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| Photo by Maharet Hughes |
Turns and spins may look effortless on stage, but the components that go into them are
many, and sooo much more than just moving through space.
When I first started dancing, turns seemed
like an elusive, unreachable goal. I
knew nothing about the mechanics involved... and all too often, I found myself in
classes where it wasn’t properly broken down, either. It seems that outside of beginning ballet
classes, it’s just assumed that dancers
already have the foundation technique or innate
ability to execute a turn-or series of turns- and that’s simply not true!
To begin with, clean well-executed turns of
any kind all start with balance.
Achieving and maintaining the center of
gravity in the body is crucial to dance in general, and specifically for
turning. This sense of stability
activates three different parts of our physical bodies, and they must work
together, constantly shifting and adjusting to make up the clean execution of
turn technique.
The first is our vestibular system, located in
the inner ear. Without getting too scientific, it’s the primary place that
controls our ability to move our bodies. The vestibular system sends messages
to our brains about kinetics, or the ability to fuse movement with
balance. This is why people affected
with inner ear problems or an ear infection often experience vertigo or
dizziness.
The second is our motor
control skills, which govern the interaction between our brains and our
muscles, bones and tendons. The motor system sends cognitive information from
the central nervous system to our musculoskeletal system, enabling us to
perform every day movements and tasks…and to dance.
The third component is the
ocular or visual system, which not only allows us to see, but registers depth
perception and physical orientation. Of
course, the eyes send info to our brains when we dance. It’s important to know
that during a turn, unless you’re a crackerjack at spotting, your eyes won’t be
fixed on a certain point, putting your equilibrium a little out of whack.
All three of these bodily systems work together as
reflexes to aid our proprioception, or
the sense of our physical body in space. A common example of the use of
proprioception (or lack of it!) is the field sobriety sobriety test where an
offer commands a potential offender to close their eyes while standing on one
foot and touching their nose? A sober person can usually do this easily, but
someone who is impaired or intoxicated cannot.
Ok, so now that you’ve got a
little background, let’s move on to some exercises that will get you turning
like a champ.
Develop Your Proprioception
In my classes, to demonstrate what proprioceptive
orientation is, I ask my students to close their eyes, extend their arms, and
stand on one foot for as long as they can.
Some can do it for an extended time naturally, while others start to
sway and waver… while sober! Proprioception
works almost without any visual cues, it’s our body’s sense of “righting”
itself. The good news is that by doing exercise better proprioception skills
can be developed.
Improve Your Balance
Check and see where your weight is by rising
slowly up onto the balls of your feet and maintaining the position for as long
as you can. Notice where the brunt of the weight is. If it’s on the outside of
your foot, towards the small toe, that’s showing a weakness in your ankles. This
position is not optimal for turning, and it could potentially injure you. A
“classic” Dancer’s Sprain occurs when the foot rolls over onto the outside
edge, during dancing or any type of day-to-day activity.
Try this exercise to get your weight placed
properly:
With feet just under your hips, rise up slowly
onto the balls of the foot, pressing your toes into the floor. Keep your weight
over the middle of each foot, and a little towards the big toe. Hold this
position for at least eight counts, and slowly lower down to the floor. If you
need to, use a ballet barre, a chair or even a wall or doorframe to maintain
stability. Hold on as lightly as
possible, trying to let your body do most of the work. Repeat at least four
times, slow and steady.
Another exercise is to stand with the feet
hip width apart. Pick up one foot- not too far off the ground- while making
sure the foot you’re standing on has equal weight distribution between the ball
and the heel. Hold in place for at least thirty seconds, before switching to
the other foot. Repeat.
Strengthen And Stabilize Problem Areas
Even though we dance constantly, all of us
are stronger in certain areas…and those areas over-compensate for where we are
weaker. One of the most notoriously weak areas for many dancers (of all genres)
is in the hip. My chiropractor taught me these strengthening and stabilizing
the hips.
The first is to strengthen the calves. Stand
on a staircase and lightly hold the railing, stand on one step with the toes
and ball of both feet on the stair itself. Raise both feet to releve’ position,
hold for sixteen counts, then as slowly as possible, lower the feet so that the
heels are pointing downwards, towards the next lower step. Repeat at least four times. This will strengthen
your calves and give a nice stretch to your hamstrings, too.
For he second exercise on the
stairs, turn sideways to face the railing, holding it lightly, keeping the
knees soft. Keep one foot on the step itself, and slowly lower the other foot towards
the next step. If this is difficult, your hip is weak; you also might notice
that one side is stronger than the other. Repeat the exercise on both sides at
least four times initially, building slowly towards eight, then twelve
repetitions.
Find Your Weight Placement For Turning
Practice each turn in its most basic form; even if you think you’ve mastered it already. This will help you with the “intention” of
the turn, and burn it into your muscle memory. Do the turn in slow motion on
flat feet, planting each foot firmly down onto the floor before taking the next
step. Next, do the same thing, but with your eyes closed. After you’ve repeated
these movements a few times, do the turn full speed and you should notice a
marked improvement.
Engage Your Core While Turning
While we perform or rehearse, we are in dance
posture: spine elongated, abs engaged,
ribcage lifted, shoulders back and down. But sometimes in class or during
solitary practice, we forget our posture because we are so focused on mastering
technique. In order to execute a great turn, keeping dance posture is
essential…and that includes keeping your core tightly engaged. This will
provide you with far better bodylines, and provide an essential center of
gravity.
Learn To Spot
Spotting keeps the dancer’s eyes and heads
oriented in a certain place to alleviate dizziness and to enhance control during
turning. The way it works is that a
fixed focus for the eyes will help you to keep control and retain your balance.
While the actual turn is happening, the dancer’s body will rotate at a certain
speed… but the goal of spotting is to have the head actually get through the
rotation a little more quickly, in order to control the direction of the turn
or series of turns.
Spotting is simply the act of
focusing on a certain spot while
turning. To practice spotting, pick a
location on a wall or the studio mirror, and practice turning very slowly,
beginning and ending each turn with your eyes on the place you’ve picked as your
spotting point.
If you practice these techniques, your turns should
show a marked advancement in a fairly short time.
Happy dancing!
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