Today at ballet class at the summer dance workshop I 'm attending we had to do posse turns(sp) diagonal. I 'm great with my right leg, on pointe also. But when it comes to my left leg, something seems to go wrong. I go on it, turn, and then my weight is totally on my supporting leg and I fall to it. Sometimes when I don't fall it's because I don't turn as much as I should. Or other times I do the turn , but can't find the 'spot' to do the next one. Its confusing me and also I feel bad not beeing able to do them when everybody around me can. I know that these things take time but I have been trying them for a while. Will I always be this bad?

Annie - there is always one side that is better than another - and this is true for turns too - we turn better to one side than another.<P>One of the problems is "mental" - we know we aren't as good on that side and so we expect to not do as well. We don't have as much confidence on that side - and it shows up in the turn. <P>I would suggest that you practice just doing the piqué part without the turn, and try to balance for a moment and see which way you fall. If you are falling backwards, then you did not step over enough. Also when you go to step onto your pointe make sure your push-off leg is in a deep enough plié (I should call it fondu since it is a one leg bend) to give you an adequate push onto pointe. Don't lean back when you do the push off - be forward - and take your entire body with you as one piece.<P>Another thing to check is as you begin your turn be sure the shoulders are coming with you. So many times when we turn, especially to our "not so good side", we leave the second should behind. If that shoulder and its arm do not come with you as one piece it will retard your turn.<P>Another common error, is that when we turn to our "not so good side", we tend to put too much energy into the turn. We think "I don't turn so good to this side so I will put more energy into it" - and that extra bit of energy/power throws us off. <P>As for your spot, you can practice that on flat feet first. Find something you can REALLY see - and then REALLY see it. A good thing to do is to have someone stand in the downstage corner and as you turn toward this person, have them hold up different numbers of fingers, and you shout out (as you are turning) how many fingers she is hold up. This way you REALLY have to see the spot. It's not enough to LOOK at the spot you have to REALLY SEE IT.<P>I used to do the fingers game with my students all the time. It really seemed to work.<P>I hope this all helps.