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

Hi Don. Thanks for your advice, and I will give it some thought. I am doing International Rumba, and it looks like your message applies to this. I'd love to get the explanation of the exercise for hip isolation, which I'm also finding challenging. No problem keeping the thighs together, but keeping the shoulders square to the front is difficult.

Excercise to improve a hip movement. Since being taught the following I have regularly included this in my warm up . And that is, on your solo Rumba Walks all the way around the ballroom. Have your two arms extended foreward at shoulder level. Finger tips square to each other. If you find that on any part of your walks that the fingers are not level than you will be losing part of your hip action. Another way is to fold your arms across your chest keeping your shoulders square to the front. To add to this , a slight pull back of the shoulder on each walk will give more of a 3D look than looking like a cardboard cut out. I hope this helps, and as Karen Hardy said "Several years of practice is now needed". I'm On five. Also keep in mind that from the front only one leg can be seen at a time, and keep your already high instep, as you come into a neutral position on the count of and. With your feet now together and level, your knee will be foreward of your body. If your knee is not foreward then your feet are wrong. If you want to look better than your friends get that high instep. All of the above goes for the man also.

Hi Don,
You have me puzzled. You are always pointing out attention to detail in your dance postings and yet you insist on writing FOREward instead of FORward. I know it is not a case of not knowing how to spell the word so why do you do it? What is it I'm not seeing or understanding?

lluv2dance. Did you ever hear about George Bernard Shaw's symphonic spelling. Thats more my way. Or Humpty Dumpty, man should rule the words and not the words rule the man. As long as it is understood what does it matter.

Hi Don,
Thanks for your answer. I was just curious to know why. You always answer a posting with such detail and I couldn't for the life of me understand your spelling. I suppose someone is now going to answer this with a full symphonic spelling.

lluv2dance. I always have it in mind that some people reading these comments are beginners and some live overseas and to them English could be a foreign language.Take for instance Waltz . Step one and beat one is ok . Rise at the end of one, fine. Now go to the Foxtrot. Rise at the end of one, thats the step. The rise with the music is on the end of beat two. This for a beginner needs to be explained along with the correct use of the feet and ankles and of course the knees towards your partner.