Pirouettes

A pirouette is a turn done on the ball of your foot with the other foot placed at the knee and your arms are usually rounded in front of you. Pirouettes are very simple but the more you can do the more impressive it is. To do a right single pirouette, you first prepare by placing your left foot in front of your right foot. You can either have your feet spread away from each other in a fourth position or for a more challenging way to do your pirouette, you can prepare in fifth position, which is when your right heel is touching the toes of your left foot. Have your right arm straight in front of you and your left one straight reaching to the left. Your arms should look like a backwards "L". The next part all happens in one fluid motion. So what you do is bend both your knees in plié ( A movement in which the knees are bent while the back is held straight.) Then you open your right arm to the right, push off both feet and bring your right foot up your leg to your left knee, Your right knee can either be facing straight forward or facing the side turned out. You do all this then make a full rotation going clockwise. Keep your head and eyes forward until the very last second then snap it around. This is called spotting, which is required to perform any turns. Spotting also prevents dizziness and helps you control your turns. Once you finish your single turn, put your right foot down off your knee and behind your left foot in a small lunge. After you've mastered a single turn you can work on getting your double, triples, quads and so on. You will just have to spot the number of times you turn. Some tips on how to make your turns more clean is to squeeze all your muscles in tight and hold your core. The more you work on your pirouettes the sharper and more controlled they will look. You will also be able to do more the more you practice.