The title may be deceptive. Splits don’t just happen in dance. You’ll see them in cheer, gymnastics and skating. The technique for splits remains the same regardless of the sport, and regardless if they are happening on the ground or in the air. So, lets take a look at the technical side of splits.
Good splits will have the hips both facing forward. We call this ‘squaring up the hips.’ The front knee should face up and the back knee faces down. The less square the hips are, the more the back knee will face sideways. Good splits have pointed toes and locked up knees. You shouldn’t see kneecap bumps. Changing the arm position changes the pose.
Front facing splits, also called ‘Russian Splits’ especially if done in a jump, should have both knees facing up.
Hailey has beautiful oversplits, meaning her legs split well beyond the 180 degree mark. She also has hyper-extended knees. That means when she tightens her knees, her feet come right off the floor as the joints extend the legs beyond 180. In this case, you can feature the hyper-extension, or have her relax the knees a bit to get the heels back on the floor. Something to watch for with this pose is the ‘crotch shot.’ To prevent this, hide private areas with the costume as shown or have the dancer place one arm in front to block areas that you don’t want as focal areas in the image.
