Pivot turns.

I have been having some serious fears in my beginning jazz class. The girls in this class are 7-8 and have never done any jazz before. I never realized how difficult this would be. They are in a combo class, so the class is divided between ballet, tap, and jazz. And I have totally found myself to be the stickler teacher who spends so much time on barre that I barely have time to get through my jazz schedule for the day. Especially because their jazz skills are super brand new to them.

I digress.

I found myself thinking they would never be able to successfully execute a pivot turn. I thought, how am I supposed to teach them jazz pirouettes and leaps if they can't get a pivot turn? What am I doing wrong?

But I kept at it, every single week we did pivot turns. Every week I thought of some new ideas to keep them understanding which way to turn. I started them off with the basic left thumb pointing over their left shoulder on right pivot turns and vice versa. This worked for about half of the class. But week after week, girls were turning the wrong way. More and more got it, but it still wasn't consistent.

Last week I had an "aha" moment. When you pivot turn the wrong way, your legs tangle up in themselves and you look like you have to go to the bathroom. Point this out to the girls in a humorous way and everyone is pivot turning the right way for eternity. Or at least for the rest of the class.