Turn out and rotation exercises

Clams! Tie a resistance band around your ankles and lay on your side with your knees bent and your shoulders, hips, and ankles all in one straight line (I like to do these with my back against a wall to ensure that they all stay in a straight line). Open your top knee as far as you can away from your bottom knee and as slowly as you can, and control your knee coming down to meet the other one. Repeat 15-20 times and do the same on your other side (with the other knee coming up). To strengthen your turn-in, do the same but have the resistance band around your knees and lift your ankles up.


Plies! Always be sure to really engage your rotators while doing plies. If your knees are not directly over your 2nd or 3rd toe, they are not engaged. In order to engage your rotators really well, your alignment needs to be good. A totally untucked pelvis isn’t going to engage your rotators. Make sure you’re pulling your pelvis to a neutral position with your abdominal muscles.
Sit on your bottom with your legs about 90 degrees apart in front of you. Actively use your rotators and your HIPS not your knees/ankles to rotate your legs, trying to get your pinky toes to touch the floor, with your knees completely in line with your toes. As you get better and better at this exercise, increase the angle between your legs, closer to a middle split.

                                               Butterfly! Sit on your bottom with your back straight. Bend your knees and

make the soles of your feet touch, so your heels are as close to your crotch as possible (and your knees open like butterfly wings!). Relax your rotators and your butt. Lean forward as far as you can and hold for 30-60 seconds when you feel a good stretch. Remember to breathe! Your muscles need oxygen! You can also gently push your knees down with your elbows/hands when you lean forward, but if you feel pain (especially in your knees) don’t! Just stick with leaning forward. Some feel pain in their knees/ankles when they push their knees down, so be careful. 

 Froggy! Lay on your stomach with your knees bent and the soles of your feet together. Try to get a stretch in multiple positions. Start with your knees just barely bent to where you can feel a stretch and hold for 30 seconds. Bend your knees some more and hold that stretch for 30 seconds. Bend them where your heels are 2 feet behind your crotch and hold for 30 seconds. Bend to 1 foot, and just behind (you can also do this with butterfly).

 Lay on your stomach in froggy. Bring your torso up off of the ground (keeping your spine straight and pevlis in a held neutral position) and bring your knees in the same line as your hip bones (so your left knee to your hips to your right knee should be a straight line). Make sure your lower legs are at a 90-degree angle to your thighs (this is another one I like to do against the wall with the bottoms of my feet on the wall). Hold for 30-60 seconds.

Middle splits! Make sure when stretching your middle splits that your knees are going in the same direction as your torso is. So if you’re trying to get your crotch to touch the ground and the top of your head is facing the ceiling, make your knees face the ceiling. If your front is on the ground, make your knees face the same wall as the top of your head. If your back is on the floor and you’re stretching your middle splits against a wall, make sure your knees are facing the same wall as the top of your head.

From: http://ballettips.tumblr.com/