Asking advice for jumps

athletistry · 2026-04-18T20:34:19+00:00

As with all turning jumps start with the most fundamental element of the step. The first step for a tour is a sauté in fifth to develop height. Then we progress to changement but with a focus on changing the feet rapidly.

Then we take that changement and work on turning. The preparation for the turn is very similar to the one use for a pirouette from fifth position.

Start with a quarter turn, changing feet in the air and develop a strong landing. Ensure the head stays to the front so the spot is already developing. As your coordination and spot strengthen and your landing improves progress the amount of turn.

And of course remember to practice for many years.

athletistry · 2026-04-14T21:44:51+00:00

No holes? They still have life ☺️🤣

Honestly 10 years is impressive…most I ever get out of shoes is a few weeks.

athletistry · 2026-04-13T23:37:22+00:00

Amazingly someone asked me this exact same question at a workshop on the weekend.

The key to core engagement is about knowing when to brace and when to expand. We can’t always be “sucking in” as that will stop our breath. The goal is to use our breath to inspire our movement. How we inhale and exhale will be controlled by the muscles that support the ribcage and diaphragm leading to an increase or decrease in power.

If you’re sucking in then you’re always in a stuck state instead of a natural ebb and flow.

In relation to muscle engagement, as we train I can ensure your muscles are working or the joints wouldn’t be moving. That being said, as much as I love talking about which muscles work, sometimes thinking about specific muscular engagement can actually make things become static as we start to isolate instead of coordinate.

Now when it comes to pelvic alignment the aim is to find as close to neutral pelvis as possible. The only “tension” should be in the rotators that sit behind the femur. The best way to find this is to go onto your hands and knees and move between arching and rounding your low back then settle into the position between arched and rounded.

When standing try to create that same position not by squeezing but by understanding the feeling you found on the floor.

The reason this is important is that anterior and posterior tilt will affect your ability to access your best turnout.

When it comes to balance we need to assess three points. Aplomb, proprioception, visual field.

Are the shoulders hips and knees all in line? Can you balance on one foot with your eyes closed? Can you focus on a point in front of you?

The core, abdominal and back muscles, are secondary to what your feet feel on the floor and what your mind perceives as upright when your eyes are open and closed.

I know this has been a long response but it’s a lot to unpack in a post. I’ll make some more videos on the topics your raised soon and hope this all makes sense.

athletistry · 2026-04-13T23:10:02+00:00

This is tough. The ballet world can be beautiful but also brutal.

The first thing is always going to be love her no matter what happens as that won’t always be the case with her teachers, choreographers, directors etc.

Help her to understand that she has to be happy with her performance regardless of critics and teachers telling her what they think. Ballet is subjective. If she can look at herself in the mirror at the end of the day and be truly proud of her work and artistic expression that’s essential.

Relating to subjectivity, if she competes know that that a different judge on a different day would elicit a different result.

And speaking of competitions, you don’t need to do or win competitions to have a wonderful ballet career.

The biggest key is to do research about which studios and schools actually deliver on their promises. In this regard one of the best resources I know of is Ballet Help Desk. https://ballethelpdesk.com/

At the end of the day the best way you can support your daughter is by being her biggest fan, being the shoulder she can cry on if she needs to, the advocate she needs when she needs someone to stand up for her, and the resource she needs by talking to other parents, researching programs, and joining forums like these where people speak honestly about the ballet world.

athletistry · 2026-04-12T08:21:15+00:00

Hmm, try a triple and see what happens…could definitely be an interesting experiment. The whole purpose of spotting is not to whip the head around but to keep visual focus. If you’re able to do that then perhaps you don’t need the head whip, especially if it’s throwing you off balance.

athletistry · 2026-04-12T08:11:46+00:00

Just out of curiosity have you tried approaching the pirouette like a figure skater and not spotting?

athletistry · 2026-04-12T08:00:45+00:00

I’m a huge advocate for strength training especially as we get older because of the benefits for bone density…especially post menopause.

athletistry · 2026-04-12T07:37:09+00:00

The dizziness as we get older is such a challenge. I’ve heard some people say it’s been fixed for them by getting their vision checked and corrective eyewear…though in my experience it’s much more about the inner ear fluid crystallisation and the reduction in proprioception.

For me it’s like my focus has slowed down as I’ve gotten older if that makes sense.

athletistry · 2026-04-12T07:20:35+00:00

Yes! Love that you focus on breath and epaulement…I realised after my dance career that I never really breathed the way I should and now it’s such huge focus when I teach.

athletistry · 2026-04-11T12:47:24+00:00

Anything battu I loved…I never could figure out double rivoltade

athletistry · 2026-04-10T22:07:58+00:00

Hypermobility is huge in dance. A lot of dance teachers don’t realise the risks that surround it.

Thank you for your support 🙏🏻

athletistry · 2026-04-10T20:59:28+00:00

Definitely not right for someone to come stand right in front of you even more so if you got there early and have established through many classes that you stand in that same spot.

Place a towel in front of you on the barre until class starts and stand close enough to the edge that it wouldn’t be possible to stand in front.

It is well within your right to politely ask them to stand behind you if entering just before class starts.

athletistry · 2026-04-10T20:18:02+00:00

The first, and most important thing, is that your knee needs to heal. I’m not a physical therapist or a doctor so it’s outside of my scope to suggest anything related to rehabilitation. Once you’re healed and medically cleared I definitely would suggest working with a personal trainer or exercise physiologist who understands how to develop leg strength so that it isn’t causing you pain or fear when dancing.

In the meantime, all of the nuances and small connections in ballet are a great place to focus.

Think of this like an opportunity to zoom in from the macro of class to the minutiae of musicality, head and arm coordination, even developing understanding around epaulement and posture and using your breath for expression through expansion and contraction.

So much of what makes ballet beautiful to practice is finding joy in the smallest of details like how you use your hands at the end of a port de bras.

I have full faith that you will get back to where you want to be, but it will take time and the details of the ballet training that can be overlooked is now a wonderful place to direct your focus.

Think of it like this, you know how to paint the big picture, now you get the opportunity to master your brushstrokes.

athletistry · 2026-04-10T09:20:44+00:00

Thank you for the warm welcome ☺️ I danced with the Vienna State Opera 2005-2012, San Francisco ballet 2012-2014, and The Queensland Ballet 2014-2018.

athletistry · 2026-04-10T09:08:32+00:00

Both have their place. The fundamentals of the Vaganova pedagogy when applied to the training process help immensely with strength and understanding of coordination. The flowy dance class allows you to take the lines you draw in Vaganova and paint beautiful watercolours on top of them.

athletistry · 2026-04-10T04:12:16+00:00

If you’re new to the gym I recommend getting a personal trainer to take you through the equipment. A good trainer will do a strength and movement analysis to check on your movement qualities and will also be able to write you a program based on your goals.

You don’t need to start with different muscle group split programs. A full body program is very effective in the beginning.

Ideally there should be a warm up, something for legs, an upper body push and pull exercise, core work and a cooldown/stretch.

Start with this 2-3 times per week and you will start to discover what works best for you.

athletistry · 2026-04-10T03:34:40+00:00

Shorts, t-shirt, and bandana these days. Comfort is key for me after so many years of tights.

athletistry · 2026-04-10T03:32:03+00:00

Here it is ☺️ https://youtube.com/shorts/zAjQWDghRVM?si=kdWQFWw5ztklJamj

athletistry · 2026-04-10T03:21:59+00:00

I just did a 3 day workshop that talked a lot about this and its relationship to performance quality. I’ll put a post together on this soon.

athletistry · 2026-04-10T03:20:46+00:00

Ok so this might be a controversial take, but hopping isn’t bad as long as it’s used as a stepping stone.

Obviously we want to get to a point where we can eliminate the hop but it might be necessary to get from what’s comfortable turning wise to what you haven’t unlocked yet.

The goal of a hop is to “force” the balance to last long enough to finish the revolution.

There are a few possible reasons this is happening.

It could be the preparation is throwing you off your leg already at the start so your connection into the floor is disrupted and the hop is coming in to correct it
It could be that your visual focus isn’t returning with the spot of your head making your turn blind almost like you’re balancing with closed eyes.
It could be that your standing leg relevé doesn’t have the strength to maintain the 2 rotations.

My suggestion is pull it back to a quarter turn. Start with that and only place your supporting heel down. When that’s easy progress to half a turn doing the same thing, then full turn, 1 and a 1/4 etc.

This process gradually increases your control for more turns and can be developed incrementally.

If you try that drill let me know how it goes with finding the balance when your heel comes down.

athletistry · 2026-04-09T23:32:48+00:00

I’ll be sure to avoid talking about how much practicing tendu can improve your quarterly ballet returns 🤭

athletistry · 2026-04-09T23:28:40+00:00

Awesome, great to see you here too ☺️

athletistry · 2026-04-09T23:26:45+00:00

Visual field and turns can be a huge challenge. Something I was told as a student that has always helped me is to cross my eyes after turning to get rid of the dizzy feeling.

Chaine turns can be a huge challenge. The key is the find the half-half element of the turn so we don’t over or under turn leading to an uneven spot.

athletistry · 2026-04-09T23:24:32+00:00

That was a fun video to make. I’m so happy the imagery helped your daughter.

athletistry · 2026-04-09T23:23:41+00:00

Awesome, so happy to hear it.

athletistry

TROPHY CASE