Turnout refers to completing movements with legs rotated outward; this promotes clean footwork, graceful port de bras (movement of the arms), and correct body positions, lines and angles.
Other aspects of ballet technique include posture, toe pointing, keeping shoulders down, and pulling up, which combines proper posture and lifting of the muscles to increase turnout and enhance alignment and thus improve the quality of turns.
Ballet technique is also used to exhibit ballon, the appearance of gravity-defying lightness, during leaps.
Together with stylistic differences, these variations produce an aesthetic and physicality of performance that is unique to each style.
For example, students are taught to avoid sickling of the foot, which is an undesirable aesthetic and can result in ankle injuries when performing en pointe.