5 TURN TIPS TO IMPROVE TEAM UNISON

A Dose Of Danspiration- Technique Tips: 5 Turn Tips to Improve Team Unison (Originally posted 528/24)

“How do I get my team to turn together?”

Usually, the answer lies in a technical error being executed by the dancer, who is either too fast or too slow. That list of possible errors…well…if you’ve ever taught pirouettes, you know THAT list is extensive and a topic for a WHOLE series of blogs.

SOOOO for this blog on TURN TIMING TIPS, we are going to assume that individual technique errors have been addressed and now it’s all about team timing!

Tip #1: SPOT TIMING

Let’s start at the top! The first thing to do is give the spot a count.

“For our triple pirouette, we will all be spotting to the front on 1,2,3.”

Just like a strong motion, that spot needs to be to the front on that specific count, not a little before or a little after. No grey area!

Make sure the head is in alignment over the spine. There are dancers that like to tilt their head or shift it slightly forward or back. Because the head is the heaviest part of the body, just the teeniest, tiniest tilt or shift off the spine can disrupt their momentum and balance. I like to tell my dancers to keep their head over their spine and get their nose around first. Not forehead or chin.

Lastly, make sure that the dancers are counting the music on the beat that you have decided to enhance. Sometimes a dancer will count the beat as 1,2,3, while another is counting 1 & 2 & 3 (which would be 1,2,3,4,5 to the other dancer). We can hear music differently; some follow the down beat while others follow the melody. Make sure your team is all being guided by the same part of the music.

Tip #2: MOMENTUM

We discussed SPOTTING in TIP #1, now let’s discuss PREP PUSH OFF and friction.

A dancer may be behind the group because of lack of momentum. The momentum for a pirouette comes from not only keeping our center of gravity over our…well center, but also the intensity behind the spot and the push-off of the back foot in the prep.

To avoid over compensating or winding up, I describe it as having gum on the ball of the foot that you want to get off in one swipe. Keeping the gum connected to the ground with that added pressure, helps to get the gum off the foot by creating friction. Another example, you know that extra Band Aid glue that gets left on your arm after you remove the bandage, it won’t come off without friction. Too little friction, it’s not coming off, too much and now it’s smeared in other places and is now a bigger mess. Same applies for pushing off with the back foot in the prep.

Too little friction= not enough to get around

Too much= you’ve lost control of the turn with no sense of balance and just trying to stay upright.

When helping your dancer(s) with this challenge, use the SPOT TIMING TIP from TEAM TURN TIMING TIP #1. This will give them a tempo and will guide them on whether they are using too less, too much, or just the right amount of push off or friction in their prep push and intensity in their spot, so these two components are working as one! 

Tip #3: FROM PREP TO PIROUETTE POSITION

When checking why an individual is not turning with the rest of the group, another area to address is how quickly the dancer is going from their prep to the position required for the pirouette/turn they are to execute. Just as with the spot, being give a count as to when the dancer should be locked into that turn position is beneficial. “We prep on 1. Then pull up to relevé and lock in that passé on 2.” Again, not before (usually means they are rushing their prep) and not after (giving an extra pause/breath while in that prep position). A quick drill to do is remove the rotation and just ask the dancer to prep, then relevé into the pirouette position you are asking for. See if they ronde jambe their coupé or bring their passé slightly out before connecting to the knee area or other errors. Both of these examples would cause the dancer to be behind the group.

Tip #4: TORSO SQUARED & NOT TWISTED

I usually see this in two places:

 1. The Prep

2. The Pirouette

Yes, this could fall into the foundational technique of a pirouette that I mention under Tip #1, but there are many dancers who during warm up can do a solid pirouette, but the moment they have to do it with music, they are off from the group. In turn, this effects the team’s timing.

1.       In the prep: make sure the shoulders are squared up and level. The right arm should be extended directly from the shoulder and at shoulder level. Pressing those shoulders down by engaging the upper back and triceps (I tell dancers to squeeze their armpits and I get the same result) The left arm should be in a second position. Note, when the arms are in second position, they are NOT directly to the side of the dancer, they are slightly in front. This allows the dancer to keep the chest and upper back muscles engaged. Once the arms go directly to the side, the chest disengages and the dancers no longer has complete control over their torso or their center of gravity. There are dancers who feel they need to twist or give a little wind up to their momentum. NO! The momentum does not come from the arms. The arms supply the balance and “the picture.” Momentum comes from the push-off of the back foot and the intensity of the spot.

2.       In the pirouette: The dancer is not rotating the body as one unit. I especially see this in al a second pirouettes. The spot is to the front and the shoulders are to the corner. Usually this means the core is not engaged, so the torso through the neck are not moving through the rotation together.

TIP #5: INVERTED FRONT FOOT

In TIP #2: MOMENTUM, we discussed the back foot in the prep, now let’s talk about the front foot. As dancers advance, in choreography, we ask them to step into their prep from other movement, whether it is a walking transition or another connecting motion. Many dancers are not even aware that they are stepping onto their front inverted. This is when the front foot is not in parallel or turned out, but turned in. If a dancer preps with the front foot inverted, when they pull up to their relevé, they are already a quarter of a turn in front of the group. I can ask a dancer to pirouette in front of me a million times from a neutral position and never see this, but the moment they are performing choreography in front of the turn/pirouette, I see their prep invert. If they are supposed to be prepping in parallel, I have found the most success in breaking this habit is, asking the individual to think of turning out the foot from the ankle and 99% of the time, they find parallel. I have yet to encountered this issue when the prep is choreographed turned out, but every dancer brings something unique to the table, so you never know! The success with this correction, is also done with repetition and a reminder until their body registers the change. 

When it comes to getting your team to move as one, it’s the little details that matter most! Try these tips with your team or on yourself! See what type of results you get!

I hope these 5 TEAM TURN UNISON TIPS help your group take their timing to the next level. Let me know if you have other technique challenges that you would like to see addressed and I will see about creating more tips and pointers in future blogs!

HAPPY TURNING!

If you would like to stay connected to all ADOD quotes, tips, and blog posts, check us out on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest (@adoseofdanspiration5678).