hi all! I have a question, is it possible to over turnout? <P>Sincerly,<BR>Jan<P>------------------<BR>Teaching Today Touches Tomorrow!<BR>

Very good question, Jan. In my opinion, yes it is possible to turnout too much. <P>If one is turning out from the feet instead of the hips, it is very possible indeed. And doing it that way has many disadvantages besides being wrong. It will bring injury to knees, feet, ankles. Also it is quite unusable.<P>However, if a dancer were to truly have tremendous flexibility, 180% and even beyond, in the hips, this still would stress the rest of the joints and ligaments of the body. We were simply not made to move in such an extreme manner, in my opinion. Turnout is not just a matter of standing there in a stationary manner - it is a matter of being able to move and use the turnout.<P>Also, the ballet technique is meant to be done by human beings, with human conformation, and when it is done in an extreme fashion, again in my opinion, it loses its beauty.<P>I once saw a picture of a ballerina in a 6 o'clock penché - well - it was supposed to be a penché, but she had done it beyond 180%, beyond 6 o'clock. It was oversplit. It was no longer beautiful. All the lines were lost. It was quite grotesque. I saw that picture about 15 years ago and haven't forgotten how bizarre it looked.<P>So, yes, I think it is very possible to over turnout. <P>We have two threads on turn out and here they are in case anyone wants to read them:<P><BR><A HREF=../../../ubb/Forum7/HTML/000499.html><B>TURNOUT A BALLET BASIC</B></A><P><A HREF=../../../ubb/Forum7/HTML/000080.html><B>TURNOUT</B></A><P><p>[This message has been edited by Basheva (edited May 10, 2001).]

But, imagine you're standing in 1st (over turned out), and you are supposed to make a temps levé arabesque to the left. Ok i know that is always done from 5th, but just for example. My previous teacher always told me to follow my feet, if i'm supposed to go to the left, my left feet is pointing me to the direction, most of the time. So, if you're over 180 degrees, you should go backwards LOL, quite impossible isn't it?