Find your turnout muscles, which are the deep external rotators located under the gluteus muscles. Lie on your stomach with your legs straight. Lift both legs off the floor and flex your feet. Rotate your legs out so you are in first position. Hold this position for three seconds. While still in turnout, point your toes, and then lower your legs to the floor.
Attach a resistance band to a stable piece of furniture and put the other end around your ankle. Get on your hands and knees and release your working leg, which is the leg with the band. Pull your working leg in so it is parallel to your supporting leg. With control, move the working leg back out again. During the exercise, make sure your hips are square and still.
Practice using your turnout muscles as you would while dancing. Stand against a wall in a wide second position. Keep your back in a neutral position and slide down the wall. Put your hands behind your knees and push your knees into your palms. Make sure you keep your back straight. Hold the position for three seconds, then stand while maintaining your turnout.
Perform the clam exercise, which targets the muscles you need to turnout. Lie on your side with your legs bent at a 90 degree angle. Make sure your hips and shoulders are square. Keeping your feet together, slowly rotate your upper leg in the hip socket so the knee lifts, then return the knee to the starting position. Make sure you are stabilized by tightening your abdominal muscles. Don't try to over-rotate -- this is a small movement.
Strengthen your gluteus muscles. Get on your hands and knees and tighten your abdominal muscles. Lift one leg and keep your knee bent. Push your heel to the ceiling, then lower the leg to the floor. Again, this is a small movement. You can also do this movement lying on the floor.
Perform exercises that target your abductor and gluteus muscles. The abductor muscles are the outside thigh and gluteus muscles. Lie on your side, making sure your hips and shoulders are square. Bend your bottom leg beneath you, and keep your top leg straight. Lift the top leg and return it to the original position for a set. Next, turn your leg in and repeat the leg lifts for a set. For your third set, move the working leg slightly behind you and turn it out.
Tone your inner thighs, which also help with turnout. Lie on your side with your legs slightly in front of you. Cross your top leg over the bottom leg and place your foot on the floor. Stretch your bottom leg, lift it and return it to the floor.
Stretch your inner thighs. Sit on the floor in a wide second position. Rotate your legs outward. Bend to the side, then to the front toward the floor. Keep your legs rotated throughout.
Lie on the floor with your buttocks against a wall. Extend your legs to the ceiling, then turnout to first position. Open your right leg as far as you can without lifting the other hip off the ground. Then, keeping your right leg in place, open the left leg as far as possible. Hold the stretch.
Stretch your gluteus muscles. Lie on your back and cross your right foot over your left knee. Wrap your hands around your left thigh (your right hand will go through the space between your right thigh and shin). Pull your left thigh to your stomach and hold. Repeat with the other leg.
Stand with a neutral spine. To find neutral spine, stand sideways to a mirror, tuck your pelvis forward then tilt it back. Neutral spine is the position in the middle. There will be a small arch in your lower back, and your upper back will be lengthened.
Determine when you lose turnout. Have a friend watch you or videotape yourself to learn when you start turning in. Focus on those areas in class and practice slowly on your own to keep turnout when in those positions or movements.
Turnout while you are jumping. Watch yourself when jumping in first and second position and coupe. Make sure you are rotating your legs and that they are aligned with your pelvis.