Strength

How much is strength a part of your dancing? I believe your dancing should be equally divided between strength and technique. 50/50. Right down the middle.

I've been focusing, recently, on why some people turn well, while others don't. "I'm not a turner" you say. Okay, why not? I'm going to suggest it's because you're not strong enough. I'll bet you could teach someone the mechanics of turning. You could take one of the young students at your school and teach them the basics of turning. What your legs do, what your arms do and so on. so, you know what to do, and are probably diligent about trying to do it properly, but it still doesn't work.

You know that if you want to do 32 fouettés, you'd better be able to do 32 relevés on one leg, or it just ain't happening. A lot of times, you have the technique to do 32, but your leg gives out after, say, 16. When that happens there is nothing you can do about it. If your leg can't hold you up, you sure as heck are not going to turn on it.

I tell my students to watch videos of the Vaganova classes on YouTube. One of the things you'll notice is how slow a lot of their class work is. The reason you do things slowly is to build strength. The real test of your strength is how slowly you can do something. Ask those guys at the gym who are throwing the weights around, or bouncing them off the floor, to do the exercise slowly, and watch the fun! Most of them can't do it, which is why they're throwing the weight around in the first place. You do want to do things fast, of course, but to build strength, you have to do things slowly.

Doing basic exercises slowly, tendu, fondu, developé, plié (the most basic!), is the best way to not only build strength, but to also really understand the movement. You also have the time to work on proper placement,  protect your knees and back, and to blend the strength and the technique.

So, back to turning. You need to be strong, physically strong, to be able to hold your position, to lead with your knee (in a simple pirouette in retiré), to keep your relevé active, and to control the force you take. Most dancers need to take less force to turn, especially on pointe, but a lot of dancers simply aren't strong enough to deal with the force they do take. That force bends and twists their body, instead of going into the turn. If your core isn't strong, if you're not using the trailing side of your back to turn, then whatever force you take is going to be wasted.

One of the exercises I have my students do is to face the barre, and take a position on relevé in retiré, and improve it. Drive your standing leg into the floor, keep turning out your raised leg with your glutes, expend the chest, lift the sternum. It's a living growing, active position. Most dancers let the position deteriorate as they turn. As Matthew Dibble says, "Improve the position!" The great turners are amazingly solid in their turns. That only can come from great strength.

See you in class!