Correct activation and use of the gluteal muscles in a dancer.
Your ‘Gluteal Muscles’ are actually extremely important when you are dancing, and the correct use of them will help you in everything from jumps, to your work en fondu, your arabesque line, your back, and even your flexibility into the splits. It is important to work out the correct way to use these muscles, and to avoid the downside of over-using them such as tight turnout muscles, poor hip mobility, and a ‘too perky’ bum under your tutu!
The first thing you have to understand is the difference between your turnout muscles and your gluteals. In ‘The Perfect Pointe Book’ (A book designed for the education of dancers. Page 54) there are great pictures to demonstrate the difference. The turnout muscles are a group of 6 deep muscles that connect from the bumpy bone on the outside of your hip (greater trochanter) towards your tail bone (sacrum) and other parts of your pelvis. They turn the top bone (femur) of your leg out, and there are six of them so that they can work to turn the hip out, no matter what range the leg is in (helps in a Grande rond de jambe).
Your...