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These are the notes from an class I taught on the subject at the Dance Teacher Summit in 2011.  For clarification, these skills are meant to be cumulative, over years of training and not progressions to be drilled one class after the other in short term training.  If you have been working on fouetté turns with dancers and having a problem with execution, a suggestion is to go through the list of movement components individually and find the one(s) that is/are problematic and start by correcting those first and then re-evaluate.

Foundational Components

1 - Plié and relevé on the supporting leg 

Observing the foot barefoot (if possible) and correct any issues you find

- Maintain weight distribution in a tripod (pad of the big toe, little toe and center of the heel) through the movement of plié and straightening

- Maintain an even weight distribution across the metatarsal shelf in relevé.

- Control the foot alignment and weight distribution through the transition from plié to relevé and back into plié.

Observing the ankle alignment and correct any issues you find

- Maintain a neutral ankle alignment - as related to the position of the lower leg and foot

     * In plié, watch for gripping of the anterior tibialis.  The front of the ankle should remain soft on the descent.

     *  In plié, maintain the weight balance as described above.  Watch for rolling in or out in the arch.

     * In relevé, watch for rolling in and out.

     * Press the ball of the foot into the floor to create the relevé action as opposed to popping up.

Observing the knee alignment and correct any issues you find

- Maintain a neutral alignment as related to the hip and lower leg / ankle.

- Watch for changes in the knee alignment, especially through the plié and relevé transitions

- Correct hyperextension, encourage dancers to find straight instead.

- Remind dancers to fully straighten their knee (without going into hyperextension).

Observing the hip / pelvis alignment and correct any issues you find

- Maintain a neutral pelvic position

     * Watch for anterior tilt of the pelvis, often seen in dancers with short or tight hip flexors and sometimes compensating for a shallow plié

     *  Watch for posterior tilt of the pelvis, often seen in dancers with short or tight hamstrings anend dancers who don't understand the difference between dropping their tailbone and tucking under.

- Maintain turnout at the top of the thigh in the hip socket

- Consistency in the amount of turnout throughout the plié and relevé.

2 - Movement of the Gesture Leg

Turnout

- Maintain turnout at the top of the thigh in the hip socket.

- The gesture leg does not turn out from losing turnout on the supporting leg.

- The dancer's side alignment is dependent on his/her turnout.

Battement Devant

- Pelvis remains neutral

     * Avoid tucking the pelvis under to try to increase the height of the gesture leg instead of working at the height allowed by the hamstring mobility.

     * Work on hip / thigh dissociation to avoid hip hike.

- Maintain a consistent height to the gesture leg through the plié and relevé

Rond de jambe front to side

- Maintain the turnout of both legs.

- Open the leg to the dancer's natural side position.

- Maintain the height of the leg throughout the movement.

- Maintain the pelvis over the supporting leg.

- Work on the timing of the gesture leg to coordinate with the supporting leg plié and relevé.

Beat

- Maintain the position of the thigh during the back / front beat

- Control the movement to avoid snapping.

- Watch for torque at the knee.

3 - Rotation of the Body

Posture

- Maintain neutral alignment throughout the overall body

     * Watch for forward / backward hinging of the torso on the pelvis

     *  Maintain alignment throughout the transition between plié and relevé

Shoulder Girdle 

- Arm placement is such that torso / ribcage position is neutral

- Arm height is regulated to avoid lifting shoulders or extending spine

- The 2nd position arms are not opened too far side (watch the upper arm at the shoulder socket)

- The distance of the hands from the torso allows for the upper body to remain stacked over the hips

- There is enough strength and endurance in the deltoid muscles to maintain a supported arm position.

- The shoulder blades remain flat against the ribcage - avoid protracting /retracting / winging.

Timing

- Time the descent into plié to avoid sitting in the plié and losing the potential energy created during the plié.

- Control the descent to avoid dropping into the plié.

- Work on the timing to transition between the plié and the relevé smoothly.

- Coordinate the timing of the gesture and supporting leg movements.

- Coordinate the timing of the arms with the legs.

Spotting

Balance

Preparatory Exercises / Progressions

Single Leg Plié and Relevé

• Coupé  
  • parallel barre
  • parallel center
  • turned out barre
  • turned out center

• Retiré 
  • turned out barre
  • turned out center

• Leg held devant 
  • 45 degrees barre
  • 90 degrees barre
  • 45 degrees center
  • 90 degrees center

• Leg held à la seconde
  • 45 degrees barre
  • 90 degrees barre
  • 45 degrees center
  • 90 degrees center

Rond de Jambe en l’air

• Grand rond de jambe en l’air flat
  • 45 degrees barre
  • 90 degrees barre
  • 45 degrees center
  • 90 degrees center

• Grand rond de jambe en l’air relevé
  • 45 degrees barre
  • 90 degrees barre

• Rond de jambe en l’air en dehors flat
  • barre
  • center

• Rond de jambe en l’air en dehors relevé
  • barre

Putting it all together

• Preparation exercises at the barre
  • Plié 5^th, brush the leg front, open side
  • Plié 5^th, brush the leg front, AST relevé on supporting leg, open side
  • Plié 5^th, brush the leg front, AST relevé on supporting leg, open side, beat back /front
  • Plié 5^th, brush the leg front, AST relevé on supporting leg, open side, beat back / front w/ turn

• Preparation exercise in the center
  • Pirouette from 5^th 
  • Pirouette from 5^th with balance ending retiré
  • Pirouette from 4^th back 
  • Pirouette from 4^th back with balance ending retiré
  • Pirouette from 4^th  or 5th ending developpé front in plié
  • Pirouette from 4^th or 5th ending developpé front in plié, relevé open leg to 2^nd
  • Pirouette from 4^th or 5th and 1 fouetté

• Building up repetitions
  • continue to add additional fouetté

Have some time (about 12 minutes)?  Try this barre stretch series after you've already done some large full body movements for at least 5-10 minutes to get the blood moving through your system and your core temperature warmed up. 

Remember proper alignment is crucial for the effectiveness of any stretch or strengthening routine.  To gain the most benefit, never sit and hold the stretch but always feel like you are moving the 2 ends of the body away from each other.

I use a 3/4 adagio or stretch music allowing 1 measure per movement (excluding body alignment transitions).  For an idea of tempo a band labeled 16 8's is approximately 4'20". 

Start facing the barre, right leg up to the side, both legs turned out , heel over the barre (place a small towel or other padding on the barre if needed.  Standing up tall with the weight over the supporting leg,

plie', stretch, eleve' and lower 3 times,

change the right hand position to hold under the barre and left arm overhead to stretch towards the leg 

Repeat 3 plie', stretch, eleve' and lowers maintaining the laterally flexed position

Still in lateral flexion, rotate the torso towards the ceiling 

Turn back to side and recover to standing

Change hands and stretch sideways away from the leg - keeping the barre leg turned out

Plie', stretch, eleve', lower 3 sets in the laterally flexed position

Rotate towards the ceiling

Return to side and recover to standing

Rotate the body so the torso and hips are facing the leg on the barre in a croise' front position (most people will need to hop away from the barre

Plie', stretch, eleve', lower 3x

Stretch forward over the leg on the barre

Plie', stretch, eleve', lower 3x with the forward bend

Recover to standing

Cambre' back and recover

Rotate the torso and the foot on the barre to face the barre squarely, arch of the gesture leg now on the barre, standing leg parallel

Bend the barre knee and lunge forward, keeping the supporting knee straight and the torso vertical for a total of  4 measures

Stretch the barre leg straight and try to maintain the chest towards the thigh as you stretch forward

Repeat the lunge and stretch a total of 4 sets

Keep the arch of the foot on the barre and open the leg to the side.  The standing leg turns out and the barre leg is knee bent and turned out, lunge into the barre leg side for a total of 3 measures

Recover to standing tall 1 measure

Repeat for a total of 4 sets

Keeping the knee bent, slide the foot in front of the body and turn the leg out to a front attitude position, the supporting leg is rotated back to parallel. (like a pigeon stretch from yoga but on the barre)

Keeping the back leg straight and body tall, lunge forward by slightly tucking the pelvis under as your weight shifts forward.  3 measures

Recover to standing 1 measure

Repeat for a total of 4 sets

Carefully take the leg off of the barre and lower it to the floor

Repeat with the 2nd leg

Finish with sliding into splits on both sides and center if it is appropriate for the dancers.

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