Let's Demystify Turnout
When asked where turnout comes from, most dancers can answer “the hip” but do not understand what individual structures produce external rotation. While anatomy may not interest you, it is your responsibility as a dancer to know how your body works. How else can you ask it to move in the intricate movements you practice each class?
Hopefully, you already know that turnout involves the entire leg. About 60% of rotation is produced by the hip, so the knee and foot play a moderate and largely aesthetic role. The positioning of the pelvis also plays a role in turnout, as the femur's range of motion in the hip socket depends on the angle of the pelvis.
As for what you can feel when rotating, you should feel a pin-prick sensation at the back of the leg where the lower glute meets the upper hamstring. There, lying deep beyond the surface, are six small muscles known as the “deep six lateral rotators.” Functioning together, they pull the greater trochanter (head) of the femur laterally (sideways), producing the external rotation of the rest of the leg. Picture the spiraling blue line of a barber’s shop sign. The movement of that top line produces the spiraling of each lower line, creating seamlessness.
The rotators are difficult for beginning dancers to find both because they are deeply situated and because the superficial muscles tend to take over. Why can’t we simply let the big muscles do the work, you may ask? Superficial muscles like the glutes, hamstrings, quads, and even the outer core are not sustainable for long-term movement. Picture your daily technique class: the glutes, quads, and hamstrings are essential for arabesques, allegro, and other extreme, virtuoso positions at the end of class. The rotators, however, can take you from pliés to grand allegro and back again, saving the superficial muscles for the larger steps. As you advance, overreliance on superficial muscles will limit the growth you can achieve in beautiful, captivating movement and increase your risk of injury.
That is not to say that the tiny rotators at the base of your bottom are the only contributors to turnout. Another important turnout muscle is the inner thighs, adductors* of the legs. Has your teacher ever told you to feel the “rotation” in parallel? Feeling the inner thighs wrap inwards while standing in 6th position protects the alignment of the legs, and it works similarly in external rotation. When your legs are straight, especially à la seconde, the inner thighs wrap away, flattening the front of the thighs and helping the external spiral continue down the legs. Oppositely, when your legs are bent in plié, attitude, or retiré, the sartorius provides supplemental rotation. The sartorius is the longest muscle in the body, spanning from the outer top of the femur to the inside of the knee. The s-shaped muscle keeps the hip and knee in opposition (think demi-plié in 1st).
I am passionate about teaching dancers anatomy, but I believe the most technical growth occurs when we apply our intellectual knowledge about our body’s structures and produce accurate imagery. Any good teacher must equip you with examples of that imagery, but you will become a better dancer faster when you take autonomy over the process. Set up for every exercise by re-spiraling the legs, finding the deep activation and letting it naturally translate down to the lower legs and feet. Visualize your inner thighs when the legs are straight, especially on the standing leg, and visualize the s-shape of the sartorius in bent positions. Feel the pin-prick, or dimple, at the base of the bottom where the deep rotators are working, and prioritize keeping them active in every movement, especially while transitioning.
Visit my Instagram and book a coaching class for tailored exercises that will connect you with your turnout. Utilize a 10-foot resistance band to enhance the sensation of the wrapping of the leg, building crucial muscle memory. Turnout is a process, but working on it day by day will transform your dancing. While 45-degree rotation emerged as an aesthetic preference that accentuated the musculature of the legs, it is now the cornerstone to mastering all of ballet's vocabulary. Maintaining it throughout each movement, even while transitioning, and producing it from a sustainable, efficient place, is what makes an advanced dancer.
*In anatomy, adduction is the action of drawing a limb towards the midline and abduction is the action of drawing it away.