hello
i have a problem of my left leg turning out and being able to use the hamstring muscle much better than my right leg…its really fustrating when i dance, and since i’m doing my intermediate and some advance 1 classes i use demi points and i find it hard to do centre work because my right leg have the tendecy to turn in and i’ll lose my balance. please help it will be greatfully appreciated.
Comment by debz — December 6, 2007 #
Im in my tweenties now and did ballet as a child and in my teens. I had no turn out and can barely arch my feet, infact i can rotate my knees more then 90 degrees inwards. I worked on my turn out for years even having private lessons to improve but with little success. Its just the way my body is but on the plus side I started tae kwon do as an adult were having inward turning knees is an advantage! So my message is use ballet to help build up strength and fitness, but accept your limitations and be proud of them and one day you can use them to your advantage.
Comment by lauz — January 22, 2008 #
hey there,
i’m not old really,i’m not even a teenager yet,
but i can tell you this
i go to a full time ballet school
who uses the russian method
the only way you will get better is if you push and push
sweat
work your feet to the limit
who cares if it hurts
i have not got the natural dancers body,
people used to say i’d never be a dancer because of my flat feet
and that i wasn’t ”en-dehors”
and i look completly diffrent now
but…
BE CAREFUL
do not injure yourself
you know your own body
you know when it’s time to stop
if you really want it
youll get it
hope it all goes well
Comment by rose — February 9, 2008 #
hi i’m 14 & i’ve been dancing for 7 years ~ so far there’s only been 1 distinction in the school since i’ve started & there’s about 500 people in the school ~ is there a higher rate of distinctions in other schools?? ~ the highest result i’ve ever gotton is highly commended- but then i’m not very good anyway =P ~ what should i do?? ~ would you give it up or keep going just for fun & fitness? ~ p.s the only girl i know who got distinction has completely flat feet so don’t give up dancing just for this reason!!!!!!!!! =)
Comment by marie — July 7, 2008 #
Could you guys just stop arguing and pretending that you know everything about ballet! Seriously, I have been with ABT for 6 years and what have you accomplished!
Comment by Sonia — February 9, 2009 #