I have this student who corkscrews up to retire for a pirouette and bends her supporting knee. But when she's practicing releve retire at the barre and even pique turns she is pretty strong. I've tried everything besides making sure she practices at home and works on her core. What can I do? I have them for ballet and we are doing single pirouettes from fifth repeatedly, and quickly. I need her to be strong. Any suggestions?

Are you practicing lots of releve retire in the center? A practice I have had good luck with is to have the dancer dancer snap her fingers at the moment of releve retire. For example, starting in fifth, tendu second (or fourth) on 1, close plie fifth on 2, snap fingers and pirouette on 3, land fifth on 4. I have also used this practice to help emphasize strong arms. The main point is that everything happens at the same instance (snap!)- releve on supporting leg, working leg to high passe, arms in to strong 1st position.

I love the snapping idea. Thanks! I have been having the same issue with one of my girls.