Above photo: Creativity103.com The Winter Olympics are approaching and figure skating will be a main attraction. While watching skating several years ago, I noticed that almost all skaters turned in a counter-clockwise (CCW) direction. This contrasts to ballet in which dancers greatly favor the clockwise (CW) direction in turns and jumps. As a former dancer and avid ballet watcher, I thought that turning CW is natural; it was those strange figure skaters that were off base. However, I looked at other sports in which an athlete twists in one direction and found that gymnasts, aerial skiers, divers, and track and field athletes favor the CCW direction. After having a good time watching a lot of YouTube video, here is a summary:
Figure Skating
Most skaters I saw turned CCW. This observation was confirmed by Don Korte, a U.S. Figure Skating judge and former skater who runs an informative website dedicated to skating: “If you watch many skaters, you’ll notice that most figure skaters (about 90% in fact) jump and spin in a counterclockwise direction. While it’s perfectly legal to jump either way, more skaters feel comfortable with the CCW direction. Interestingly enough, most of the CW jumpers are left-handed.”
Also, two-time Olympian Michael Weiss estimates that 85% of figure skaters turn CCW. (As an aside, ballet dancers “spot” during turns, a practice almost never used by figure skaters. Spotting is a technique used by dancers during turns to achieve a consistent orientation by focusing on a spot and refocusing on the same spot after a turn. The YouTube clip lower in the post of Svetlana Zakarova illustrates the spotting technique.)
Gymnastics
I watched event finals in the 2012 London Olympics and recorded the direction the gymnast twisted. For women, about 70% turned CCW. Among notable gymnasts, all- around gold medalist Gabby Douglas twisted CCW while floor exercise gold medalist Aly Raisman, vault silver medalist McKayla Maroney, and Jordyn Weber twisted CW. In earlier Olympics, Nadia Comaneci, Shawn Johnson, and Mary Lou Retton turned CCW while Nastia Liukin and Carly Patterson twisted CW.
There was not much diversity among the 2012 Olympic event finalists for the men as over 90% turned CCW in the floor exercise, pommel horse, high bar, and vault event finals. From earlier Olympics, Nikolai Andrianov (third highest Olympic medal winner with 15), Peter Kormann (1976 U.S. bronze medalist in floor exercise), Paul Hamm (2004 all-around gold medalist), Bart Conner (1984 Olympic gold medalist) all turned CCW while Kurt Thomas (Thomas flair), Peter Vidmar and Tim Daggett (both 1984 Olympic gold medalists), turned CW.
Diving
On YouTube, I looked at about a dozen male and female platform and springboard divers in the semifinals and finals of the 2012 Olympics. All twisted CCW.
Track and Field
Field events that require turning include discus and hammer throw. The directional preference of a discus thrower depends on the hand used to hold the discus; right-handers will hold the discus in their right hand and spin CCW before releasing the discus. Hammer throwers may spin in either direction, but all that I have viewed on YouTube spin CCW.
All track events are run CCW around an oval track.
Aerial Freestyle Skiing
About 80% of the 2010 Winter Olympics finalists in aerial freestyle skiing twisted CCW.
Ballet
I selected about 50 great ballerinas over the past 50 years at major ballet companies and looked at a major solo that contained a turn sequence (generally fouettés). All female dancers turned CW. I could not find a single female dancer that favored CCW. (UPDATE: I provide an updated list of men and women CCW turners in my interview of The Royal Ballet’s Francesca Hayward and ABT’s Cory Stearns). Here is the Bolshoi’s Svetlana Zakarova performing fouettés from Don Quixote:
I selected a similar list for male dancers at major companies over time and focused on a major turn sequence such as à la seconde turns (see the YouTube clip below at 9:00 as an example); only Fernando Bujones, Angel Corella, Leonid Sarafanov, Daniil Simkin, and Vladimir Vasiliev turned CCW. However, there was more diversity among the men relative to the women. Some dancers, Baryshnikov the primary example, turned CW for pirouettes while performing coupe grande jete menage (split jumps in a circle) in the CCW direction. Also, many CW men perform assemblé en tournant CCW.
It is important to note that ballet dancers must be able to turn in both directions. This is in contrast to gymnastics where a gymnast that turns in one direction never turns in the other direction. In ballet class, dancers execute combinations on both sides in an effort to avoid being one-sided. After the teacher demonstrates a combination (usually with a CW orientation), students perform it several times. Then the combination is reversed to the other side and all steps are reversed to CCW. Some ballet pieces require the dancers to do basic turn sequences in both directions (double/triple pirouettes and double tours for men, for example). However, dancers that have difficult turn combinations favor CW (fouettés for women and turns la seconde for men) and I doubt that they could perform these complex steps as well in the opposite direction.
Tap Dancers
• Fred Astaire had a CW orientation in his tap dances. Several websites say that he was left-handed (although he hit golf balls right-handed in a tap solo from Carefree from 1938).
• Gene Kelly had a CCW orientation. In his solo in Anchors Aweigh (1944), he performed pirouettes à la seconde CCW.
• Gregory Hines turned CCW in his tap dance solo in White Nights.
• Michael Jackson turned CCW in his moon walk spins.
I looked at other tap dancers. Because some seemed to prefer CW, I can’t draw any conclusions on tap dancers.
The difference in turning preference between ballet dancers and athletes in the above list is stark: dancers overwhelmingly prefer turning CW while athletes choose CCW. Why do dancers prefer CW while athletes choose CCW? Also, in ballet, why are there no women that predominately turn CCW on stage? I asked several former dancers who thought my question is strange because the answer is obvious: “Dancers turn CW because it is natural.” Information on the web suggests that the CCW figure skating world has the same view but opposite direction; in a right-handed dominated world, it is natural that skaters favor the CCW direction.
My colleague Doug Lucas, a former dancer at San Diego Ballet, suggests that ballet dancers’ preference for CW may relate to leg dominance. Right-footed people use their left leg for support and kick with their right. On CW en dehors pirouettes, the dancer’s left leg is the support leg with the right leg in passé (right foot touching the knee) with the left leg largely responsible for balance.
I looked at scholarly articles in the Lateral Dominance literature for guidance. Lateral dominance is the tendency to preferentially use the organs such as hand, foot, ear, and eye of the same side in motor acts and the area is studied by biologists, neuroscientists, sports scientists, and psychologists. I found a 2011 study by Velotta et al. from Purdue University that looked at leg dominance and balance for college-age students. They found that for manipulative tasks such as kicking a ball, most subjects had a right foot preference. In contrast, more than 50% of the subjects preferred the left leg when the task involved stabilization such as standing on one leg (what they refer to as stabilization and postural control).
However, dancers that turn CW en dehors (turning on the left leg) generally turn on their right leg CW on en dedans and pique turns.This YouTube clip provides an example:
Vladimir Vasiliev of the Bolshoi Ballet performs en dehors pirouettes CCW on his right leg at 6:20 followed by eight impressive turns en dedans the same CCW direction on his left leg.
Reasons why dancers turn CW while athletes favor CCW? Leg dominance may play a role in explaining dancers’ CW tendencies. However, the results from the Velotta et al. study are not overwhelming as greater than 50% prefer balancing on their left leg. It also does not explain why dancers prefer turning CW on their right leg on en dedans and pique turns. A more important factor explaining CW turning may simply be convention; most dancers turn CW, so the tendency is to go with the crowd.
I could not find any women that turn CCW in major turn sequences in my sample of 50 dancers. Partnering relationships may explain this as men support women on turns during a pas de deux. Having all women turn CW requires less adjustment for the men. There may also be a perception that audience members appreciate the consistency of a CW orientation during the pas de deux.
As a left-handed dancer, I thought I was going against the flow by preferring the same CW direction that right-handers favor. After thinking about the issue, it is odd that presumably overwhelmingly right-handed ballet dancers generally turn CW. Left-handers like me generally have a CW orientation. For example, I draw circles CW unlike right-handers, run on an oval track CW, and as a gymnast many years ago, preferred CW.
My conclusion: I really don’t understand why dancers turn CW.
These are my thoughts on directional preference in ballet from the perspective of a ballet fan, former gymnast and dancer with no background in academic fields that focus on Lateral Dominance. I welcome any thoughts on the subject so feel free to drop me a line in the comment box. UPDATE: Check out my interview with The Royal Ballet’s Francesca Hayward and ABT’s Cory Stearns, two great CCW turners for their prospective on going against the ballet norm.
Motorcyclist also struggle with CCW and CW. Great read! Thank you
Motorcycle races that take place on oval-shaped tracks (speedway, flat-track) are always run in a counter-clockwise direction, turning left. It seems natural and comfortable. I rode speedway when I was young, and for some reason I can’t explain, turning right would have been extremely awkward.
Shogs, thanks for your comment. Why do motorcyclists struggle with CCW and CW? I am not very familiar with motorcycles.
As a figure skater of 20+ years taking ballet for the first time last year, I wondered this too about why most dancers turned CW (I’m left handed and originally did skating spins CW but always performed jumps CCW; when I was young, a coach caught me doing this and forced me to switch my spinning orientation so I was spinning the same direction I was jump — mainly, CCW). I’m very comfortable spinning CCW on double jumps and skating spins and found is really awkward to do anything clockwise in ballet (I do like the emphasis on learning everything both directions though; skating doesn’t do this, so my right leg is very clearly stronger than my left).
Thanks for the interesting read. I wish there was an outright reason that explained the preference differences, but at least I’m not missing anything major.
(Just as an informative FYI as well, whenever I’m teaching skating, I don’t personally favor CCW. I just ask skaters to turn in the direction they’re most comfortable. They almost always opt for CCW. I think this is a common technique among coaches in determining the natural spinning preference in skaters.)
Hi, I don’t know how old this thread is. My daughter just turned 7. She has been skating since she was 5. Since she was 2 she always did CCW turns, recently her coach said she was doing stronger jumps cw so she wants her to switch to that. My daughter is strong at both sides but I think her natural preference is ccw. She also dances classical ballet so I am wondering if her training in that has something to do with it and she is ambidextrous to begin with. Another coach told me she thinks she should go ccw, that coach is Russian and I heard they prefer ccw. I like and respect both coaches. Do you have any advice for me or any ideas or recommendations or what I can do to see which way she should be spinning on the ice?
I don’t know much about ice skating. What does your daughter want to do on turning and what direction is she most comfortable?
Thanks Andrew for your thoughtful response. Another question about figure skating: why don’t figure skaters “spot” their turns like ballet dancers? I did, however, see one male figure skater in the Olympics “spotting” his turns and the announcers mentioned that he was unusual. Kent
Hi Kent,
Once in awhile I see skaters spot their jumps. It’s not taught though, and in fact, when I told my coach I was going to start taking ballet, she immediately responded with “I’d better not see you start trying to spot in jumps or spins.”
My hunch is that the rotation involved in both spinning and jumping in skating is much quicker than most of what you see in ballet. A combination spin in skating could easily have 30+ revolutions in it, with a variety of changes of positions and feet. Double and triple jumps as well are rotated really quickly, with a focus (if you’re a ccw rotator) of keeping your head turned toward your right side to help facilitate rotation (the moment the head starts moving toward your left is the moment the jump tends to get totally out of control, which often results in a flip-out at the end due to over rotation, or just a straight-up fall). I think skating purists often see jump spotting as aesthetically unpleasing to look at too, as it compromises the fluidity of rotations, particularly on triple jumps.
I started taking ballet thinking it would complement my skating, but ended up having to stop in part because a lot of the things I learned in ballet directly contradicted skating technique (most notably spotting, but also turn-out, which is only seen in a few flexibility moves in skating; good jumps are actually achieved by turning your hips in at the snap of the jump take-off). I hope to be able to get back to ballet at some point, but it was definitely a surprise to me that so much about the two endeavors were so drastically different when it comes to technique.
Actually the spot in jumps only applies to the takeoff. In some skaters it’s quite noticeable and a good technique to get/ keep your weight over the axis of rotation. Once in the air there is no time to spot.
Good read thanks for doing all that research. This applies to skateboarding and other board sports (also skiing and rollerblading) where spinning is fundamental.
Classical Physics explains much of what has been described above. Consider:
1. CCW rotation provides for an upward angular momentum. This would decrease friction with ice during high rate spins in figure skating. It may also provide that split second additional time in diving. A higher spin rate produces a proportionally higher upward angular momentum. Consequently, the faster you spin the easier it should be to maintain balance.
2. CW rotation provides for a downward angular momentum. This would give dancers a very slightly more secure anchor around their axis of rotation. Since they are not spinning nearly as fast as figure skaters, the additional lift they may get going CCW during their spins may not be outweighed by the slightly additional benefit they get by reinforcing an anchored rotational axis.
Kirk, thanks for your comments. I don’t know much about physics. Why does CCW rotation provide for an upward angular momentum while CW provides for downward? Any sources you could recommend on the subject? Thanks. Kent
Sorry, please delete my 5:34am posting–working on a student issue there. Below is a better response.
Hi Kent,
Most general physics texts describe angular momentum in detail but here is a link to a basic diagram showing direction of angular momentum (L): http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/rstoo.html
The direction of the vector for angular momentum is completely arbitrary based on the right-hand rule. It just needs to be perpendicular to the plane of rotation, and in another world the sign convention could be flipped. There is no net upward or downward force, and even if there were, it would not b enough to matter over other things such as dominant foot etc. Otherwise all cars and bikes would be pushed to the left.
I always assumed the CW preference was because, while dancers have to be able to execute all movement on both sides, much more class time is dedicated to the “first side” at barre, or the “right side” in center work. Teachers often fully demonstrate the first or right side and then just mark through the left. In advanced classes, more complex patterns (ie those involving weight change and turns in all directions- making each combination more balanced in terms of leg/ direction dominance) are introduced but in the beginning and intermediate years not so much. In an given class, many students will end up marking through the first or right side at least once before executing the combination full out, whereas the left side isn’t given as much “prep time.” This theory would also shed some light on the seemingly weird right-leg preference in pique and dedans turns.
I start at ballet when i was 5, and i didn’t want to spin Cw. I always spin CCW. My teacher didn’t like it, but she let me after a while, as the diferente was enourmous. Leave ballet classes and started skating at 8. Learnt all the jumps and the easy spin in the first day i started skating…
For me, it is all about the center of mass. Pure fisics. The leg in the air is the one who gets you alined with the center of the earth – the most powerfull leg is the best to control the air movement on the spin. For the right-handed, the right leg is the strongest, so that leg stays in the air to give you the balance. Consequently you have to spin CCW. Ballet dancers would be much more successuful if they started learning at a early age spining CCW
I am a beginner at ice skating and have noticed that simply switching from forward to backwards is easier or harder depending on the orientation of the rotation. I partly thought it had something to do with the coriolis force associated with the Earth’s spin, but if there are people who spin both directions then maybe this isn’t the case and it’s more of a leg dominance issue. . . . However, part of me is still interested in whether the coriolis force could possibly have any effect.
i think a lot of it has to do with the motion of hips and shoulders, for example it much easier for most people to turn over their undominant shoulder, because that allows you to control more with your dominant side. If you skate you find yourself always unconsciously going to turn in the same direction, even if its just turning from forwards to backwards
I am female, and right handed. But when I had to learn to shoot, the instructors found I was massively left-eye dominant. So they taught me to shoot left-handed so that I could see properly through the rifle sight. Only after this did my mother (who is left-handed) tell me that I was born with a left-handed preference, but Dad trained me to be right-handed by making sure I used cutlery and so on with my right.
So I always thought I was right-handed. But I remember once I was riding a scooter by standing on my right leg and pushing with my left. Dad was watching, told me I was ‘using the wrong leg’.
I started ballet at 4, and continued until I was eighteen. Because I was right-handed, at first I never thought about doing stuff to the left. But in my early teens, I finally figured out that I preferred to turn to the left, I was much more flexible with my left leg, I was stronger standing on my right leg and working with my left leg, and I preferred to balance on my right leg with my left one up.
What helped me figure it out was watching ballet videos which my parents got me, including some with Anthony Dowell, who is another famous left-turner.
There are interesting anecdotes about him being so. One is, Frederick Ashton liked to choreograph for him, but was annoyed that he was a left-turner. Another is that, at his graduation performance with the Royal Ballet School, Dowell was nearly pulled out of the pas-de-six from Swan Lake, because it has double-tours to the right, which he struggled with. There are six people in a pas-de-six, so Dowell couldn’t ask to do the double tours to the left instead. To be pulled out could have been career damaging, but Michael Somes coached Dowell on how to do the tours to the right. Such stories show some of the difficulties for left-dominant dancers.
So I watched Dowell, and saw he really favoured the left, especially for turns. Watch him do Manon, which Kenneth Macmillan choreographed for him. It is all for a left-turning dancer. Right-dominant male dancers reverse a fair bit of it, so that they can do more turns to the right and more with the right leg. Also, google Dowell doing the Prince’s solo from Cinderella, and then google a right-dominant male doing it. It is full of double tours, sauts de basque and pirouettes. Dowell does the whole thing to the opposite side, so that everything is to the left. Also watch him do the Act I solo from Swan Lake.
Dancers do practice everything to both sides. If you practised writing with your left hand as well as your right for years, you would be able to write using both hands. But your writing would still be much better with your right hand.
I practised everything as a dancer with both sides. I was just better with the left than the right. Eg, I could do a good arabesque with my right leg up; but if I did one with my left leg, it was higher, and my balance was more stable. And eg, I could do 32 fouettes to the right; but I could do 64 fouettes to the left.
As a corps de ballet dancer I would have done everything with the right, like the rest of the corps. But as a principle, I would have asked to reverse a lot of stuff, so that I could dance and look my best.
I wonder if you don’t see any left-dominant female dancers simply because they don’t make it, rather than that they don’t exist.
That is, a female dancer generally has to come up through the corps, and doing everything to the right, a left-dominant dancer wouldn’t look as good as all the other right-dominant dancers in the corps, so maybe would never get picked to advance. There’s not so much precise corps work in the classic ballets for men as there is for women.
Also, perhaps, being left-dominant is maybe bad for pas-de-deux work? Males would be trained mostly to partner women who turn to the right and favour the right leg. Partnering could be very different if things are reversed for a left-turning, left-legged woman?
It is common in figure skating for right handed people to turn ccw because that way they’d land on the right foot and use the right arm to rotate, and lefties go cw because they’d land on their left foot and rotate with their left hand, but the cw/ccw thing only really applies to jumps and spins, pretty much all skaters can do turns and footwork on each leg/in both directions. also, a most high level skaters could probably do basic jumps and spins in the direction theyre not used to just because they understand the physics of skating
Assigning a “direction” to angular momentum is completely arbitrary, and doesn’t correspond to any actual force. I.e. spinning CCW does not lift you up, and spinning CW does not push you down.
In athletics, the key point is that it’s your rear leg that generates all the power in the last part of any turning motion. In a static situation like baseball, this means that if your right leg is stronger you’ll lean back on it and then rotate CCW off of it when batting or pitching, and if your left leg is stronger you’ll use the opposite orientation and rotate CW. When there’s an actual turn involved, as in discus or shotput, the most important part of the deliver is the final fraction of a second when your feet are finally set, so the logic for direction of rotation at that point is the same. The one-and-a-quarter spin to get to that final position is gathering momentum to help in the final push, so obviously it will be in the same direction. In short: right-handers spin CCW and left-handers spin CW when absolute power is the prime consideration.
Funny… when I was jumping in skating, I always found CW easiest because I was often taking off from my right leg, which, now that you mention this, wiould have been the more powerful since it is my dominant leg (I’m right handed). (And also landing on my left, which strangely enough was the strongest on an outside edge, which is how you land.)
For spins, this also meant a basic scratch spin was done on my right– dominant/stronger– leg, though the more-difficult backspin would have had to be on my left leg, which may’ve given me troubles had I ever gotten to the point of learning them.
For more great comments on this subject, take a look at http://www.metafilter.com/165289/My-conclusion-I-really-dont-understand-why-dancers-turn-CW. Also thanks to http://kottke.org for posting a link to the post.
I will mix you case by folowing. I’m left-handed. I dance lezginka and I spin counter-clockwise. Because I just can’t do it well in the clockwise turn 🙂 But all others do it clockwise.
Being an ice skater I have always wondered why ballets were choreographed in CW direction. When teaching young skaters we always watch them spin in both directions to see which way they favor. About 90% of them will naturally rotate CCW. Once that is determined we teach them all of the jumps and spins in the same direction. It is not always linked to being right handed or left handed. I have been interested in this topic for many years and your article was of great interest to me and thoroughly researched.
Here’s another spin (pun included) on it. Whirling dervish sufis teach CCW turning. They say that you will be less dizzy if you spin in that direction (they will turn for hours at a time). They do not spot and i can attest that it is true at least for me. As a physician, i wonder if the sides of the body have anything to do with it. The heart is slightly more to the left but it isn’t weight as that is balanced out by the larger right lobe of the liver. i personally think it has to do with the sides of the brain and this study suggests that brain dominance or side may be involved but i’m not sure what exactly.
I saw that a motorcyclist made a comment about CW vs CCW when you originally wrote your article, but didn’t answer your question about motorcyclists’ difficulty in turning. I’m not sure what Shogs meant exactly, but speaking for myself and equating clockwise with a right hand turn and counter-clockwise with a left-hand turn, I favor left hand turns. I think it’s because we drive on the right in the US and a right-hand turn needs to be tighter with less forgiveness for an error. Turning left is a wider arc, so it’s easier. I’ve known other motorcyclists who struggle with tight right hand turns. This theory might be reversed in countries where they drive on the left. Another feature of motorcycling that involves turns are U-turns. Turning a motorcycle almost 180 degrees is not easy, but when I have to, I always do a counter-clockwise turn. I have great difficulty turning to the right for a U-turn — it doesn’t feel natural.
In Russia all figure skaters and gymnasts study ballet.
I think it all comes down to ballet dancers have a set cherography while athletes choose which side to turn based on preference. At my studio when our teacher says “Okay, foutte turns. Pick your favourite side.” You’d be surprised how many choose to turn CCW. During dances, I’ve been cherographed both ways, and I think it’s all up to what the teacher/cherographer says.
TLDR: Dancers are told which way to turn based on cherography while athletes choose based on preference and skill.
I suspect the reason for ballet dancers to prefer to turn clockwise and figure skaters to do the opposite is because ballet dancers spot. If you are right handed, you are usually right eye dominant and it is much easier to spot and turn with the right eye coming around first — in other words turning clockwise for en dehors turns — the most common type of pirouettes, fouettes, etc. Figure skaters spin so quickly and are usually moving, so it is too quick to spot, and the movement and momentum helps maintain the balance–really it is impossible to compare ballet and skating turns. I did not study figure skating, but the comments here seem to say that the turn in a jump is controlled better with the stronger — the right side for most people — the stronger side coming around last, hence the CWW direction.
The CW preferred direction for dancers and CCW for skaters is a mix of practicalities and historical reasons.
In rink public sessions (ice and roller skating) the people flow is always CCW around the rink. That’s true all over the word, i.e. also in countries like UK with left driving and CW roundabouts. The same CCW motion is for couple’s flow in ballroom dancing, although each single couple will likely turn CW around its common center. Think of couples as cabins in a carousel: the cabins turn CW and the carousel platform turns CCW.
So there is a more basic reason for the “common” CCW flow. Two walking people approaching each other on a pathway will usually dodge right-side, regardless of their nationality. When extending this behaviour to many people in a closed environment (a room, a rink) a CCW flow develops.
This has to do with our ancestors, fighting, and with the greater frequence of right-handed people on the planet. An approaching stranger on a footpath could be an enemy. You’ll stay on your right. Should he suddenly hit you with a dagger on your left arm, you still have chances to counterattack (you keep your dagger near your unharmed right hand, isn’t it?) and survive.
Established why the common flow is CCW, let’s see why a single skater jumps and turns CCW, but a dancer turns CW.
The skater, when surrounded by other people flowing CCW, would have hard time jumping CW. Physics tells that rotation cannot be stopped instantly so the landing is always on a round path. Much easier and safer in the CCW direction that goes along the other people. The other way there are even risks to impact the railing!
Coaches discourages young skaters to learn jumps and spins in opposite directions with the result that beginner skaters, once learnt the “watz jump” CCW, just try spontaneously to spin CCW or they are suggested to do this way. Dominant side has little to do with spin direction: different spins exist and are routinely executed on the left foot and on the right foot. You can easily see good skaters making a “change of foot” during spinning. They are equally able to use whichever leg.
On the contrary today’s dance evolved from court dance of the past (several musicians wrote suites for that!). As already told for today’s ballroom dance with the carousel schematisation, each couple counteracted the general (CCW) flow turning CW on their axis, both to avoid dizziness but also because the overall appearance of movements is more pleasurable and coreographic. Ballet more likely developed too from ancient dances, keeping established habits. So classic dancer feel more comfortable pirouetting CW.
Precisely!
New skating instructors were always thrown off by me, because I’m right-handed but always jumped/spun CW (although one instructor told me early on that she predicted I would jump one way and spin the other. In the beginning, I was able to spin either way and sort of waffled between which felt more comfortable, but finally one coach advised I choose to spin CW so it would match my jumps– I absolutely could not jump worth beans CCW!).
They’d also always try to demonstrate CW for me, while apologizing for being a bit inept CW (as if their attempts at doing things the “wrong” direction for them weren’t better than mine going the “right” direction for me, lol), and I had to keep explaining that if they were more comfortable, they could show me CCW because I could mentally reverse it to translate for myself.
[…] Adding spins to any trick ups the difficulty and adds to the artistic value. I came across an interesting article about different disciplines and the performers prefered spin direction. According to the article it seems that few, if any performers will rotate both ways. It also seems […]
I found this article very interesting as I am right handed yet CCW oriented in turns.
I am a retired ballet dancer and I have always had the same question regarding this phenomenon. I know from personal experience, it has nothing to do with right or left-handedness. In fact all of my left-handed colleagues are CW oriented in turns just like the majority of dancers.
Being a “lefty” in turns, I have constantly struggled with the dynamic of CW vs CCW turns. Although I turn more comfortably CCW, professional employment required that I perfect my CW turns to the standards of my peers who were all CW oriented. As a result I can perform turns well in either direction despite the fact I prefer CCW turns.
Having contemplated this question for many years, I have come to the following conclusion: conventional education and training practices are responsible. In nearly every case, the exercises in a ballet class are first executed on the right (first) side and subsequently studied in detail on that side before moving on to the second (left) side. Whereas there is less time available in class for equal study on the second side, the pupil naturally becomes more proficient on the first side. In general, once a pupil accomplishes a task successfully on one particular side, they tend to prefer that side for that particular task. Furthermore it has been my experience as a professional in company class, where there are more people than in a typical academy setting, there is often no time to execute the more virtuosic skills on the second side. More often than not, when there is time to do so, the dancer (especially the men) will switch the turns in the exercise to accommodate their preference for CW rotation.
Because I was a late starter in ballet, and I initially began my training in a non-academic setting where in depth study between sides was not the norm, I would struggle through the first side then “get the hang” of it on the second. As a result I became more comfortable in all skills using my left side.
This was a point of constant frustration for me because it was rare that we would do the combination in my preferred direction. On the occasion that we did have time to do so, I would be the only one executing my turns in the proper direction.
It’s not all bad being a “lefty”. In fact my unique ability to turn CCW was utilized often by choreographers and directors; especially when mirror image was required in choreography.
Another interesting question that relates to your question is: why are most pirouettes, especially virtuosic pirouettes executed en dehors, when nearly every beginner naturally wants to turn en dedans?
This article is super interesting, and I was actually looking for something just like this. I’ve been figure skating for the past 11 years and turn CCW there, so I’m a “righty.” I started dance classes a few years ago and was shocked when I tried a pirouette in the CCW direction and someone said “Oh you’re a lefty? That’s so cool! I’m terrible on the left side.” I told her that I thought she was the lefty for turning CW. I learned really quickly that I’m actually the “lefty,” and when I watch ballet (and shows like Dance Moms), I get so excited to see someone do something on the “lefty” side, because it seems so much more natural to me. It’s also tragic to be so bad at dancing the “right” side but be so good on the left. I guess I’ll never be a great ballerina, since none of the women do lefty turns!
My daughter started on a competitive dance team at age 6 (she’s 7 now).Turning is a major component at competitions. Teams of 20 girls do long turn sequences in unison that include numerous fouttes (a la seconde). They all turn CW. The visual effect is stunning. So my daughter has been taught technique for CW turns since the day she started. She sees the older girls and wants to master fouttes, even though they are not teaching them yet to her level. She tries to do them at home and always turns CCW even though I tell her she will have to turn CW for dance. She is right handed, and has a natural CCW preference. I found this article because I was googling whether you can master these long turn sequences CW if you have a CCW preference.
I was wondering if you’d had a look at skateboarding where goofy and regular stances don’t appear to be linked to dominant leg. And CW and CCW rotation preferences are linked to ease of trick rather than leg – IMO.
As a professional ballerina with the Royal Ballet, I can’t help feeling there’s some confusion. Some ballet dancers are better turners to the left side: which means they prefer to do en dehors pirouette standing on their right leg which ends up going in a CCW position. Most dancers are “right turners” and would do an en dehors pirouette standing on their left leg and turning CW. But whether or. Ot it is clockwise has absolutely nothing to do with their preferences. All en dehors pirouettes lead with the leg that’s not on the floor…the retire or passé position leads in a normal pirouette and the standing hip follows. In an en dedans pirouette the standing leg leads and the retire or passé leg follows. While every single type of pirouette can be done on the left side or the right side certain pirouettes can never be done except in a certain way: fouettés cannot be done as en dedan turns. The leading leg is always the moving leg which is the leg that whips into a rond de jambe en air after each rotation (ie not the standing leg) (also, the Russian style of fouettés is not a rond de jambe but just whipping the leg a la seconde. Whether a dancer who is more comfortable turning left or right, except in solos, you must turn the way of the choreography, but right and left turners have nothing to do with CW or CCW. No one chooses the latter. If a pique en dedans starts From on the right leg, the turn will be clockwise, if the pique en dedans turn starts in the left leg, the turn will be counter clockwise. As a left turner myself, I prefer en dehors pirouettes standing in my right leg and turning CCW but for en dedans pirouettes I still prefer standing on my right leg and then turning CW. Maybe I’m just unusual in that matter. My fouettés to the left, on my right leg are better (CCW) but I still prefer en dehors pique turns using the same right leg. For en dedans pique (which feels less natural and is used less often) I don’t have a preference. The point is the CW or CCW has nothing to do with the way a dancer chooses. The direction of the turn is secondary to a dancer’s preferred side but in almost all instances it’s. It up to the dancer to decide: it’s the choreography. Top ballerinas may be able to convince the person staging a ballet to allow a sequence of turns to start on the other foot (which means coming from the opposite side of the stage) but it’s rare
In ice skating the direction you spin depends on if you’re left handed or right handed. However the direction you jump depends on whether you are right or left footed. I am right handed but left footed so I jump and spin in different directions whereas most people will jump and spin in the same direction because they are right handed and right footed. Maybe ballet is different to ice skating in that spinning direction is based on footedness rather than handedness which makes sense.
Im right handed but spin clockwise
I used to figure skate and i started to spin and jump ACW. Then when I was first learning what is no one as a back spin in iceskating, and I believe a pirouette in ballet? My coach pointed out that I was actually spinning in the opposite direction but on the front foot (outside edge) and it was at this point but I realised that I naturally found it easier to spin in a clockwise direction. I had always assumed that me wanting to spin in a clockwise direction was a little bit like someone being left-handed i.e. some people do it but most people do it the other way (and I am right handed, not left! I had always assumed that ballet dancers would probably also spin in the same anticlockwise direction as skaters (apart from a minority like me who would spin in a clockwise direction). So I’m finding it interesting to know that ballet dancers, by the sounds of it, normally spin in the opposite direction to ice skaters, and the direction that feel most natural to me. I am baffled as to why this is? as I would’ve thought that whether you are doing ballet or iceskating that you are going to have a natural direction your body spends better in, and that for most people it is probably the same direction.
So the question is, who is spinning in the wrong direction? Ice skaters or ballet dancers? As a clockwise iceskating spinner, I guess I have to side with the ballet dancers on this one, LOL
But seriously have any figure skaters tried to spin the other direction for a bit?
If not might be an interesting experiment?
although after you have turned jump spun a certain way for a while it is going to be difficult to get the height and rotation on jumps and so on if you start going the other way…
and likewise have any ballet dancers ever felt that they could do their pirouettes better in the opposite direction and does ballet have an option for this for buck dancers who naturally spin in the opposite direction?
Long ago I read in some ballet history book that dancers generally turned clockwise (right) because royal audience members occupied a box near stage right, and it was considered courteous to turn toward them, not away from them. I have a feeling that’s a load of hooey. I think most dancers just turn clockwise easier and better, so most choreography, particularly corps de ballet and other group choreography, has people turning right.
I’m right handed–I always throw with my right hand. As a kid, I played football and naturally kicked with my left foot, but trained myself to kick with my right foot, too (ambipederous?). When I rode a skateboard or surfed, I always put my right foot forward, which is called “goofy foot” because most people put their right foot in front.
In my late teens and twenties I was a ballet dancer at Los Angeles Ballet, Contra Costa Ballet, and an apprentice at San Francisco Ballet. From the beginning of my training, I always found it much more comfortable, and did much better, turning counter-clockwise in en dehors pirouettes, balancing on my right leg. Unfortunately, as a corps de ballet member, I always had to do en dehors pirouettes clockwise because that’s the way all of the group choreography was. Only soloists had the luxury of choosing which way they’d turn, because they didn’t have to match anyone else, the way corps dancers did. With lots of practice, I became okay at it even though it felt awkward. Oddly enough, in en dedans pirouettes, pique turns, and tours en l’air I was more comfortable turning clockwise. Also, all of the female dancers I partnered pirouetted clockwise as I supported them, and that felt very comfortable. I never encountered one who wanted to turn counter-clockwise in my hands, but it definitely would have required some adaptation and practice. There would have been a lot of clumsy fumbling to begin with!
I have no idea why most people, including dancers, seem to be better at turning clockwise. But as a left-turner (at least en dehors) I was in good company–Fernando Bujones, Gene Kelly, and Donald O’Connor were all left-turners, too!
Interestingly, as you mentioned, in athletics foot races are always held in a counter-clockwise direction on an oval track. The same is true in motorcycle racing, bicycle racing, and most horse racing, where those activities take place on oval tracks. Baseball players also turn left as they round the bases. Among my many activities, I once raced motorcycle speedway, which takes place on oval-shaped dirt tracks. Turning left felt natural, but I can’t imagine ever having to go around a track clockwise!