Why Alignment Is the Secret Behind Consistent Pirouettes

By  Bethany Marc‑Aurele | Ballet MarcAurele Coaching

If you’ve ever been told to “pull up” or “spot” during a pirouette without fully understanding why, you might be wondering why consistency still eludes you.

Most dancers are taught what to do in a pirouette—but not why it matters. They’re told to pull up, spot, and keep their retiré connected. But without a deep understanding of alignment and mechanics, those corrections don’t stick.

The truth is: if a dancer doesn’t understand how their own body functions, consistency will always be a struggle.

Alignment  First—Always

Before you even push off the floor, the body has to be properly organized. The pelvis must be level, the ribs stacked over the hips, the spine upright, and the rotation clearly active through the legs.

Misalignments like rib flare, a tilted pelvis, or a bent standing leg disrupt the turn before it even starts. And these small misalignments—sometimes just a few degrees—completely shift the dancer’s center of mass. That’s why even a slightly turned‑in retiré or an uneven shoulder can throw off the entire pirouette.

In my coaching, I always reinforce: alignment is about more than just being in the right position—it’s about creating a structure that supports movement and technique effectively.

Strength Training: The Foundation for Stability and Power

Strength training is essential for executing consistent pirouettes. Without the necessary muscle strength, control, and balance, maintaining proper technique throughout the turn becomes challenging.

The spine is the center of the body, and it only makes sense that it must be straight and aligned for successful pirouettes. A strong, aligned back is crucial for maintaining stability and control. I have yet to see a dancer with rolled shoulders or an arched or rounded back perform a clean, controlled turn. When the spine is properly aligned and engaged, it supports the entire body, ensuring balance and precision throughout the turn.

In addition to a strong back, core and leg strength are equally important. The core stabilizes your center of mass, while strong legs provide the power for takeoff and smooth landings. Ankle and foot strength also play a key role in control and maintaining pointed feet during the turn.

Incorporating strength training into your routine activates these muscles, helping you maintain proper alignment and stability. When your core, back, legs, and feet are strong and properly aligned, you’ll have the foundation needed for clean pirouettes and improved technique. With solid strength, you can focus on perfecting the finer details of your turns instead of worrying about losing control.

Turned‑In  vs. Turned‑Out: Same Concept, Different Rules

Parallel and turned‑out pirouettes use the same principles—but they require different setups.

In a turned‑out pirouette, the centerline shifts slightly, and the turnout must be active through the entire rotation. I always tell my dancers: “Pretend your back heel is opening a pickle jar.” That cue helps them activate rotation from the floor up—pressing the heel into the ground while spiraling the back knee outward. It keeps the turnout alive, not just placed.

Equally important: the front heel must stay forward. Dancers often don’t think about moving the front heel forward, or they lack the strength or cueing to do it. When the front heel is pulled back or rolled inward, the knee drops, the turnout collapses, and the pelvis shifts. Now the dancer is fighting against their own setup.

That front heel should press forward and down into the floor, maintaining external rotation and grounding the centerline. When both feet are active—back heel spiraling open, front heel forward and stable—you’ve built a solid base for the turn, and you’ve also created stability because of the positional energy.

Spotting and Rhythm: The Invisible Power

Spotting is often treated as a surface correction. But in reality, it’s your rhythm regulator. If the rhythm of the spot is inconsistent—so is the turn. Just like the plié, the arms, and the spine, the spot has to follow a rhythmic pattern for the body to respond with stability.

Sometimes I watch dancers spot and set up, and it looks disconnected. The motion should flow in one direction, not be erratic. I tell my dancers: “Don’t look like a washing machine. You want to go in the same direction like a blender.” When the spotting rhythm and the body’s setup are aligned, the turn becomes smoother and more controlled.

Before I allow my dancers to start pirouettes, I have them learn how to do clean chaîne turns. A well‑executed chaîne teaches them how to spot properly, as it forces them to focus on maintaining a steady, controlled head movement and rhythm as well as coordinated the body with the spot. The smooth, consistent flow of the chaîne helps them establish the spotting technique needed for a pirouette. Without mastering this first, their spot will often feel disconnected from the rest of the movement.

Understanding the Physics

You don’t need a physics degree to improve your pirouettes—but knowing a few principles changes everything.

• Torque = the force that gets you into the turn, generated from a deep, grounded plié.

• Center of Mass = what must stay over your supporting leg to maintain stability.

• Moment of Inertia = how pulling the arms in affects rotation speed.

• Friction = why control in the foot and floor connection matters.

If dancers understood these basics earlier, we could prevent so much frustration in later years of training.

Technique Before Tricks

One of the biggest problems I see? Dancers being asked to perform turns they’ve never trained properly in class.

They are choreographed attitude turns, arabesque turns, even transitions between parallel and turned‑out—but haven’t built the foundation. They don’t even have a clean single pirouette in retiré. So in private lessons, we have to go backwards—way back—and rebuild from scratch. This slows down the private because of the lack of technique and fundamentals.

Let me be clear: Stop giving energy for six turns when you can’t land one cleanly. What impresses me isn’t the number of turns, but the execution of a single pirouette that’s aligned, balanced, and controlled. Dancers often try to generate momentum by over‑prepping their arms, twisting their torso, and spinning without a clear connection to their center. That’s not technique—that’s carelessness. That’s not a pirouette, it’s just a spin, a trick.

Over‑prepping doesn’t make you look advanced—it makes you look out of control. If the upper and lower body aren’t working in harmony, you’ll end up wobbling or falling out of the turn, unable to land cleanly. And no judge or audience will remember how many rotations you did—just how you finished.

I’d rather see one solid turn you can repeat a hundred times than six that barely get off the ground.

Clarity. Control. Consistency. That’s what should be built in technique classes, and that’s what we build in my classes.

This shouldn’t be left to solo rehearsal time. These mechanics need to be taught early and reinforced in class, so dancers aren’t left guessing under pressure.

Final Thoughts

Pirouettes reveal everything—alignment, control, rhythm, focus.

If you’re struggling with consistency, it’s not about turning more. It’s about turning smarter—with the right alignment, an understanding of how your body works, and a rhythm that supports balance.

TIP

So, first work on your alignment, next chaine turns for spotting, then progressions. After that, put it all together and start with a single turn and clean landing. From there, add an extra spot and a deeper plié for two, then three, and so on. Good luck, I hope this helps!!

Want help refining your pirouettes or teaching this in your studio?

I offer private coaching and workshops focused on building better turns from the ground up. Send me a message to start your journey to better technique!