I’ve been SO impressed by my beginner ballet students, ballet friend.

They’ve been making clever connections and applying their skills to dance with more strength and artistic breadth every single class. Our group is small, but mighty (and you’re always welcome to stop by).

One topic that came up on Saturday is how turnout control makes everything easier, and why these days I teach core and hip stability before even touching footwork.

I used to teach within a well established (and super fun) pre-pointe program that prioritized footwork. Every single dancer meticulously practised piano toes and doming, and they still felt more strain than they needed to in jumps and pointework.

The same thing happened to me when my core and turnout control got rusty — painful pointe shoes, exhausting allegro, you name it!

Now I think of intrinsic foot control like the icing on the cake. 🍰 When the foundation of postural awareness, connective tissue resilience, and hip control is there, you can make something incredible. All alone, icing only gets you so far.

Want to cultivate that brain-to-turnout connection? You can do this at your desk or sitting on the edge of the couch:

• extend your leg in front of you and rest your heel on the ground.

• Leaving your heel where it is, rotate your thigh bone in and out so your toes move in a windshield wiper motion. Thinking of just the bone moving helps you refine your movement without excess tension.

• Do about 5 rotations, then repeat with the other leg. A tiny bit of practice done consistently goes miles farther than doing a whole bunch once a month.

Let me know how it goes,

Natasha

P.S. My private lessons calendar has been a little persnickety (affecting both free calls and the scheduling page for current students). I’m pretty sure I have it fixed, but if you can’t see any available dates:

Step 1: refresh/delete your cookies 🍪

Step 2: if you still can’t see the calendar, send me an email with your requested days/times 📆

Step 3: maybe leave an offering under the new moon for the technology gremlins? 🌑