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Get expert insight from a professional ballerina about this iconic turn
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If you have some basic ballet, jazz, lyrical, or other dance skills, you probably want to know how to do a fouetté turn. This is the kind that you see dancers do over and over . How do they do it—especially without getting dizzy and falling over? It's actually just three basic moves on repeat. With practice and proper technique, you can master this graceful ballet move. We spoke with professional ballerina & ballet instructor Geraldine Grace Johns for expert advice on safely and properly learning fouetté turns.
Fouetté Turns at a Glance
Fouetté is French for “whipped” and refers to the whipping motion of a dancer’s leg that propels them around the turn. From a flat-foot plié, extend your working leg (the leg that spins outward) to fourth position. Arc the leg behind you to initiate the spin, then pull your working foot in to meet the supporting knee.
Steps
Section 1 of 4:
Practicing a Fouetté at the Barre
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Hold the barre in first or fifth position. Hold the barre with your left hand while facing perpendicular to it. If you don't have a barre, you can use the wall or even a banister. Just have something you can return to for balance.
- In first position, your heels are together and your feet are turned out, forming a line. [1] X Research source
- In fifth position, your feet are turned out and parallel (one in front of the other), with the toe of one foot touching the heel of the other foot.
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Go to passé en relevé. Bring your right foot to your left knee, with the right knee facing outward—that's the passé part. Relevé is where you are up on your toes, explains Johns. In this guide, your right leg is your working leg.
- In this position, hold the bar with your left hand. Keep your core tight, pulling up your ribcage and keeping your hips down. Your right arm should be in the first position.
- To put your free right arm into first position, hold it in front of your body with your wrist at the navel line, keeping your elbow round and your fingers pointed toward the barre. [2] X Research source
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Plié and développé front. Keep your right arm in first position and your hips down. Plié by bending your legs slightly at the knee, making sure to keep your knees over your toes. To developé to the front, point your right toe and stretch your right leg out in front of you at a 90-degree angle.
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Open your right leg to the side, or à la seconde. Open your right arm to the second position as well. While you do this, remain in plié with your knees over your toes. Make sure to keep your hips down!
- To move your arm from first to second position, lift it upward and outward. Extend it so it's straight, with a slight bend at the shoulder and wrist. [3] X Research source
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Bring everything in at once. Lower your right arm back to the first position. Bring your right foot back to your left knee with your right knee facing outward. Go back to relevé, up on your toe. Remember to keep your core tight and hips down at all times.
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Once you have steps 3, 4, and 5 down, do a pirouette. Plié and developé to the front, go to second, and then do a pirouette, staying at the bar. This is your basic fouetté turn, but with training wheels. Once you feel comfortable here, you can do some floor work to learn and master a beautiful fouetté!
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Section 2 of 4:
Mastering the Fouetté Turn on the Floor
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Practice one-legged relevés until you can do 32 in a row comfortably. A fouetté is both a turn and a relevé at once. If you can't handle the relevés just yet, Johns advises working on building leg strength and balance. Note that you don't always do 32 fouettés at once—but if you can hit that maximum, doing less will be a cinch. A solid, balanced, strong relevé is essential. To do one relevé: [4] X Research source- Put one foot on the ground and the other slightly behind you, then plié (bend your knees).
- Lift up on the ball of your front foot, keeping your other foot lifted behind you and below the front knee. (Keep your body straight so your hips only move up and down, not sideways or back or forward.)
- Lower your lifted foot so your heel is back on the floor.
- Repeat to do additional relevés.
- Tip: Practice moving your free leg out and around (try a "ronde de jambe") and keeping your body balanced and still during your relevé.
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Practice the out, around, and inward foot movements. This is a small part of a fouetté, but you need to nail this movement to pull off the full turn. Balancing evenly and not on your toes on your right foot (right-footed dancers), practice the following three steps without tipping or losing balance. Your hips, in particular, should not move.
- Lift your left leg straight in front of you.
- Arc your left leg to the right, so that it points perpendicular to your body.
- Bend at the left knee to bring your left toes to your right leg, touching the right knee. (Your feet are in the fourth position.)
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Focus on your supporting leg to stay in place, not the working leg. As you practice, work on making the extended leg’s movements second nature so your attention can go to your supporting (planted) leg. By centering yourself on the planted leg, you ensure you don't drift around the stage or lose balance as you get tired, and you keep spinning.
- Remember to keep your hips in the same place. They should spin like a top on your supporting leg.
- Make sure to spot your head as your turn. Pretend there’s something really interesting that you're trying to look at and you don't want to turn away from it. As you turn, snap your head as fast as you can back to your spot.
- "Always remember to spot! When turning, you need to spot really quickly," says Johns. "It can make all the difference—and keep you from getting too dizzy."
- Johns also notes that the head is the heaviest part of your body, and it needs to be correctly aligned.
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Use the swing to the side to build your momentum. Many young dancers will swing up, turn their leg a bit to the right, and then immediately tuck in. But that kick sideways provides the bulk of your momentum and needs to be a major part of your fouetté. Think of someone grabbing your foot and spinning it to the right to rotate you on your planted foot.
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Coordinate the extension of your hands with your leg kick. As your left leg kicks to the right, your left arm should fly out with it. Think of your left hand and left foot as being tethered together on a string. This creates full body momentum, making it much easier to keep your balance.
- As your toes come in towards the end of the turn, pull your hands back in with them. Push them out afterward for the next spin.
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Keep your chest up and open to spin easier. Use your hands to open your body up. Your shoulders should be up and your chest out. When your hands come in, don't let your body crumple or cave inward. You want to be tall, strong, and on balance. The chest needs to be lifted to make this possible. [5] X Research source
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Expert Q&A
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QuestionCan you share some tips for how to look graceful while dancing?Geraldine Grace Johns is a Professional Ballerina and the Owner of Grace Ballet in New York and Los Angeles. Geraldine toured through New Zealand, Australia, Japan, and Korea as Jammes in Ken Hill's Original Phantom of the Opera. She has studied with the Royal Academy of Dance in London to become a teacher and taught for the Kudo School of Ballet in Yokohama. Geraldine also ran her own Royal Academy of Dance School in New Zealand before studying at the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre in New York City. Geraldine was a guest coach and Master Class teacher in Toronto for the Canadian Royal Academy of Dance's Dance Challenge in 2018, 2019, and 2020. She was also a guest coach and Master Class teacher for the USA Royal Academy of Dance Challenge in Long Beach, California in 2019 and 2020. Grace Ballet Los Angeles has won recognition as one of 13 Best Ballet Schools in Los Angeles since opening her school. Geraldine is a contract Practical Teaching Supervisor for the Certificate in Ballet Teaching Studies for the Royal Academy of Dance.Have a confident eye line and know where your head and eye focus are at all times. Don’t look down! Keep both your arms supported and keep your chin up to help carry you through space gracefully. Land with control and remember to smile and enjoy yourself.
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QuestionWhat are some things you can do to see if you are improving as a ballet dancer?Geraldine Grace Johns is a Professional Ballerina and the Owner of Grace Ballet in New York and Los Angeles. Geraldine toured through New Zealand, Australia, Japan, and Korea as Jammes in Ken Hill's Original Phantom of the Opera. She has studied with the Royal Academy of Dance in London to become a teacher and taught for the Kudo School of Ballet in Yokohama. Geraldine also ran her own Royal Academy of Dance School in New Zealand before studying at the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre in New York City. Geraldine was a guest coach and Master Class teacher in Toronto for the Canadian Royal Academy of Dance's Dance Challenge in 2018, 2019, and 2020. She was also a guest coach and Master Class teacher for the USA Royal Academy of Dance Challenge in Long Beach, California in 2019 and 2020. Grace Ballet Los Angeles has won recognition as one of 13 Best Ballet Schools in Los Angeles since opening her school. Geraldine is a contract Practical Teaching Supervisor for the Certificate in Ballet Teaching Studies for the Royal Academy of Dance.Take videos of yourself performing the same exercises at least once a week and use the video as a tool for self-correction. You can also use slow-motion video as this will show you areas that you may not pick up on in the mirror. This is especially useful for fast footwork, jumps and pirouettes. Stretch and strengthen every day and you will see your flexibility improving. Take a notebook to your classes and write down your corrections, once you have mastered that correction you can cross it out in your book!
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QuestionDo you have to use ballet or jazz shoes to do this turn?Community AnswerYou should, but if you don't have any, something like socks or socks with grips on the bottom will work.
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Tips
- Always keep your core tight and seat tucked in.Thanks
- Remember to plié in between fouettés.Thanks
- Work on your flexibility in your legs often to improve your turnout in your fouettés.Thanks
Tips from our Readers
The advice in this section is based on the lived experiences of wikiHow readers like you. If you have a helpful tip you’d like to share on wikiHow, please submit it in the field below.
- Do not try fouetté turns until your instructor tells you to do them in a combination! If you do them improperly you might develop bad muscle memory and make it more difficult to complete them in the future.
- Remember that, to be able to do fouetté turns correctly, you need to be strong in almost all areas of your body.Work on strength before and throughout practicing your turns!
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Expert Interview
Thanks for reading our article! If you'd like to learn more about ballet dancing, check out our in-depth interview with Geraldine Grace Johns .
References
- ↑ https://www.britannica.com/art/ballet-position#ref82255
- ↑ https://www.masterclass.com/articles/understanding-the-basic-ballet-arm-and-foot-positions
- ↑ https://www.masterclass.com/articles/understanding-the-basic-ballet-arm-and-foot-positions
- ↑ https://www.balletbeautiful.com/blog/perfecting-the-basics-plie-and-releve/
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vopAds9808
- ↑ https://www.collinsdictionary.com/us/dictionary/english/fouette
- ↑ https://www.danceaustralia.com.au/expertise/the-feat-of-the-fouette
- ↑ https://www.ballet.org.uk/blog-detail/from-60-swans-to-32-fouettes-swan-lake-in-the-round-in-numbers/
- ↑ https://www.danceaustralia.com.au/expertise/the-feat-of-the-fouette
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- "Watching the video at the end really helped me know what it looked like, and for tips. Also, explaining the steps on how to do the turns and showing pictures was very helpful. Lastly, I like how there showed exercises to do the turns. Over all it was helpful." ..." more
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"Watching the video at the end really helped me know what it looked like, and for tips. Also, explaining the steps on how to do the turns and showing pictures was very helpful. Lastly, I like how there showed exercises to do the turns. Over all it was helpful."
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