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”
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:
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:
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
Blogs I've commented on:
Margo Kaplan
Evan Kuo
Lizzy Cutler
Hey Avery! This little blog you got going on is pretty cool, I must say. The step by step instructions you posted did in fact include a BUNCH of vocab that I did not understand, but I got main ideas from your explanations and the videos you provided. The videos were a really cool aspect of this blog because A) they were informative and B) it was pretty neat to see you start to do some basics of this and hopefully you will keep posting videos so we can see you progress as the assignment goes on. Really nice blog and good luck with the rest of your work.
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ReplyDeleteIt looks like you've put in a lot of practice this past cycle! Judging from the video, you seem great for a beginner (I'm not a dancer so I wouldn't really know but still). I like your use of different resources to help guide you along the way. How do you plan on demonstrating your progress from here? I'm excited to see your improvement!
ReplyDeleteI really didn't understand the majority of the dance jargon, so I'll just skip to the physics part. I thought it was really interesting to see the breakdown of how the turns are performed scientifically speaking. One of the primary things I don't really understand is how are these individual move applied to like a dance competition? And also, is a fouetté turn usually seen as a necessity amongst professional dancers? I think your blog and schedule is really well organized and with your steps laid out it will be easy to track your progressions and improvements. Good luck!
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