Dance technical basis

The Turn Out The "plié - tendu" The balance The flexibility The "cambré" Ballet Shoes The floor

"Nothing is as essential to good dancing as the "turn out" of the thigh and nothing is as natural to man as the adverse position", writes Noverre in his ballet literature in 1760. Since the beginning of the 19th century, feet and lower legs have been exposed, steps are performed in a more disciplined manner and the turn out, which was an angle of only 45° (Feuillet's book dated 1700), is now extended to 90°.
Anatomically speaking, the turn out therefore corresponds to a 90° external rotation of the foot with regard to the sagittal axis. 70° is achieved by an external rotation of the hip, 5° by an external rotation of the tibial skeleton, 15° by an abduction of the foot. It is so exacting that dancers resort to whatever means and subterfuges they can in order to create this illusion. The insufficiency in amplitude of the external rotation of the hip usually determines the limit of this turn out.
Dancers, to compensate for this, overstate either the abduction of the foot and / or the external rotation of the ankle by tensing the ILL (internal lateral ligament), or the external tibial torsion, or the external rotation of the knee by tensing the ILL and the cruciate ligaments. They can also link in an anterior tilting of the pelvis or lumbar hyperlordosis. The amplitude of the passive external rotation of the hip is determined by the morphology of the femoral neck and by the elasticity of the anterior hip ligaments.

Morphology of the femoral neck:

The anteversion angle of the femoral neck determines hip rotations. A wide anteversion of the femoral neck limits external rotation. This angle diminishes as a child grows. It would be interesting to know whether or not repetitive and intensive muscular exercising, especially of the iliopsoas muscle, aids the anteversion angle to diminish more quickly and more acutely during growth. This angle is fixed between the ages of 10 and 14 which would explains why children over the age of 10 have difficulty getting how to do the turn out.

Anterior hip ligaments:

The iliofemoral ligament, or Bertin's ligament, and the pubofemoral ligament are the anterior hip ligaments used for the external rotation of the thigh from the pelvis. The first, very powerful ligament limits external rotation possibilities. It is extended for externali rotation and in hip extension, whilst for internal rotation and hip flexion and abduction, it is relaxed. Therefore, when the hip is in extension this ligament severely limits the "turn out". Flexion and / or abduction relaxes this ligament and aids external rotation.
The less powerful, pubofemoral ligament reinforces its action, particularly by limiting hip extension.
The elasticity of these anterior hip ligaments in dancers is the result of the hyper-mobility common to dancers and of daily training aimed at increasing the "turn out".

The amplitude of active external rotation depends on the passive external rotation as well as the contraction of the pelvitrochanterian, iliopsoas, glutaeus maximus, posterior fascicles of the glutaeus minimus and medius and pectineus muscles. Training must therefore strive to strengthen the pelvitrochanterian muscles, external rotators of the hip and make the internal hip rotator muscles more supple.
The lower limb performs the turn out using a simultaneous action at the hip and the knee of the sartorius, gracilis, semitendineus and cruralis bicep muscles from the knee. The posterior tibialis muscles, the vastus medialis and the hamstrings must be strengthened in order to avoid the "forward collapsing" of the foot and the whole of the lower limb, source of articular imbalance.

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