Turnout is the outward rotation of the legs used in ballet's positions and lines. It should come mainly from rotating the thigh in the hip socket, with the knees and feet following, not from twisting the feet out further than the hips allow. Forcing it shows up as rolling in on the arches or twisting at the knee, and studies link that kind of compensated turnout to more injuries, though the research is still limited. From the front, the app checks whether your knees line up over your feet in a plié; foot angle and rolling in are harder for a camera to read, so use them as a prompt to check in a mirror.
Rotate from the hip rotators
Stand tall with your heels together and feet parallel. Spread your weight evenly over three points of each foot: the ball of the big toe, the ball of the little toe and the heel.
a level, even base under both feet.
Turn your whole leg outward from the top: rotate the thighs in the hip sockets and let the knees and feet follow. Stop when the rotation stops coming from the hips.
the work around the back and sides of the hips, not in the feet.
Keep your pelvis level and square to the front, with both hips working equally. Don't tuck, arch or twist the pelvis to gain extra rotation.
Knees track over toes
Check with a slow demi-plié. Bend your knees with heels down and let each knee travel out over its foot. If a knee drops in front of or inside the toes, your feet are turned out further than your hips can hold. Bring the feet in until the knees line up.
knees and toes pointing the same way all the way down and up.
Watch your arches through the plié. The three points of each foot stay on the floor and the arches stay lifted, with no rolling onto the inner edge. Some dancers have a twist in the shin bone (tibial torsion), so their knee lines up slightly inside the second toe. A teacher can tell you if that applies to you.
Don't force it; no rolling in
Work with the turnout you actually have. Hip structure differs from person to person, so the angle of your feet is a result, not a target. Never plant your feet at 180 degrees and then wriggle the rest of your body to match.
honest turnout: feet where your hips put them.
Hold the rotation while you move. In a tendu to the side, if taking the leg truly side makes your pelvis twist or your standing leg turn in, take the tendu on a slight diagonal from your first position instead. The line will move closer to true side as your rotators get stronger.
Build turnout gradually with hip strength work outside class and regular rest days. If you get hip, knee or ankle pain, stop forcing the position and see a dance medicine professional or physiotherapist.
Feel it
The rotation starts at the top of the leg and is held by the muscles around the hips. Your feet rest flat with weight on three points, arches lifted, and your knees bend straight out over your feet in plié. Your pelvis stays level and still. If your feet are doing the turning and your arches are dropping, you've gone past your hips.
Fix-its
- You set your feet first and twist the body to match (forcing) Start parallel and rotate from the hips; let the feet land wherever the hips take them, even if that's well short of a flat first position.
- Your arches roll in (pronation) Reduce the foot angle until all three points of each foot stay down and the arches lift. Research suggests dancers short on hip rotation tend to roll in rather than twist the knee.
- Your knees fall inside your toes in plié (screwing the knees) Bring the feet in until each knee travels over its foot as you bend, then rebuild range from the hips.
- Your pelvis twists or your standing leg turns in when the leg moves Keep both hips working equally and take the leg on a slight diagonal until your rotators are strong enough to hold true side.
- Your turnout disappears once you start moving Turnout has to be held, not just placed. Add hip strength work and check it in plié and tendu, not only standing still.
Drill
- Parallel to first: start with feet parallel, rotate from the hips into first position, then return to parallel. Repeat slowly a few times, checking the three points of each foot stay down.
- Demi-plié check: in first position, plié slowly in front of a mirror or a front-facing camera and confirm each knee travels over its foot and the arches stay lifted.
- Hip strength (outside class): single-leg glute bridges, clamshells in side plank and kneeling side planks with leg raises, done with control and no low-back arching.
- Diagonal tendu: tendu from first position on a slight diagonal, keeping the pelvis square and the standing leg rotated. Move toward true side only as you can hold it.
- Recovery: take one to two days off dance each week, and avoid sudden increases in class or rehearsal hours.
Sources
- Carter, Duncan, Weidemann & Hopper — Lower leg and foot contributions to turnout in female pre-professional dancers: a 3D kinematic analysis, J Sports Sci (2018)
- Negus, Hopper & Briffa — Associations between turnout and lower extremity injuries in classical ballet dancers, JOSPT (2005)
- Jenkins, Wyon & Nevill — Can turnout measurements be used to predict physiotherapist-reported injury rates in dancers? Med Probl Perform Art (2013)
- Kaufmann et al. — Does forced or compensated turnout lead to musculoskeletal injuries in dancers? A systematic review, J Biomech (2021)
- Pata, Welsh, Bailey & Range — Improving turnout in university dancers, J Dance Med Sci (2014)
- Brandt (with podiatric surgeon J. Brummer) — Ask Amy: The Truth About Forcing Your Turnout, Pointe (2017)
- Vogel — Ask Deb: How Do You Correctly Teach Tendu à la Seconde? Dance Teacher (2018)
- Worth — Dance Studies 8.8: Alignment (LibreTexts)
- Scottish Rite for Children — Keeping Up with the Count: Hip Health in Dancers (2021)
Last checked 2026-10-26.