I heard a teacher at my school tell a boy that he had good natural turning ability, but needed to get more technique in his turning as far as using his spotting to help and not hurt him. She was just talking about technique in his turns (but not turnout, cuz his is almost perfect!). Could someone explain this turning and spotting with technique, and so on?

Bebounce have you read this thread?:<P><A HREF=../../../ubb/Forum7/HTML/000278.html><B>SPOTTING THE TURN</B></A><P>Spotting serves two purposes - it keeps the dancer from getting dizzy and it gives the turn a focus. The dancer knows where she is - and in the case of a moving turn such as chainés - tells her where she is going.<P>It also allows the dancer to do multiple turns. If a dancer has enough impetus for three turns after pushing off from the floor, and if the dancer maintains her placement - she can keep on turning many more times, just by spotting her head.<P>That is what the men do who do many, many turns. The initial impetus only carries them around for about 4 turns or so, and the rest is in the spotting. Some men can do as many as 12 turns - Baryshnikov was one of them. I once watched a male dancer do that, and it was quite amazing.<P>So read the thread and then ask any questions that you might have.<BR>

I've read that Angel Corella, with ABT, has done as many as twenty revolutions from one preparation. I can only vouch for nine -- that's the most I've seen him do in performance (not that I always sit and count...). He, just like the rest of us mortals, is somewhat limited by the length of the musical phrase.