The physics of the "hardest move" in ballet - Arleen Sugano
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- čas přidán 21. 03. 2016
- View full lesson: ed.ted.com/lessons/the-physics...
In the third act of "Swan Lake", the Black Swan pulls off a seemingly endless series of turns, bobbing up and down on one pointed foot and spinning around and around and around ... thirty-two times. How is this move - which is called a fouetté - even possible? Arleen Sugano unravels the physics of this famous ballet move.
Lesson by Arlene Sugano, animation by Dancing Line Productions.
You've forgot another critical factor "spotting". When the ballerina leaves her head and quickly whips back to the same position, it also helps with the momentum.
ikr? its one of the most important things! why you no mention dat.. why?
And it keeps them from getting to dizzy!
But it does though, it helps with your balance and momentum. Pretty sure those too are part of physics.
Amy Chen and also helps so you won't get really dizzy
I'm a dancer and it does help because when you whip the head back to its original spot, it forces the completion of the movement by helping you finish the turn.
Number 2 would never happen. The moment you drop your elbows or knee is the moment your teacher smacks you with a cane.
Thet Moe Khine or she smack and or throws a remote at you
Thet Moe Khine She smacks me with her bare hands and sometimes the air conditioning remote.
Thet Moe Khine 😂😂😂 or your prop
Exactly what I thought 😂 I would be counting down to the moment that remote smacks into my elbow hahahaha
Haha so true
Ballet is a serious business
Randomgreninja YT Dang, that's must be terrible...
Randomgreninja YT Ouch that must have hurt how long we're u out of ballet for
*were not we're
I am so bad at (I'm probably spelling this wrong) fuetes while doing pointe
Evie the human *fouettes
He didn't mention spotting and spotting is a huge part of doing any type of turn
Hi Alexis!
Alexis Taylor no spotting is for the dancer...so that they don't get dizzayyyy
It's because spotting has nothing to do with the physics of the turn itself. It's a technique to keep focus, and it looks good.
Well, yeah, but still. It's a great explanation
jlushefski but if you don’t use spotting you will fall
Why is everyone crying because they can only do 4? I can only do 0 and that's fine with me
Remus Lupin I can only do 1
wolf star 😍😍😍😍
Vicki Vu Wolfstar is my otp 😍
hahahahahahahah ikr hahaha one is enough :v
you don't care because maybe ballet is not so important for you. But it's important for me
Everything is always made more interesting when an analysis of physics is added.
+Physics Videos by Eugene Khutoryansky I always find that it ruins the magic.
Also i'm absolute garbage at math and physics scares me because of that. Which is why I prefer chemistry (even though they are very heavily intertwined).
True
I love how you always comment on science videos. and I agree entirely, it adds a sense of beauty that appeals to your intellect.
***** Which is why I prefer chemistry.
Even if it entirely based off of math. It's more of a conceptual thing, at least to me.
the dancer model didn't spot- unacceptable
Forewarning: I am a professional ballet dancer who teaches calculus. Neither of the options discussed as means of maintaining momentum are things that dancers do while doing these turns because they are not considered technically correct.
1. It is not considered a valid option to leave your leg out for longer to increase momentum.
2. It is also not an option to lower the leg to a position by the ankle to get more turns. The dancer must maintain a "passé" position with the foot at the knee. With the foot at the knee, pulling arms in to the chest does very little in increasing momentum.
The two things that are actually done by dancers to get multiple pirouettes out of a string of fouettes are the following:
1. The gesturing leg and the opposing arm (*her* left in the video above) are coordinated so that they close very quickly at the same time, a rapid transition from an extended position to a streamlined one, increasing angular momentum. The harder that left arm pulls in, the more possible it is to do multiple pirouettes, but it must be done in tandem with the right leg.
2. This is combined with a lifting, rather than a dropping of the passé position (when the gesturing leg is at the knee in the turning position). By pulling the passe higher, the length of the body that deviates from a strictly vertical position has decreased, increasing the speed of the turn.
I'm not sure where TED got either of the ideas for this video. If you watch any reputable dancer's performance, neither of the physical concepts presented in this video are used. TED - please employ the expertise of professional dancers next time. Thank you!
More than one way to do fouettes... Depends on the choreographer!
+Michelle Brochmann There are *very* rare instances where a choreographer changes how these are done. In this case, the standard 16 or 32 in a coda for Swan Lake, Don Q, Nutcracker, etc. we are not changing our passé; to a coupé; and we are not allowed to discernibly leave our leg out for longer because we cannot open it early (it will look over crossed to the front) or bring it in late, in which case it is now splaying the hips and too far to the side. This is a video about the basics of how this step is performed, and it cites two techniques to add multiple pirouettes, neither of which are used...
I was waiting for somebody to point this out😂
+Kate Penner Yea I agree. The 'rules' are very 'strict'.
+Kate Penner yeah, talking about those options seems motivated by a discussion of physics and what might be possible. It's nice that you describe what is actually used in practice, although a bit difficult to understand not having done it.
Fouetté secrets revealed =)))
now we can all turn flawlessly
-no not in real life, in our imagination 😄
+mydancetv yaay I know you!
this is really helpful for me. I have never been to ballet lessons. I just learned the moves off CZcams ballet videos. your ballet is amaxing
ballet madXxxxc can you give me the links, please ?
mydancetv subscriber here!
I guess you could say she's- on pointe
i am using that on my sister who does ballet😂
Its En Pointe.
it's a joke.
CreativeChrono0 oml that pun though 😂😂😂
P.s. only dancers get it😉
Mo Ballet Vlogs I mean that's really not a hard pun is it. It's changed one letter.
as a dancer, this video is almost funny as I've never evaluated my turns like this
Mikayla Sinnott SAME
I know right
It's calling fouetté because you're whipping with your leg, not just because you're spinning ^^
Cheers! 진아 이야.♥ I was thinking that too! He kept calling them all fouettés when some were just regular pirouettes.
Cheers! 진아 이야.♥ Yeah I was thinking that! also I like your profile picture :D
Thank you. You beat me to it. ;)
Cheers! 진아 이야.♥ *turns ;) spinning would be figure skating
Cheers! 진아 이야.♥ you really shouldn’t be “whipping” the leg. If you do it too fast, your leg will go past second position and knock you off balance. I might be interpreting this wrong so please, no one attack me lol.
this fucking channel, I swear
all the random things you either don't care about or are plain ignorant about, presented in such beautiful, fascinating way
I fucking love TED-Ed
+zdulcun Same m8
Its gr8 m8 I'd r8 it 8/8 m8!
+zdulcun You certainly have a limited vocabulary.
zdulcun was about to fight ya but then I finished reading
the real magic is them not getting dizzy.
+LadyAlizabith There is also a trick for that one - more easily said than done though! It's called spotting. Basically you always aim to look at the same spot in front of you and whip your head as soon as possible in order to keep that spot in sight. It's when you lose sight of that spot that you lose your balance.
Zavedi234 yeah ive heard of that, but it's never worked for me... :/
You really get better at it by practicing:))
+Zavedi234 Spot Turns is what my dance teacher tells us.
only practicing haha
And how does she prevent herself from getting dizzy and disoriented? By spotting: keeping her eyes focused on one single area of the audience as she turns, and then whipping her head around at the last possible moment to a forward position again - unlike what you see in this video. The body may turn at a fairly steady rate, but the head is rotating in a punctuated way, at twice the speed or more, but pausing in between each rotation. UPDATE: Please everyone stop commenting that this is called "spotting," I know, I was just trying to avoid getting technical with ballet jargon.
all that sounds very much dangerous if something goes wrong. Can you get hurt badly doing it?
aka spotting! :)
Yeah, I didn't want to get too technical here with the ballet lingo... :D
Spotting
"Yeah, I didn't want to get too technical here with the ballet lingo... :D" I was music director of a ballet company at age 23, erhem. :)
Spotting is also one of the main reasons how you keep balance while turning
Dance Moms Supreme it helps you turn too
no one never remembers to comment about spotting!!!
@@fausseteen7969 also to find the right axis
Dance Moms Supreme I
As a ballerina the fact that she is not spotting is hurting me. He didn't even mention that once and without spotting this wouldn't work one bit...
This video showed a fantastic explanation of a Foutté, but I believed you missed one important part. To not get dizzy, us dancers, do this thing called, 'Spotting'. You focus at one spot while you're turning, and once you are back to the audience you quickly whip your head going back to that spot. This makes it easier to turn as well as limiting the dizziness so we can easily continue our dance.
+Vika Gresova was looking for commments on the missing point on spotting!
Thank you!! This is one of the most important factors to keep the balance while turning and they didn't even mention it... Glad you said it:)
+Vika Gresova they mention spotting at 1:05 I believe it wasn't emphasized because, dizziness aside, the movement of the legs is what matters to physics
That wasn't describing spotting, it just described that when the dancer is faced to the audience, she rises on her toes, etc.
+Vika Gresova I think that's more the physiology of fouetté...?
Watching this video made my feet hurt a little.
Look up "ballerina feet"... They sure do go through a lot of pain to dance the way they need to. Truly dedicated people
As a ballerina, I will say my feet hate me lol
+Shortninja66 True. This is one function that the human body most definitely did not evolve to perform properly without damage.
+Lozen Robinson lol me, too!
same.....but that could also be from dancing on pointe for hours today and they are sore.....just a thought
they didn't include plié , it's very important smh
The fondue is more for have energy to start and after, you have to keep it. (plié is not really wong, because you have to do a plié in every case, on one or two foot)
@Emily yes but it's not totally wrong. Plié mean not straight so... But of course, you are right, the word is fondue
This is such a wonderful explanation of the fouetté - thank you Ted-Ed!
woah how did you get 694 likes yet no replies
so like everything in this video is wrong from a technical standard. no clue where they got any of this info. all of it is wrong.
He forgot about whipping their head around aswel
Spotting.
That mostly makes sure the dancer doesn't get dizzy, that's what my dance teachers told me.
Bethan Jenkins Not at all correct. If you don't spot you can fall all over the place. Doing a triple en pointe, I wasn't spotting correctly, and I fell and almost broke my tail bone. It is not just to keep from getting dizzy. Of all my years of ballet, I have never once thought spotting is to keep a danger from getting dizzy.
That is not entirely true. The spotting is done to produce speed and to keep the dancer very sharp.
Lize Behrens m
Physics and the skill of the dancer. You forgot that part.
+Daph Duck ..."physics and the skill of the dancer" plus endless hours of practice.
+Rachel Xavier the skill obviously comes from practice
Completely agree
I so agree it takes a lot of skill to stay up on pointe while doing fouettés and not falling
Combining 3 of my favorite things: Ballet, Physics and Animation.
I love it!
+Duck moo
+Duck
Woof! Woof!
What a RUFF day...
Duck Norris
Get ducked on
I ate duck once looool
One point is, the narration specifies that the 'working' or 'gesture' leg (the one not supporting the dancer) unfolds every time to the front and then whips out to the side, before returning to the passé retiré position in which the actual turning takes place. That is true of a French fouetté, but in a Russian one, the leg unfolds straight to the side and back in. This is useful when the tempo is particularly fast, and creates a more flashy, less lyrical effect. In recent years, this Russian fouetté style is far less often used, but it can be quite effective, and it's nice to have the different dynamics of the two different types of fouettés.
thank you for this comment, as a ballet dancer, i didn't' even know this
AvalonMorley yes. If you do the French style, to the russian technique, it’s not fouettés, they’re gonna be simply a sequence of pirouettes temps releve (opening front and bringing to the side). Also is good to remind the the actual fouetté for the russian technique is more about closing the leg on passe back and bringing it front (fouetté) rather than turning.
The pronunciation of fouetté 😂👌🏻 No but seriously loved this video. Gonna keep this in mind next time I go to class
I thought this was very interesting and well explained. People need to calm down: it's not supposed to be a ballet lesson, it just explains physical dynamics. Also his pronunciation of fouetté was very good, and I'm French, so stop being stuck up about it.
Ganychan I know right. I was about to say the same thing.
Ganychan I agree :) And sorry to be annoying but is your profile pic Hoseok?? 0.o I always feel like I'm the only existing human who likes ballet and BTS xD
YOU'RE NOT ANNOYING YES IT'S HIM AAAHHHHHH
I love dance in general, whether it's crazy Hoseok or ballet :)
Ganychan haha that's amazing!!! his dancing is perfect! * - * I love to watch him dance :) (although my bias is Jungkook ♥)
Kookie IS the golden maknae, but I love my golden horse
Any ballerinas here? You are awesome!
zoji rushi hey
dont forget the ballerinos too
Ouzé A ballerino isn't actually a thing. And a ballerina is only principle (prima, the best dancers).
well, the technical term would be just "ballet dancers" because only the principal role in a show is a "ballerina"
Btw, forgot to mention, I am a ballet dancer XD
This video is great, although it leaves out two of ballet's most important turning fundamentals: the fondu and spotting. Both create stored momentum by "resisting" the existing momentum of the previous turn. Your graphic shows the dancer lowering the heel of her foot without bending the knee between each turn. This is incorrect - there must be a fondu (single-leg, bent knee) in a externally rotated position between each turn. The fondu "resists" the circular rotation of the fully extended leg. The dancer waits until the extended leg is in second position (directly to the side) to push into the floor with the standing foot to rise to pointe and turn. And in spotting, a dancer leaves the head in a forward-facing position while the body is rotating. At the last possible moment, the dancer whips the head around to the same forward-facing position to create an unwinding spiraling down the spine, releasing the momentum.
Not only the physics, but also the insane stresses on the human skeleton & tendons...
Basically this is teaching us how to do fouetté turns but without telling us to spot
turning on pointe means there's less friction as opposed to turning on flat. the issue isn't necessarily the ability to turn, but her ability to balance. also, I was surprised that there was no mention of spotting in this video. it's one of the most important aspects of a turn.
And she probably has satin toes on her pointe shoes instead of suede.
The one true origin of "Watch me WHIP. Watch me nae nae."
Same.
Preach lol
Lily Fiel .
Arushi Gupta yes
watch me whip, watch me chaine ;)
When spotting. Is. EVERYTHINGGGGGGG
I'm a dancer and I never thought about it this way. It was always just automatic for me.
That really gives me a greater appreciation of the beautiful ballet moves. Please do more videos like this that look at the physics behind spectacular human dance/sports moves!
jeeze, ballet should be an olímpico sport!!
dresden agree!
dresden yes I do ballet and I hate it when people say that's cute coz what they don't know is that it's actually as hard, or even harder than a sport!
Elenovska Beli Ballet is a sport, and that's what people don't get :/
dresden Ballet is an art and there are not real ballet competitions.
Roxana then why is it so wide spread, with royal theaters and a living being made off of it
I would like to do two saults de basque and go straight to fouettés including triples and more and finish it with another sault de basque and relevé to arabesque.
Ikr!! This animated ballerina is out of this world xD
Bravo Louise!
this guy's pronunciation of Fouetté makes me cringe.
Lol. Same
fooetay lol
That was the first thing I noticed and I haven't taken a legit ballet class for two years now :(
me to
What is the correct pronunciation then?
this video lowkey helped me think of the mechanics of my turns
You also forgot to spot witch helps them not get dizzy. Lol dancer tils
Tips*
*which 😊
Omg, sorry, I couldn't help it. 😄
Spectra329 i mean,,all dancers learn that at the age of like 5 lmao..
Lol yesss
When people think ballet is easy me: you try doing turns on a limited surface while thinking about staying balanced and not killing your legs
I remember other kids in my ballet class practicing this. Once during a break we all counted as one of us tried to do all 32 (which she did succeed at); once you get the motion down, it's not very hard to maintain the motion, but learning how to keep your balance near perfect is really difficult,
Also spotting and pliés. (Bending of the knee) or else this would be painful and impossible.
The animations are GORGEOUS!!!
😐😐😐 although this is a good explanation, not one time did this episode named 'spotting' (the movement of the head, where you keep your head looking forward until you cant anymore and quickly turn it around to front again). This is the first step you learn doing any kind of pirouettes in dance. Also... Comparison between iceskating and pirouettes in dance is strange. As for iceskating there are totally different laws of physics involved and thus totally different movements to keep the spinning in tact.
Interesting that you mention ice skating. I was a competitive figure skater and we don't spot. I used too drive my ballet teachers nuts because I didn't want to spot for pirouettes either since since I was used to keeping my head straight for spins and jumps.
+Karin Gumbinner exactly! Figure skating spin way too fast to be able to spot the head. Btw, chappeau for figure skating... I alsways get goosebumps seeing you spin
Do you get very dizzy spinning in figure skating?
sofija Fokeeva I was about to mention that!
sofija Fokeeva Also he forgot how the arm helps to turn as well.
He forgot about spotting
I suppose that doesn't really come under the physics of how to do fouettes.
I guess you're right. spotting is kinda just used for balance or to center yourself.
no spotting is actually a huge part of fouettes, if you can't spot than you can do a good single
the animation is so amazing in this video! it's simple, yet the movements are so alive
Don't forget when Sophia Lucia was only 10 years old, she broke the world record for the most pirouettes by doing 54.
However, Sophia did not do the pirouettes en pointe and she does them wearing a tap shoe (the metal on the bottom makes the turns significantly easier than regular turn shoes or pointe shoes).
dapperboots I do tap and ballet. I can do 9 pirouettes in ballet and 12 in tap, I does make it a lot easier.
she's en pointe now, and posted a vid on instagram recently where she did about 9 en pointe! :) still super far from her record, but she's such a prodigy
im 12, once I did 60!! !!
Hands up if your understanding of Conservation of Angular Momentum came from an office swivel chair? =P
I was a dedicated ballerina from age 3-12, when my slim but healthy body became too large for *en pointe.* While in Julie Van's Ballet Academy, this move was known as the *"ankle killer."* Almost all ballerinas have a dominant leg that must be used when repeating this particular move. Performing more than a dozen *fouettes* is very challenging and painful. *If you're a ballerina who can pull this off and likes it, you're absolutely amazing!.. and possibly super-human.*
How can someone not like this? Beautiful presentation. The kids are going to love it too! Thank you!
I'm glad they talked about the Fouettes. The ballerina drawing is so cute!
please do more of these ,, do on backflip or back hand spring
Ballerinas are damn awesome
Mr. Meeseeks awwww thanks
Thank you!
The drawing style is adorable
I dong think people truly understand how much precise skill ballet requires...everything they do is honestly a miracle!
I'm a dancer and we do this all the time!!
"it's physics" also, like, ten years of practice
i have no effin clue how someone could animate this THAT good, congrats
Physics and a LOT of hard work on the ballerina's part is what makes it possible!
*watching this while whearing point shoes*
Ellie Tolley me, but im still on flat i have one or two more years. it depends on the studio, most of our girls start at 14 or 15
Ellie Tolley *pointe
Thanks this helped me improve my fouettés
The animation and lesson are gorgeous!
2 of my favorite things: physics and ballet. This video entertained me greatly.
that dancer would be very dizzy cause she's not spotting
It's actually very rare to see exactly 32 fouettes pulled off, often mutiple pirouettes in passe are done instead (which, of course, is no less impressive!)
Don't forget, however, that for every extra pirouette there is a releve onto pointe that is skipped- that requires tremendous strength and stamina to do 32 releves also. Look up Nina Ananiashvili for true 32 fouettes.
I would so love it if TED-Ed did this kind of thing for Opera and Theatre too.
This video was beautifully animated and effectively animated. Good Job, Ted-Ed.
he forgot to mention spotting smh
Albert einstein should teach ballet
+Denzel Sugayan
Albert Einstein is quoted as to having said "dancers are the acrobats of God"
ooops My bad, Thanks to VYVATUKAS TIUKAS : ) for pointing out
Albert Einstein is quoted as to having said "dancers are the athletes of God"
One problem, he’s dead.
PHYSICS AND BALLET MY TWO FAVORITE THING COMING TOGETHER I'M SO HAPPY
Incredible animation for this one!
It really bothered me how the cartoon dancer wasn't over her block😂
ikr, she didn't even spot-cringe to the fullest
ikr, she didn't even spot-cringe to the fullest
ikr, she didn't even spot-cringe to the fullest
+SheSez The 1 And Only and half the time her foot is completely flexed in retiré😂😝
+2yllusthe1st and over crossed, plus her arms aren't in .... well. .. any position
And this, children, is one of the reasons why we have leap seconds.
Favorite episode by far!
This video is absolutely awesome.
This may be the first time I've been interested in ballet
I cringe at the way he says fouetté
why tho
Ellen Charlie fouetté is pronounced 'fweh-tey' not 'foo-eh-tey'
I'm French and it didn't shock me. He just separated the syllables a little, which helps with his pronunciation.
I was born and raised in france as well haha, I swear the way he pronounced it isn't wrong. completely agree with Ganychan (vive la france mdrr)
Ellen Charlie ouaiiiiis !
I saw this ballet for the first time recently and to me the most awe-inspiring move was when one dancer bent over backwards nearly horizontal at the waist while en pointe. I was so sure she would fall but she pulled it off seemingly effortlessly. it was incredible
Living for the ballet dancers in the comments correcting this TED talk
My ballet teacher: " Guys, it is not magic! It's physics!"
But the problem isn't momentum or force its balance...
Please keep doing videos about dance! I, myself, am a dancer and really love these videos! They are very informative and make me seem like the smartest dancer around!
That is so awesome! Thanks for posting!
Ballet seems so challenging, it looks just as challenging as football, basketball or any other popular sports out there
A little harder, imho.
he missed the most important part of fouettes on tournant... the perfect spot ❤❤❤
Simply love the visuals. Makes things so much easier to understand. Almost like eye-candy.
I've been waiting for this ever since Black Swan came out. It's my fave movie. And ballet.
"Foo-ette" lmao
"Showing off meh sexay legs to physics" xD
Is it just me or is it satisfying when the ballet dancer spins?
These animations are excellent
Who else looked up an actual fouetté video after this?
me :)
+abdelaziz ennami Search "Swan Lake Act III coda" or "Swan Lake Black Swan coda." Either one will take you right to about a thousand different productions of this exact dance.
they forgot to talk about the head movement
Loved this. As an engineering physiscist, I so appreciated the scientific understanding of the art form I have always loved.
This is a wonderful lesson!
I love learning information. Even if I am never going to use it later.
Unless it's math
or physics
The way he keeps saying fouetté is giving me cancer
omg! lol
oh my God I thought I was the only one
As someone who does ballet, this video really helped me.
i love the animations!