Why Core Strength Beats Forced Turnout in Ballet Training
Updated: Oct 23
By Chelsea Weidmann, ballet educator with 29 years of teaching experience and author of Artistry Inside Ballet Technique
Everyone wants flat turnout in ballet class. Never mind that the huge majority of us will never safely attain it, though most of us can get close, and everyone can increase their range of motion to some degree.
Dancers will do almost anything to stand in first position with “perfect” turnout. Somehow we lose sight of the fact that dance is movement and standing is... standing. Forcing yourself into a flat first position doesn’t mean you’ll have the strength or flexibility to hold that range of motion while you dance.
Why Core Strength Beats Forced Turnout
When you have the core strength to hold your body in proper alignment, accessing your full hip range of motion gets much easier. Two common things limit turnout:
A tilted pelvis, either anteriorly or posteriorly
Clenching your glutes instead of engaging your rotators
Working on core alignment and strength isn’t glamorous. It doesn’t have the visual payoff of a photo in a flat first position. But it’s what makes turnout last.
What to do instead of forcing it
Work on core alignment first. In my own teaching, I focus on core strength for years before I challenge students to get as close to a flat fifth as their bodies allow.
Treat turnout as movement. Think of beautifully presenting your inner ankle bone during tendu, rather than holding a position. Training appropriate turnout (which is individual to each dancer) is actually part of core strength.
Find your current best turnout, not someone else’s. If you’ve been born with flat turnout, you still need core control most of all, and you shouldn’t have to lessen your turnout. If you haven’t, your turnout today is your starting point.
If you ever feel pain in your hips, knees, or lower back while working on turnout, stop and check with a physical therapist.
When you treat your own body as an individual, it becomes less of an “I need to keep up with Acacia” situation and more of an “I am getting better at this!” process. We all share the same goal: to be the best dancer we can be today. The beauty of ballet is that the goal looks different on everyone.
Build your alignment from the inside
Strong, aligned posture is body carriage, one of nine elements of artistry. The Ballet Artistry Deck has six prompts for each one, so you can try a new experiment at your next class.
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