Pirouettes

When standing, the most common place for your center of gravity to lies is in your lower abdomen. While holding your preparation, your center of gravity shifts slightly towards your lower back. Then, as you snap up into releve and raise your arms, your center of gravity shifts to in front of your body. The axis you are trying to spin around is right in the center of the circle you've created with your arms. Another very important element while performing pirouettes is torque. The amount of force required for pirouettes vary depending on factors such as friction and the position the dancer is in when beginning the pirouette. More force is required to turn in fifth position to create the same torque that would be created in fourth position. Torque can be measured by the equation T=Ia, with 'T' being the amount of "Torque", 'I' being the distance between the dancers two feet, and 'a' representing "angular acceleration". When performing pirouettes you must stay as vertical as possible. If you lean forwards or back, while turning. Then, you are throwing off your center of gravity and you are no longer spinning around the proper axis. This makes your pirouettes slower and can throw you off balance. The property "Conservation of Angular Momentum" states that "An object of constant mass will spin faster when the radius is smaller." This in more simpler terms, states that the smaller circle you make with your arms, while performing pirouettes, the faster and easier your pirouettes will become.