How To Do A Pirouette or Even Multiple Pirouettes

Let’s look at how to do a pirouette in ballet. A pirouette is a very quick spinning action on one leg and the word pirouette in French means Spinning Top.

Pirouettes normally add excitement to a routine, but they don’t normally lead into another step like many of the other ballet exercises.

All dancers dream of doing spectacular multiple pirouettes, but how to do a pirouette? – that is a good question. Perfect pirouettes require many hours of practice and dedication. The secret of doing a perfect pirouette is actually just practice, but here are some tips to use while you are practicing.

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What Is A Pirouette?

A Pirouette is a turn in place, on one leg en relevé (ball of your foot or full pointe).  There are various ways to prepare for a turn, but the classical pirouette always has the same look to it. (lifted leg turned out in retire with the foot underneath the knee)

Other types of pirouettes are found in other dance forms, for example turning with the leg parallel, spinning on your head or heels, the variations are endless.  In this post, I will concentrate on the basic classical ballet pirouette.

What are the Requirements of a Great Pirouette?

First of all, you need to have the strength to do multiple pirouettes, and regular class, bar work, and ballet training will strengthen all the muscles that you need for good turns.  To be stable on your turns, you need a good strong core, legs, ankles, and feet.

When you are doing a pirouette, think about how a spinning top turns.  It is perfectly the same on both sides, weighs the same on both sides, and is streamlined.

To maintain your balance and have momentum, you need to think of a spinning top.  Although we don’t look at all like spinning tops, we need to also be perfectly aligned otherwise we will simply fall over. You need to keep your supporting side aligned, in other words, your shoulder, ribs, and hip must be perfectly aligned to maintain a stable position on your turns.

As a versatile dancer, you will need to be good at both en dehors (outward) and en dedans (inward) turns.

Tips on How To Do A Pirouette From the Experts

• Pirouettes need to be practiced a lot, but make sure you are practicing them correctly, or they won’t get any better.
• Push off both legs, but make sure your weight is forward.
• Don’t let your supporting heel slip before you turn.
• Do a strong relevé and get up quickly.  You should be in the correct pirouette position before you have turned a quarter of the way around.
• Work on your plies, petit allegro, and relevés, as these all aid a good pirouette.
• Spot. Relax the upper body so the head is free to do this.
• When you spot, choose a spot slightly higher than your eye line to look at.
• Learn to turn first, get your turns fast, and then work on getting your form right, or it looks terrible.
• Relax, exhale, and float through your turn.
• When you relevé, get right up on the demi-pointe.  This will be a breeze if you have strong feet.
• If you are battling to balance, try perfect a quarter turn, half turn, then a full turn. Even holding your balance without turning will help you improve in this aspect.
• Open your arms to a second just before you turn, then bring them in closer to your body as you turn to make your spin diameter smaller.
• Be very careful that the shoulders remain square in the preparation to turn.
• Try practicing multiple turns by doing a parallel pirouette.  This is a great way to get your balance.
• Try a turnboard to get better at balancing.
• Did you know that practicing your handstand and cartwheels can also help you with your turns?
• As teachers don’t talk about retracting the foot as your pupils relevé as this may pull your dancers off balance. Most of the time a good strong releve is all they need to get themselves up and around.
• As you relevé, feel a small spring up throughout the body.
• Feel like your leg is drilling down into the floor as you spin.
• Teachers should use the word ‘focus’ instead of ‘spot’ as this will help your dancers to find a particular spot to focus on.

Exercises You Can Do To Strengthen Your Pirouettes

Here are some great exercises that will help you strengthen your body and work on the correct alignment for when you do your turns. Some helpful tools here would be a Pilates Ring, Drumstick, Theraband, Small Exercise Ball, Small Massage Ball, and, Ankle Weights.

When you take your foot under your knee, the movement should come from under the thigh and there should be no pressure on the leg caused by the lifted foot. The foot is just placed on the knee. The arms in first must be opposite the belly button. Arms that are too high will throw the dancer backward.

A great tip for teachers to get the line of the arms is to place a drumstick in the dancer’s belly and get her to hold it there with the arms in 1st position. Now hold one at a time and get the other arm to meet that one when turning.

Another great tip is to take chalk and draw a lin from the bust to the hip bone and a line across the hip bone to get them to connect the hips and shoulders. This helps them not to twist the torso.

Exercise Number 1:

Stand in parallel 2nd and do some rises. Then balance and lift arms to 5th. Bend the knees pushing over the demi-pointe, then stretch the knees and lower heels. Building ankle strength is important and this exercise and also be done with ankle weights. Watch that your pelvis is in alignment at all times and that the weight is placed over the first three toes of each foot when rising.

Exercise Number 2:

Lie on your back with your arms in 2nd and your palms facing up to the ceiling. A theraband can be tied around the legs just above the knee. Ankle weights can also be used here to build strength. Bend knees hip distance apart. Lift one leg at a time sharply to 90 degrees parallel to the floor and lower slowly.

Next, lift each leg and turn out from the knee into attitude keeping the back of the hips on the floor. Close the leg parallel again and lower. Ensure your lower back doesn’t arch and stays stable.

Exercise Number 3:

Lie on the back with straight legs and feet on a yoga block. Lift the pelvis off of the floor and hold (upside down plank).

Now try lifting bringing one leg at a time into a brush kick position before lowering back down to the block.

Exercise Number 4:

Lie on your tummy and lift the belly button off of the floor like you are trying to let an ant crawl underneath your belly. Hold the lift at all times while you take an exercise ball from above your head and pass it behind your back into your other hand before finishing the circle around back to above your head. Do it both ways then try it with the chest lifted off of the floor.

Exercise Number 5:

To strengthen the back, lie on your tummy and kick your legs while you move both arms up and down in front of you. Remember to keep holding your belly button in.

Exercise Number 6:

Lie on your side with your elbow on a block. Bend your legs in front of you at 90 degrees. Push up on your elbow and do a side plank. The pelvis lifts up off of the floor while your lower leg stays on the floor. Now open and close your top leg like a clam. Adding a theraband tied around the top of your knees will make this exercise even more challenging.

Exercise Number 7:

Stand in fifth and place the foot into a pirouette position with a small ball underneath the bent knee. Squeeze a magic circle in front of you with your fingertips and pivot yourself around with a flat foot keeping the tension on the magic circle with your arms as well as the turnout of the leg holding the ball. The Pilates ring will help you to learn to engage your back while turning.

Exercise Number 8:

Stand in second position in a demi plie, and hold the magic circle with the arms in first position in front of you. Open one arm to 2nd and then snatch the same foot into the pirouette position placing the fingertips on the magic circle. Stay on a flat supporting leg and practice balancing activating those back muscles. Next you can try the same thing on both sides with a rise and balance.

You can also do this exercise with parallel feet with a crouch to the front or back and strongly lift the working leg to parallel retire.

Exercise Number 9:

Kneel on the floor on all fours with a neutral back. Tie a long theraband to the one wrist and the opposite ankle. Lift the knee as high as possible behind. Make sure to keep the hips level and not arch the back. Make sure not to sit on the opposite hip. Try opening the knee to a turnout while keeping the hip bones in line with the small. This exercise is also great for training attitudes.

Exercise Number 10:

A great way to stabilize those feet and ankles is to lie on your back with your feet up flexed and at 90 degrees. Now balance a yoga block on your feet. Once you can do this try balancing the yoga block on one foot at a time. You will soon see if your feet are rolling to one side by the way that the yoga block falls off.

Exercise Number 11:

This one is quite challenging. Stand on a yoga block and rise and lower down past the block to stretch the Achilles tendon.

Next go up, fondu on demi point, and release one foot to coup de pied position. Stretch both legs taking the one out to glisse height and try and balance. You could also stretch the supporting leg and balance on one leg.

Exercise Number 12:

Stand parallel and rise. Close your eyes and balance.

Next, try closing your eyes first and then rising.

Put feet one in front of the other like you are standing on a tightrope. Again rise with closed eyes. Closing your eyes makes balancing so much more difficult.

Exercise Number 13:

You can use the bar to help you to improve your pirouettes.

Try facing the bar and rising to 5th and then lifting the front foot to pirouette position. Balance. Make sure the foot tracks up the leg when lifting it to underneath the knee.

Face the front with feet in 4th. Plie and lift back leg to pirouette position turning a quarter and then a half. It helps to turn towards the bar and get your balance. That leg must get to your knee as quickly as possible.

Exercise Number 14:

Try some pirouettes in the center and clap three times as you come around before putting your foot down. This will train you to sustain the ending of your turn, instead of collapsing down.

Now try turning with one hand on the hip and the other in first. Make sure to alternate arms.

A Visual Example for you of How To Do a Pirouette

Conclusion:

Training your pirouette is like building a house. You need to have a solid foundation and then everything needs to fit together from the feet up so that your house doesn’t fall over. Every part of the body must stay connected.

Mental notes to yourself while you are turning:

• Is my pelvis well-held?
• Are my shoulders down?
• Is my balance sustained at the end?
• Is my plie into my turn well bent?
• Is my preparation secure?
• Am I using my head correctly?
• Are both sides of my body pulled up equally?

Please comment if you have any other tips you may have on how to do a pirouette.