The physics of the "hardest move" in ballet - Arleen Sugano
View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/the-physics-of-the-hardest-move-in-ballet-arleen-sugano In the third act of "Swan Lake", the Black Swan pulls off a seemingly endless series of...
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In the third act of "Swan Lake," the Black Swan pulls off a seemingly endless series of turns, bobbing up and down on one pointed foot and spinning around, and around, and around 32 times. It's one of the toughest sequences in ballet, and for those thirty seconds or so, she's like a human top in perpetual motion. Those spectacular turns are called fouettés, which means "whipped" in French, describing the dancer's incredible ability to whip around without stopping. But while we're marveling at the fouetté, can we unravel its physics? The dancer starts the fouetté by pushing off with her foot to generate torque. But the hard part is maintaining the rotation. As she turns, friction between her pointe shoe and the flo...
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In the third act of "Swan Lake," the Black Swan pulls off a seemingly endless series of turns, bobbing up and down on one pointed foot and spinning around, and around, and around 32 times. It's one of the toughest sequences in ballet, and for those thirty seconds or so, she's like a human top in perpetual motion. Those spectacular turns are called fouettés, which means "whipped" in French, describing the dancer's incredible ability to whip around without stopping. But while we're marveling at the fouetté, can we unravel its physics? The dancer starts the fouetté by pushing off with her foot to generate torque. But the hard part is maintaining the rotation. As she turns, friction between her pointe shoe and the flo...
