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 to hold them square—it is neither possible nor desirable. For […]
Our hips are overachievers. They are the main source of turnout and the axis of all leg movement. Dancers work them hard. No one knows this better than Heather Heineman, physical therapist at the Harkness Center for Dance Injuries at NYU Langone Medical Center. She treats all kinds of hip injuries in dancers, frequently from […]
Your browser does not support the video tag. Irene Dowd has been on faculty at The Juilliard School since 1995. Her movement-based anatomy/kinesiology classes allow dancers to explore concepts physically as well as intellectually. Here, Dowd and student Leiland Charles demonstrate how a to use outward rotation to find increased flexibility and greater ease of […]