How a ballerina performs thirty-two consecutive turns without stopping
In short: During Swan Lake's third act, the Black Swan performs thirty-two turns called fouettés. To the audience, it looks like supernatural magic, but the secret to this seemingly endless motion is actually a sophisticated transfer of momentum between the dancer's limbs and her body.
The fouetté, which translates to "whipped" in French, is one of the most demanding sequences in classical ballet. During the performance, a dancer must spin around and around on a single pointed foot for approximately thirty seconds. To achieve this, the dancer must overcome the natural forces of friction—both between the pointe shoe and the floor and between the body and the air—which constantly work to reduce rotational momentum.
The mechanism relies on the strategic use of torque and momentum. To start the sequence, the dancer pushes off with her foot to generate initial torque. To maintain the rotation, she uses a rhythmic cycle. Between turns, the dancer pauses for a split second to face the audience. During this moment, the supporting foot flattens and twists as it rises back onto the pointe, pushing against the floor to generate a small amount of new torque. Simultaneously, the dancer's arms sweep open to assist with balance.
The true secret to the continuous motion lies in the movement of the dancer's elevated leg. Although the torso seems to halt, the opposite leg maintains constant motion; it extends from front to side before retracting towards the knee. This movement allows the leg to store a portion of the turn's momentum. As the leg retracts toward the body, that momentum is transferred back to the dancer's torso, propelling her into the next rotation. By carefully managing this exchange of momentum and keeping her turning axis vertical, the dancer can complete all thirty-two turns.
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Sources
- Summary by Intellect · source: The physics of the "hardest move" in ballet - Arleen Sugano
- Also: The physics of the “hardest move” in ballet (in TED-Ed GIFs)
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