Auti Kamal: Hello. You guys, honestly, I don't know what comes over me when the camera comes on. That was my first instinct.
Auti Kamal: You guys, we're going to cut to the frickin' chase. We don't have time. We're doing fouettés, so find some space and figure it out.
Auti Kamal: Just kidding. I couldn't even be mean to you guys if I wanted to. You know why? Can you guess? Bray?
Brayden: Because they give us money.
Auti Kamal: No, because I love you guys... and money. Okay, you guys, seriously, for reals, we're learning how to do fouettés. You guys really liked the a la seconde, fouette, and pirouette vlog we did a long time ago, so I thought I would do one specific to fouettes.
Auti Kamal: This is going to go like... steps. Can they hear that on camera, maybe? Steps of how to do them, starting with little crunchitos, those are your crunches. And we're going to move all the way into your true fouette. So for those of you who want to learn them, for those of you who have them kind of but they need to be strengthened, and for those who just want kind of a refresher, this is the right vlog for you.
Auti Kamal: So start on the floor. We're going to work on our core. That rhymed. Shout out Dr. Seuss.
Auti Kamal: All right guys, so we're going to start out with just some simple crunches. And here we go. Five, four, three, two, one. It's very important you keep your elbows out. A lot of people crunch like this. This is doing nothing. But the moment I open my elbows out, all of these abdominal muscles, you have different types of abs, were activated.
Auti Kamal: So elbows out, we're going to do 10 going straight up and down. Five, six, press your feet into the floor. One, and two, three, four, press your back into the floor also, seven, eight, nine, 10.
Auti Kamal: From there you'll want to do right and left as well. So you'll come up, shift right, center, lower. Up, shift left, center, lower. Do that 10 times right and 10 times left. One more time. That was up, turn, center, lower. Up, turn, center, lower. Warm up, babies!
Auti Kamal: You guys, we're back to our handy dandy bar. We're going to do some passe releves. So what I'm doing for you guys is breaking down the positions of the fouettes, and we're going to work on those separately before we piece them all together.
Auti Kamal: So go ahead and stand in a nice first position. The outside hand is going to go on your hip to make sure that you don't have your booty out. You're going to lift up and flatten that spine. Go to my posture video if you want more help with that. Go to first position again. We're going to go up to a passe. Plie, releve. Plie, releve.
Auti Kamal: So what you want to make sure you're doing is keeping high passe, don't let it come down, and keeping as high of a releve, your bottom foot on demi pointe as much as you can. Plie, rise. Plie, rise. Keep your leg up and rise. Plie, rise. You want to do this on both sides, but you especially want to do it on the side that you want to do your fouettes on.
Auti Kamal: Your right foot high are your right fouettes, your left foot high are your left fouettes. So do about 30 plie releves with a 60 second break in between, also known as one minute. And then do that again. And go straight up and down, and try not to push onto the bar and have it help you get up. You need to build the strength in your ankles, your foot, your Achilles, which is not here, your Achilles, your anterior tibialis. All of those muscles that are going to pull you up need to be worked on.
Auti Kamal: So we have our crunches, we have our passe releves. And let's move on! Okay, so the three positions of your fouette are devant, a la seconde, and a passe. You're going front, you're going side, you're going passe. So you have one, two, and three.
Auti Kamal: Sometimes those positions get all jumbled up, because there's so many components of a successful fouette. So make sure you know the clear position so that you can get clarity and cleanliness in your technique.
Auti Kamal: So make sure you know one, you know two, you know three. You know one, two, three. What we're going to do is come over to the bar and we're going to add those together with a releve. So you're going to start in a fifth position. First, if you don't know quite yet how to do your fifth, but if you can, heel to the opposite toe. Stand up tall, hand on your hip.
Auti Kamal: Seven, eight. We go one, two, three. One, two, three. Again, one, two, three. Last time, one, two, three. So if you noticed, my front and my side, my supporting leg is bent in a plie. Then when I zip it up to a passe, I straighten my supporting leg. I pull up, up, up through my chest and the back of my neck. Everything is long and lifted.
Auti Kamal: Do this about 15 times. Your little hip flexors and your booty are going to be burning, but you need those to be activated for your turns anyway. So five, six, seven. And front, side, up. Again, front, side, up. Again, front, side, up. And front, side, up. 15 times. You can do it.
Auti Kamal: Another important aspect of your fouettes are your arms. Everyone forgets about these cute little babies right here. Your arms are attached to your back, in case you didn't know. And your back is also important for all sorts of turns in dance, you guys. So those arms, number one, you need to make sure they're not behind you. They are in front of your body, so that you can also pull up those lower abs here and zip everything in.
Auti Kamal: Just like there's three positions of the legs and feet through your fouettes, there's three positions of the arms. The first one is your third position. Then it opens to a second. Then it goes to an en avant, a fifth en avant, which just means in front.
Auti Kamal: So we go third, second, en avant. And third, second, en avant. If you are doing the right side fouettes, it's your right arm forward in third. If you are doing the left side fouettes, it's your left arm forward in third.
Auti Kamal: My arms are already burning because I was activating everything. And I'm a little weak, but that's fine. What you should do... My hair looks nuts, Brayden. Why didn't you tell me?
Brayden: I thought it was on purpose.
Auti Kamal: Crazy, but make it fashion. Yeah, that's what this is. We're gritty, right? I'm obsessed with this tank top, if you can't tell.
Auti Kamal: We're going third, second, en avant. Third, second, en avant. Breathe. Third, second, en avant. And third, second, en avant.
Auti Kamal: So I would do that about 20 times, 60 second break, 20 times, 60 second break, 20 times. What you're doing is not only building up your muscle, but you're building muscle memory so that when you get to doing the fouettes, your body's not like, "Where am I?" They're like, "Oh yeah, I already know how to do this, because I did it 80 times in the center." Or 60. Math, okay?
Auti Kamal: So do those positions. Shoulders down, long neck. Keep your arms in front of your body. And you're going to get some muscles.
Auti Kamal: Okay, friends, you have now graduated. Is that the wedding song?
Brayden: Yeah.
Auti Kamal: There's a graduation song and a wedding one, and I always mix it up.
Brayden: That's wedding.
Auti Kamal: Can you tell what's on my mind? You guys, I can't wait for the day where I'm like, "Look, YouTube!" Brayden, don't ever show these to Eric, my boyfriend. Thanks. Good thing that they're public for the world to see.
Auti Kamal: Okay. Focus, Miss Auti. We are coming to center, you guys. And what we're going to do is basically everything we took from the bar, and all of those progression exercises, and bring them to center.
Auti Kamal: So what we're going to do is third, second, passe. Third, second, passe. You're going to do that 20 times on the right, 20 on the left, depending on what side do you want to do. 60 second break, 20 again.
Auti Kamal: So really fast. When you go to the front with your leg that you would like to do the fouette on, so right side for me, I come to a third. When my leg goes out to second, my arms go to second. When it comes to passe, I bring my arms in. So your arms match your leg. And they need to go at the same time. If anything, your arms are slightly ahead of your leg. Do that in center without a releve. You're just training your body to get the motion and the momentum.
Auti Kamal: Hey. Hi, another important part of your fouettes is your spot, you guys. I have a whole vid on spotting, so you can go over there and check that out. But I'm going to teach you a little baby version in this vlog.
Auti Kamal: Starting in a fifth position, because that's how you're going to start your fouettes, you're going to tendu. You're going to find your fourth behind you. Both feet are planted. Now when I did that, I shifted to the right, and then I corrected. Make sure you go straight down. I'm going to turn over my right shoulder, because that's the right side fouette. And I'm going to spot the front. I'm going to spot you guys, and I'm just going to come to a parallel, and land, and stretch.
Auti Kamal: So what we're doing here is training our spot. Tendu, plie, and spot. I'm now spotting right in front of me. Seven, and tendu. Heels down. Spot. Seven, squeeze, up, plie. Spot. Yeah, that core was activated there. Try that, I would say maybe 10, 15 times. Don't get too dizzy, but just get your spot going so that again, it just comes naturally when you do your actual turn.
Auti Kamal: You guys, I don't remember the graduation song. So just in your head, make it a graduation song. You've made it to your fouette! Now, you guys, it's not going to be perfect right away. But all of these little steps need to be repeated many, many, many times. It can be figured out today, figured out tomorrow, figured out in a month, in six months, in a year. Whatever your body needs, it's okay. You have to be okay and accepting of your own path, your own development. So don't get frustrated if you don't get it right away. I didn't get these right away either. You'll have to just practice, and it'll make it so much more worthwhile when you do get them.
Auti Kamal: So now you're in center. You guys, just start with one fouette. So from fifth position, we're going to start with our arms [inaudible 00:12:05] with tendu. We already practiced these arms. We come to a third position. Okay? And I'm going to go fouette and in. That's it. I know you're like, "What?" Practice it. Right out of my prep, I'm going to here, the position you already practiced. Then I'm going to here, and I'm bringing it in. I'm fouetteing, I'm whipping, which is what it means, in.
Auti Kamal: So again, I go tendu. I go plie. I come to the position we already practiced. I come out, and I whip my foot in. That's it. Practice your fouettes one by one. Do one, then do two, then do three. How counting works, yeah? Add them on step-by-step.
Auti Kamal: So starting with your cute little crunches, all the way to the bar for your passe releves, all the way to learn three positions, repeating that, working on the arms, whatever the arms were that I told you. And then coming out to the center and actually working on your fouettes, getting them around. Yeah.
Auti Kamal: You want to see this crazy lion hair, everyone? Get a good look at that. Don't let the people in on my secrets. You guys, for real, I have crazy hair. This is pretty tame.
Auti Kamal: Anyways, thank you for watching my fouette vlog. Hey Bray, I can fan you with this. Doesn't it look like a little fan? Or like a little... It looks like a croissant, a croissant! Anyways, which I love.
Auti Kamal: You guys, I'm proud of you. Do all of those progressions over and over again. Practice. Get your fouette. Send me videos of them. Send me some pics. I don't know how you would take pictures of your fouettes. You'd need a really fast shutter. Is that what it's called, a shudder?
Brayden: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Auti Kamal: Yes! But I'm stoked for you guys to learn these. So let me know what else you guys want to learn, any sort of movement, more flexibility stuff. Put them in the comments. DM me. I do listen to you, I do read your messages, and I try and respond when I can.
Auti Kamal: I appreciate you guys so much. Sign up for my email list at AutiKamal.com for exclusive content, sneak peaks, promo codes, videos that won't be on YouTube. I'm just saying. Videos that won't be on YouTube, if you didn't understand that voice.
Auti Kamal: Anyways, I love you guys so very much, and I will talk to you via camera very soon. Bye!