Beyond the Inside Turn

The Hip Prep

When you first learned the inside turn, you probably just follow the footwork and never pay attention to which way your hip is facing or your travel distance.  A very common mistake beginners make is to prematurely turn the hips on the 5 to the left during an inside turn.  The proper form for the inside turn 5 is: left foot facing about 10-20 degrees outwards, with the hips facing RIGHT.

The Paper Technique

There are 2 ways you can spin: leg (calves) vs hip (core).  The leg spinners often will do a "jumping" motion, ie. using their calves to elevate their frame.  The core spinners instead uses their hips and drill "downwards" into the ground as they pivot.  Core spinning is called "finding your center". A spin board is a very good way to find your center as you will lose balance if you try to elevate upwards.

Notice the "drilling" effect that the paper tech creates as the legs overlap each other during the 6-7 rotation during the inside turn.  This is the visual cue to see if a dancer has it or not

To understand the paper tech, you must include the toe-heel, heel-toe drill into your dailies.  Once you understand how to generate power from your core/hips, start employing it and randomly freeze on 7 to see if your position is correct. The foot position for the 7 should be identical to that of the 5, ie. left foot facing outwards about 10-20 degrees.