Having sat through 27 start-of-the-season faculty meetings, I can tell you one thing for sure: turnout is hard to maintain and easy to lose. Exhibit A: piqué turns.
Myself? I don't think there's a magic trick that will automatically get every student to maintain turnout in piqué turns. It's just attention to detail and practice. Piqué is an en dedans turn, too, which doesn't make is easier.
But I have worked with and/or for people who have very strong opinions the other way. Unfortunately (or amusingly), they divide into 2 camps instead of one unified, cranky, group: Team You Must Do These Turns Traveling Straight Forward and Team You Must Have a Demi-Rond de Jambe in These Turns.
This division is why I bring snacks to faculty meetings. The fight is way more fun to watch unfold when you have popcorn.
Let's look at Team You Must Do These Turns Traveling Straight Forward. I have a mild preference for this approach because it lends itself well to turning en manège. Since you're covering a circle pathway on the stage, it really helps if you can look where you're going and point your toes, hips, and shoulders directly there. This is also a good approach when students struggle to place their retiré leg down the back of the standing leg to coupé into the next turn. Plus, eliminating the demi-rond de jambe is one less thing to worry about and leaves more attention to details like maintaining turnout.
But then there's Team You Must Have a Demi-Rond de Jambe in These Turns. To their credit, it's a demi-rond de jambe en dehors which could be an opportunity to reset/regain any lost turnout. The rond de jambe can also be a clue to beginning dancers about which direction they will be turning. And most jazz teachers teach piqué turns this way. I'm not sure why, but if you know, please leave a comment. I'd love to learn!
Normally in these "clarity in ballet technique" posts I talk about how important it is to have consistency throughout your studio, including across dance styles. And I definitely think piqué turns should be taught the same way to Elementary Division dancers in all of their classes. This means that, because I love teaching ballet at competition studios, I usually teach my slightly-less-preferred method.
But I also introduce the straight forward approach when dancers reach the second half of the Intermediate Division. I want them to be versatile and able to do whatever is asked at a ballet summer intensive or college admissions audition. This is also when we start doing longer and more complex manèges, so the benefit of this approach is stronger. And I also find that some dancers prefer this method; the technique in their turns improves with this slight change in approach. The great news about that is (and maybe don't share this with those cranky people) after the first piqué turn, practically no one can tell which approach high-intermediate and advanced dancers are using.
Either approach leads to great technique---including turnout---as long as the dancers put in the attention to detail and practice.
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