A lame duck is a pique turn en dehors. That doesn’t help much does it?
Let’s talk about ducks. Some ducks have had an unfortunate encounter with a turtle. The duck is lucky to be alive, but in the struggle, she sometimes injures her foot. I have occasionally seen a duck with an injured foot. It can still swim pretty well, but when it walks on land, it has a really bad limp.
Imagine that you are that lame duck. Your right leg is permanently shorter than your left. Bend your right knee and keep it bent. Keep your left leg straight. If you try to walk around like that, you will have a really bad limp!
To do the “lame duck” pique turn:
- Step out on your bent leg (the right one). Keep it bent.
- Now swing your straight left leg around like a peg leg in a pirate movie.
- Step up onto the straight left leg, keeping it straight.
- Pick up the bent right leg in passe’ front as you turn to the right.
- When you’ve turned all the way around, fall (tombe’) onto the bent right leg, which stays bent.
- Continue: step up on the straight leg, tombe’ onto the bent leg.
The turn has kind of a lopsided feel.
Normally, these turns are done traveling on the diagonal. Each step up and each tombe’ travel toward the diagonal corner.
To see a “lame duck” in action, watch this YouTube video . You will see eight “lame ducks” at the end of the Rose Fairy Variation from “Sleeping Beauty”.