r/Dance • u/Smooth-Sprinkles-479 • 1d ago

Critique Request pirouette struggles

i know this should probably be posted in the ballet subreddit but they have a bunch of requirements to be able to post and i don't meet them, so hopefully this works here. im a somewhat beginner to ballet and am very new to jazz, and we just started going over jazz and ballet pirouettes in my technique class. im not sure if this makes much sense but whenever i messily go up into my ballet pirouettes and don't hit retiré where it should be, i do a lot better than when i do hit it right. whenever i do hit it, right as i get to where it should be, the heel of my supporting leg wants to fall out of relevé. i don't have this problem with my jazz pirouettes though, in fact im really good at them for having just learned them. so could it be a turnout issue? cuz my turnout could definitely use some work. or is it something else? any feedback would be greatly appreciated!

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u/MaxOverride 1d ago

In jazz pirouettes, you’re usually working from a parallel passé (or at least much less turnout). That’s mechanically easier to balance, because your heel naturally stays forward, your weight stacks over your supporting leg, and you don’t have to fight to keep the hip rotated. In ballet, retiré requires turnout from the hip. If your turnout isn’t fully supported (from deep rotators, not just the feet), the moment you place the working leg in turned-out retiré, your supporting hip may want to relax. That relaxation can cause your heel to “slide out” of relevé.

When you go up “messily,” you’re not locking yourself into a rigid shape, so your body finds a balance dynamically and sometimes more successfully. When you consciously hit retiré, however, if you place the leg before you’re fully lifted and aligned over your standing leg, the weight can shift backward. That’s often when the supporting heel wants to drop.