by Deborah Vogel | Mar 16, 2020 | Health & Body, technique
Q: I don’t have the turnout I wish I had. I’m somewhat knock-kneed and I’m wondering if this is affecting my rotation.A: Being knock-kneed does not determine the amount of turnout you have at the hip, but it will influence how easily you can stand in...
by Deborah Vogel | Mar 2, 2020 | Health & Body, technique
Q: My students have varying degrees of turnout, but it’s clear to me they aren’t always using what they have. Any suggestions on how to help them?A: Great question! Let’s address this with an exercise in standing. Start in first position and lift the...
by Deborah Vogel | Jul 8, 2019 | Health & Body
Q: I have a friend who was diagnosed with a labral tear. She said it’s becoming more common among dancers. Is there a way to prevent this?A: Labral tears are being diagnosed more often because our ability to see inside the hip capsule with arthrograms and MRIs...
by Pointe Magazine | Jan 17, 2019 | Teaching Tips
Turnout is one of the defining characteristics of classical ballet and the foundation of your technique, but the deceptively simple concept of external rotation can be hard to execute. For those born with hip joints that don’t naturally make a tight fifth...
by Rachel Caldwell | Jun 20, 2018 | Health & Body
Turnout—the outward rotation of the hips that dancers are constantly striving to improve. Yet few actually have the 180-degree outward rotation that is so idealized. In her 40-plus years of working as a movement analyst, Deborah Vogel has only come across a handful of...
by Jenny Dalzell | Apr 3, 2018 | Teaching Tips
Irene Dowd’s third-year students at The Juilliard School sound more like they’re in medical school than a dance class, citing complex kinesiology terms and muscle names, like multifidus and iliocostalis. But instead of memorizing the vocabulary with index...
by Kristin Schwab | Mar 22, 2018 | Teaching Tips
Whether a dancer has too much or too little, turnout can be one of the most frustrating aspects of technique. Students often feel they must achieve 180-degree rotation to become successful in the field. In reality, the average person only has 45 degrees of external...
by Dance Teacher | Jan 3, 2018 | News
There’s no such thing as too much inspiration, right? Right! Here are some inspiring posts to keep your motivation for the year ahead high, flexible and balanced, or whatever your New Year’s goals may be. Dance photographer @jordanmatter’s post is a...
by Deborah Vogel | Aug 28, 2017 | Health & Body
How does having wide hips affect my turnout?The width of your hips doesn’t influence how much turnout you have at the joint. Turnout is determined by your hip joint structure and the muscle balance around the joint. That being said, having wider hips can...
by Deborah Vogel | Jul 17, 2017 | Health & Body
Like many dancers, I was taught to hold my hips square when standing in fourth and fifth positions. However, in a recent professional development course, I was told the following:”The hips cannot anatomically be square in fourth or fifth. The dancer must not try...