Welcome back, Spartan dancers! It was great to see so many new faces in today’s Ballet Basics class at IM East.
Each of the fundamentals that we explored in class today has its own blog post, which I encourage all new dancers to read as a way to get to know these techniques:
- The five basic forms of the feet
- Carriage of the arms (port de bras)
Additionally, we introduced these core ballet elements:
Plié: to bend; a dip at the knees
- Demi-plié: bending half-way at the knees – careful not to allow heels to come off the floor in P2!
- Grand-plié: full bend at the knees – careful not to sit on your heels!
Relevé: “to rise” – lift oneself on one’s toes (the demi-pointe)
Battement: “to beat/strike” – to extend the leg out from the body, either with feet on the floor or in the air
- Battement tendu: extension of the leg with the pointed foot kept on the floor
- Battement tendu avec piqué: extension of the leg with quick tapping of the pointed foot on the floor (“pricking” the floor); often just shortened to piqué
- Battement tendu dégagé: extension of the working leg with pointed foot leaving the floor up to 45°.
- Grand Battement: “big strike” – extension of the leg with pointed foot starting on the floor, moving through a tendu dégagé to a rise of at least 90° (parallel with the floor), and sometimes as high as 130°
Each of these movements will be explored further in future Technique Spotlights, so stay tuned!
See you next Friday!
Beaumont Tower Ballerina 