For most dancers, achieving perfect turnout is often seen as a cornerstone of technique - especially for classical ballet. While stretching is important, relying solely on stretching won't get you the turnout you desire. Here’s why:
1. Improving Your Turnout Involves Multiple Joints and Bones
Turnout isn’t just about flexibility!
It's a complex movement involving various bones and joints from your spine to your toes. The hip, knee, ankle, and even the foot all play crucial roles. Simply stretching one area won't address the intricate biomechanics required for a proper turnout.
Foot and Ankle: With 26 bones and 31 joints (crikey, that's a lot!), the foot alone needs more than just flexibility. Proper alignment and strength are essential to prevent pronation and maintain a neutral foot position.
Knee and Hip: The knee's rotational component and the hip's ball-and-socket structure require strength and stability to support the turnout, not just flexibility.
To create 180o of turnout 60% (55o) is at the hip joint 40% (35o) is from other joints (3)
2. Muscular Contributions are Key
The muscles involved in turnout need to be strong and properly coordinated. Stretching alone won't strengthen the deep hip rotators, the core muscles, or the muscles of the foot and ankle, all of which are crucial for a stable and effective turnout.
Hip Rotators: The six deep rotators and the gluteus muscles need targeted strengthening exercises to contribute effectively to turnout.
Core Muscles: A strong core, including the transversus abdominus and lumbar multifidus, provides stability for the pelvis and spine.
3. Ligamentous Limitations (Sounds like a Harry Potter spell!!)
Certain ligaments, like the Y ligament (iliofemoral ligament) in the hip, are incredibly strong and can't be stretched. This ligament limits hip extension and external rotation, providing stability. Trying to stretch beyond these limits can lead to injury rather than improvement.
Y Ligament: The strongest ligament in the body, it becomes taut during turnout, providing a limit to how much rotation is possible.
Turnout is a measure of the combined range of hip external rotation AND non-hip external rotation. Non hip external rotation is achieved at the knee, ankle and tarsal (foot) joints.
4. Pelvic Alignment and Core Support
Proper pelvic alignment and core support are essential for a good turnout - Weren't expecting that one were you?!
Stretching doesn't address the need for a neutral pelvis or the coordination of core muscles to support the pelvis and spine.
Neutral Pelvis: Maintaining a neutral pelvis is crucial to avoid anterior tilt (sway back) and spinal hyperextension, which can't be achieved through stretching alone.
Core Support: Exercises that strengthen and coordinate the pelvic floor, transversus abdominus, and other core muscles are necessary for maintaining proper alignment and stability.
5. Functional Strength and Coordination
Turnout requires not just passive flexibility but also functional strength and coordination. This means your muscles need to work together in a coordinated manner to achieve and maintain turnout, which involves more than just stretching.
Motor Organization: The coordination of muscles like the hip adductors and abductors, and the intrinsic foot muscles, is essential for a dynamically stable turnout. **Dynamically stable means that you can hold this turnout while moving like in turns from the corner, develope a la second or jumps.
Functional Strength: Strengthening exercises that mimic dance movements are necessary to train your muscles to support turnout in real-life dance scenarios.
Take Away...
While stretching is an important component of flexibility, it’s NOT a comprehensive solution for improving your turnout. A balanced approach that includes strength training, core support, proper alignment, and functional coordination is essential for a safe and effective turnout. By focusing on these areas, you'll not only improve your turnout but also enhance your overall dance performance and reduce the risk of injury.
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References
Grossman et al (2005) Effective Use of Turnout: Biomechanical, Neuromuscular, and Behavioral Considerations, Journal of Dance Education • Volume 5, Number 1
Bennell, et al (1999). Hip and ankle range of motion and hip muscle strength in young female ballet dancers and controls. British journal of sports medicine. 33. 340-6. 10.1136/bjsm.33.5.340.
https://shrs.uq.edu.au/files/15706/Kiely_Sarah_Turnout%20in%20the%20Dancer.pdf
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