Ballet turnout explained: rotating from the hips safely and protecting your knees

TUREFF• •0

Turnout is the outward rotation of the legs that gives ballet its look. It is also the source of many beginner injuries, because it is easy to fake turnout in ways that strain the knees, ankles and feet. Understanding where turnout really comes from is the most useful thing a new dancer can learn. This is general information. If you have pain or an existing injury, see a physiotherapist, ideally one with experience of dancers.

Where turnout comes from

True turnout is rotation at the hip joint: the thigh bone turns outwards in the hip socket, and the knee and foot follow. The deep muscles around the hip, along with the inner thighs and core, do the work of holding it. How much rotation you have depends partly on the shape of your hip joints, which you cannot change, and partly on muscle strength and flexibility, which you can improve. Very few people have a perfect 180 degrees, including many professionals.

How people force it

When the hips cannot rotate far enough, the body finds the extra turnout further down the leg:

Twisting at the knee. Standing with bent knees, turning the feet out, then straightening the legs twists the knee joint, which is not built to rotate when straight.
Rolling in. The feet roll onto their inner edges, flattening the arch. This puts strain on the inner foot and ankle and pulls the knees inwards.
Sticking out the bottom or arching the lower back to free the hips.

Dance medicine sources link this kind of forcing to injuries of the knee, shin, ankle and foot. It also makes technique harder, because balance and alignment depend on the knee sitting over the toes.

How to check your own turnout

Knees over toes. In a demi-plié in first position, look down: your knees should point in the same direction as your toes, over the middle of your feet.
Weight spread across the big toe, little toe and heel, with the arches lifted, not collapsed.
Find your natural first position: stand with legs parallel, then rotate both legs outwards from the top of the thigh, letting the feet swivel. Where they stop is your current turnout. Use that angle in class, not the angle of the person next to you.

Building turnout safely

Working turnout improves through both strength and flexibility.

Strengthening

Clamshells: lie on your side, knees bent, and open the top knee while keeping the feet together and the pelvis still.
Standing rotation: stand on one leg near a barre or chair, and slowly rotate the standing leg out and in from the hip without moving the foot much.
Holding your turnout in exercises: during pliés and tendus, think of the rotation as an active spiral from the top of the leg, not a position you set once.

Stretching

Gentle hip stretches such as a seated butterfly or a figure-four stretch, held calmly, without bouncing.
Stretch when you are warm, after class rather than before.
Mild tension is fine; sharp pain, or pain in the knee, means stop.

What to avoid

Frog stretches with someone pressing down on you, or any stretch that uses force or body weight to push the hips open.
Setting your feet in a wide first position, then straightening the knees.
Sitting in a W shape with the feet out to the sides, which loads the knees.
Copying the turnout you see in photos of professionals.

A note for adult beginners

Adults usually have less natural rotation than dancers who started as children, and that is normal. Ballet works with the turnout you have. Teachers care far more about alignment and control than about the angle of your feet. How has your turnout changed since you started, and what helped? Share your experience or ask a question in the comments.