Turnout is an important part of dance. It comes from a combination of rotation at the hip, knee, ankle, and foot. Dancers are often adept at recruiting turnout from below the knee, but not so great at maximizing what is available at the hip, and turnout from the hip is critical.1. That’s where a simple squat can really help.
Knees Out Really Means Open The Hip
A common cue for squatting is to push or drive the knees out. Even though the cue puts your focus on the knee, what we are after isn’t specifically about that joint per se. To get the knee to travel outward, what you really need to do is get the hip joint to rotate outward and open up (externally rotate and abduct). If the hip rotates open the knee will follow because, as the song goes, the hip bone is connected to the knee bone.
This is why squatting can be an excellent way for a dancer to improve and maintain turnout. The muscles at the hip that produce turnout are directly challenged when you drop down into a squat. When you add an appropriate load, you can get even more benefit. With a weight pressing down, the knees really want to collapse inward (internally rotate and adduct). If you have chosen the load correctly, you can tap into those hip muscles even more and make them stronger and more efficient, which means better turnout for you!