Tonight, I'd like to introduce you to Sophia Lucia, in case you haven't heard of her already. Sophia is a 10-year-old professional dancer who currently holds a record in the Guinness Book of World Records for the highest number of consecutive pirouettes. A pirouette is a turn balancing on just one leg; the other leg and foot can be in a variety of other positions. In classical ballet, a traditional pirouette places the free foot in passé (in the general knee area, preferably just above the kneecap) with the knee facing perpendicular to the standing leg. Sophia executes her pirouettes in the jazz style, which means that her foot and knee are parallel to her standing leg. One of the most difficult parts of executing a proper pirouette, in any style, is a technique called spotting. Spotting is the technique that prevents a dancer from becoming dizzy and disoriented because it requires her to focus on a target point in the room while turning. Sophia does this excellently by whipping her head around quickly and returning her eyes to the same spot; this also helps her stay in one place while turning. You can see her doing this in the following video.
Sophia also uses tap shoes to do her turns. Tap shoes are notable for their metal soles that produce a tapping sound when danced in properly. This metal means that the shoes have less friction with the ground than ballet or jazz slippers do because these other shoes have leather, plastic, or canvas soles. Sophia is an incredible tapper: just check out this video!
She's still very young, so it will be exciting to follow her progress through the world of professional dance. She truly seems to have a gift for dance.
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