Hi. I'm working on making my latin foot turnout more consistently at the same angle. Can anyone give me some advice on how I can accomplish this? Does anyone know of a specific exercise that I could use? Any help would be appreciated.

For the love of dance,

Chantal

A little ballet wouldn't hurt. Or at least a ballet warmup -- particularly the tendus. These exercises are particularly good for strengthening both turnout and the arch of the foot.

When executing tendus, work the heel forward as the foot extends out, then pull the toe back as it draws in to a close (or 5th, or whatever).

If you don't have the time to take ballet on a regular basis, try just a few classes here and there, whenever you get a chance. This will at least give you the tools to create your own warmup regimen, including the tendu exercise described above.

Regards,
Jonathan

Hi Jonathan:

Thanks for your message. Finding a ballet class may be a challenge as I reside in South Korea, and cope with a language barrier. However, stretching the foot by pointing the toe can't hurt, and I've also taken to pulling the toe back once the foot is stretched. I've yet to see a detailed explanation of a ballet tendu, but I assume I have the basic idea.

Thanks again, Chantal

Chantel. Give this some thought. Stand on a floorboard. Put your L.F. foreward
keeping it straight. your free foot which is your R.F. place it behind the L.F. toe to heel keeping your shoulders square to the front. Without changing the shape of the foot, now place your R.F. heel to heel. Look down. Isn't it strange, our front foot which we know is straight now appears to be turned out. If you do your Rumba Walks correctly, and that is from the front only one leg can be seen, the way to ruin this is to have a gap between your thighs, and not to keep your shoulders square to the front. If you are interested I can explain to you an excercise I was given by a former 7th in the world professional which helps with the hip isolations whilst moving. As I started off by saying. Give this some thought. The toe to heel position which is a Ballet position, in the trade is called a Latin Cross when it is used to lock in the Cha and Samba