DANCER'S TURNOUT: What Will You Sacrifice?

Growing up all I ever wanted to do was copy my big sister.  If she was playing dolls I wanted to play dolls, if she was in the living room I was in the living room.  So it’s no surprise that I followed in her footsteps with dance.  There is a great picture of me, when I was about 2, in a tutu and full makeup (I’m sure I did it myself) ready to go to my sister’s dance recital.  I had this HUGE smile and was so excited.  My mom tells me that it broke her heart because they couldn’t actually take me to the recital to watch my sister (what 2 year old is going to sit through a 3 hour performance?) and I was so sad when I realized I wasn’t going.  Ever since then dance has been a part of my life and I couldn’t walk across a parking lot without doing a little dance step.

I spent somewhere between 12-20 hours per week in the dance studio growing up.  Many of these hours were spent in ballet technique classes where you challenge yourself to get that “perfect turnout” and high leg extensions, especially during the dreaded adagio.  I remember my routine for getting prepared for barre work:

First I would crack all my toes by pointing my foot, curling my toes under, and doing a quick press down on the floor on the top of my knuckles. POP, all my toes would crack.  Then I would make my hips pop by lifting one leg up in the air, almost like a dog peeing on a fire hydrant. POP, one hip at a time.  Then I would plié slightly, turn my feet out as far as they’d go, then straighten my legs so I was in the best first position possible.  TA DA!

Knowing what I know now I realize how much stress and strain my little routine was placing on my hips, knees, and feet.  The way I tried to achieve turnout is probably one of the worst ways to do it.  The main mechanism is a torque from the feet up to the hips:  promoting a drop of your arch (or rolling in of the feet), stressing the inside of the knees (and boy did I used to have random knee pain), and very little control from the hips themselves. 

The best way is to turn out FROM the HIPS and use all the little muscles in the buttock (there are 6) that actually do that as their job.  This may not give you the “best” turnout possible from the beginning but with practice it will become easier and you will be able to control your turnout when the leg is off the ground.

Hip pain and tears within the labrum of the hip are extremely common in dancers.  Ask any dancer above the age of 20 and they will tell you their hips pop all the time and/or they feel stuck it they can’t pop them.  Giving your body the best training you can from the beginning and not developing bad habits will help prolong your career and avoid pain.  So it’s your choice.  You can use improper ways to achieve 5⁰ more of turnout or save yourself those 5⁰ and maybe dance for 5 more years.  This holds true with any athlete.  Proper training and movement patterns are essential for the longevity of your career without injuries.