Extra Post: Fouetté Turn Compilation

Hey everyone! Hope all of your Genius Hour projects are going well.  I've decided to give you all further demonstration of the turn I am learning to do.  A lot of times when people watch the turn, they see how graceful and fluid it is, and think that it doesn't look that difficult to do if you can dance and if you practice it.  However, I put this to the test when I asked some students in our class to try out fouettés just to show that they are not easy whatsoever.  Then I compared their attempts of the turn with turns done by some girls at my dance studio who have been helping me learn how to fouetté.  I hope you get a good laugh out of this, and understand that fouettés are much more difficult than they seem. Talk to you soon!

Video Link (click here)

Blog Post #2

As I began to research the fouetté turns, I thought the most important thing to learn was the proper technique of the turn.  I found a very helpful dance blog with some pointers of how to practice the turns using the support of a ballet barre.  Now, to any non-dancer, most of these terms will not make sense to you whatsoever, but trust me, this was a good exercise for a beginner like me to learn the basic motion of the fouetté turn.

“Do a complete, proper barre for your level and introduce the preparing exercises just after the rond de jambes:

1. Preparation at fourth position in demi plié with working leg derrière, working arm to the side

2. Relevé passé devant; same arm of working leg to first position; count: one

3. Plié and extend your working leg forward to 90 degrees; count: two

4. Relevé and whip the working leg to the side, still to 90 degrees; working arm to the side; count: and

5. Bring the working leg to passé quickly; arm goes back to first; count: three

6. Repeat counts two to three several times”

I found this exercise on this website:

 http://www.contemporary-dance.org/technical-tips-for-fouette-turns.html

After trying this exercise many, many, times, I finally got the hang of how the counts and timing work when a dancer performs a fouetté turn.  Out of many of the exercises I’ve been working with to practice this turn, here is a short clip of one of them.

After searching for tips on how to fouetté on YouTube and on dance blogs, I found that physics played a large role in how fouetté turns work, and by understanding the physics of a fouetté turn, a dancer can improve their turns. 

One video that I watched was extremely helpful, especially towards the end when they talk about fouetté turns specifically.  According to the physics of turns, getting the deepest plié possible in the turn, and extending the working leg as high as possible, makes the turn easier and gives more momentum for when the dancer spins around.  I think the most important part of the physics that I learned was torque.  Torque is a measure of how much a force acting on an object causes that object to rotate.  The torque in a fouetté turn comes from the plié (the bending of the standing leg).  All of the force that a dancer gets when they pull up onrelevé (on their toes) comes from that moment in the plié.  The torque comes from how much the dancer pliés, and getting too much or too little force on that plié will throw your whole turn off balance. 

Physics video link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XEBn8bxw2A

            As I go to the studio again this week, I will take these physics tips with me and incorporate them as I turn.  I hope that these tips will make my turns more controlled and help with the gracefulness of the movement.


Blogs I've commented on:
Margo Kaplan
Evan Kuo
Lizzy Cutler

Introduction

Fouetté Turns
Before I begin explaining anything about my Genius Hour project, I'm sure I need to explain my topic first.  Fouetté turns are a kind of turn that dancers perform in ballet, jazz, modern, and lyrical styles of dance.  The term fouetté is a ballet term.  It's meaning in French is to whip, which makes perfect sense because of how the turn works.  Instead of me trying to explain what it looks like, just watch this video.

This video shows the fouetté turns done with pointe shoes, which basically means the dancer is putting all of her weight on the very top of her toes.  Personally, I am not at the level to dance on pointe shoes so I will be learning to do them without the pointe shoes.  As you can see, the "whip" definition makes sense for this turn because the dancer uses the momentum of her leg to whip her upper body around to complete the turn.

Now that you know what my topic actually is, I think it's important to talk about how I plan to accomplish this goal.  I will be using the studio where I dance to practice in.  Having the right amount of space, the big mirror, the ballet barre, and the right kind of floor is necessary for me to learn this skill.  There are parts of the turn I can practice at home, but having the studio to practice in will make learning the turn much easier for me to do.  

I go to the studio almost every day of the week, and I plan to make time on Saturday and Sunday mornings to designate specifically to learning fouetté turns.  In addition, I will practice during the week at the studio occasionally, but mostly at home.To help me learn how to do these turns I will be asking a few peers from my dance studio who know how to do fouettés to come in and help me.  I'll also be using online tutorials, which there are a ton of on YouTube, and the help of an instructor if need be.  

My main goal for this project is to be able to execute at least four fouetté turns and land, gracefully, that's the key word.  These turns may look easy to do to some people, however making them look so controlled and fluid is extremely difficult.  To begin, I plan to work on the basic motion of the leg that isn't the supporting leg (the one that "whips").  Practicing a basic motion like this will allow me to keep the control that is needed when performing the actual turn.  

I think the hardest part about doing this project and learning fouettés specifically, is being willing to make an absolute fool out of myself if I fail at the beginning.  I know that I will obviously not get these turns right away, and I am not really sure how good I will be able to get by the end of this project.  It took a lot for me to choose this topic because of my fear of not being able to succeed with these turns.  But, I hope to use this blog to update you with all of my successes and failures with this project.  

To measure my progress I will post videos or just write about my progress with the turns.  This will include whether I completed a certain amount of turns, what I still need to work on, what I've improved on, what I can do to improve on the turns, and the variations that I have tried or practiced with the turns.  

Wish me luck and I will most likely be updating after this weekend.