Everyone wants flat turnout in ballet class. Never mind that the huge majority of us are never going to safely attain it (although most of us can get close to flat and everyone can increase their range of motion to some degree).
Students will do almost anything to stand first position with "perfect" turnout. Somehow they've lost sight of the fact that dance is movement and standing is . . . standing. They often don't realize that forcing yourself into a flat first position does not mean that you will have the strength or flexibility to maintain that range of motion during a performance.
I know a few teachers who focus intensely on hip flexibility in the Pre-Ballet levels. Their logic is that the body is more malleable at that age and they can have the biggest impact on turnout if they start very young. These teachers also usually have one or two extremely gorgeous advanced dancers who have to stop dancing before they reach their goals because of lower back or hip injuries. I think a connection between the Pre-Ballet approach and the Advanced outcome is fairly easy to see but they disagree with me.
I focus on core strength first. Yes, I do work with students on hip range of motion and strength and I do eventually challenge students to get as close to a flat fifth as their physiology will allow. But that happens in the Intermediate Division. I focus on core strength for years first.
When dancers have the core strength to hold their body in proper alignment, it makes accessing their full hip range of motion so much easier! If the pelvis is tilted, either anteriorly or posteriorly, turnout is limited. If students are clenching their glutes instead of engaging their rotators, turnout is limited.
Working on core alignment and strength is not glamorous. It doesn't have the same visual payoff that a photo in a flat first position has. But it's important. You can help your students trust that the "boring" stuff is going to pay off by explaining why you are focusing on this and also encouraging turnout as a movement---like beautifully presenting the inner ankle bone during tendu. Training and strengthening appropriate turnout (which is individual to each dancer) is actually a part of core strength.
And for those hyper-mobile kiddos who were born with flat turnout? I still focus on core control because they need that conditioning most of all, but I also don't require them to lessen their turnout. When I treat every dancer as an individual and help them find their current best turnout it becomes less of an "I need to keep up with Acacia" situation and more of an "I am getting better at this!" process. We all have the same goal: to be the best dancer we can be today. And the beauty of ballet is that the goal looks different on everyone.
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