Common dance terminology: "ballet French" explained

There's a popular t-shirt in the dance-o-sphere that says, "I speak ballet French." If you dance, you have to LOL at that. Ballet students, especially in the US, know that so much of our vocabulary is a fractured French. We also call things by different names depending on the method, whether it's Vaganova, Cecchetti, French, English, and so on. And to be honest, many European-trained dancers scoff at "American style" nomenclature.

(Lame duck, anyone?)

But there are certain words that we all use and that we all use incorrectly.

(Hey, no one's perfect!)

Here are a few terms and words that are often misused, mistranslated, or misstated grammatically. I want you all to be ballet French fluent in 2019!

en croix - "in the shape of a cross"; regardless of whether you do a step en avant, a la seconde, en arriere and a la seconde or just en avant, a la seconde and en arriere, you are still forming the shape of a cross on the floor or in the air with your leg, foot or arm.

Courtesy State Library of Queensland

sissonne - nope, it's not "scissors"; that would be ciseaux. Sissonne is the name of the man who invented the jump, which unfortunately also looks like a pair of scissors opening and closing.



rond de jambe - the plural of this follows the French grammar: ronds de jambe and hewing to the correct French pronunciation, you do not pronounce the "s". So basically, more than one rond de jambe also sounds like a singular rond de jambe. But no, it's not rond de jambes unless you are moving both legs simultaneously.

Courtesy State Library of Queensland

cou-de-pied - this is not coupe which is a movement ("cutting" or "cut") but the position of one foot on or at the ankle of the other (en avant  or en arriere); when it is wrapped, it's sur le cou-de-pied. It is literally translated as "neck of the foot" which we know as "ankle" or "instep." Don't neglect the "de" or else it will sound like a combination of coupe and cou-de-pied.

Got any burning French questions? Shoot 'em on over to me in an email or comment. Happy dancing into the New Year, beautiful dancers!

What is a rond de jambe en l'air?

First of all, what is it NOT?

It's not this:

Georges Seurat 1888

No, it's not the can-can, where the women (and men originally!) do high kicks circling the legs in the air at the knees. Oh how terrible for their joints!

Many students think of rond de jambe en l'air as a leg circle in the air (again, NOT the can-can) since "rond" translates as "circle" - for dancers, at least. But the shape you are drawing in the air is not exactly a circle. It's more like a flattened oval.

The path of the rond de jambe en'lair en dehors

The proper way to perform a rond de jambe en l'air en dehors begins with a battement a la seconde, then the toes draw a path straight in to the knee, as if coming to retire, and then circles slightly in front of the knee of the support leg and returns to the a la seconde position.

Conversely, the proper way to perform a rond de jambe en l'air en dedans begins with a battement a la seconde, then the toes draw a half-circle or oval to the front of the knee of the standing leg and then go straight back out to a la seconde.

2 very important things to remember for this step:
1. ALWAYS fully straighten the knee on the recovery to a la seconde, even if you are going to do more than one rond.
2. Maintain a strong straight support leg and avoid sinking back into the hip of the support leg.

One more tip!
NEVER look at your leg while you do this step. The mere act of turning your upper body to let yourself watch the leg twists the hips. If you can't see yourself in a mirror, then use your peripheral vision. Better yet, just feel it working properly.

Hope this tip helps you! Happy dancing~

Pet peeves in ballet class

As a teacher, these are a few of my least favorite things to see:

--Heels lifting off the floor during demi-plie at the barre. Keep them down, down, down! Not only do you shorten your Achilles tendon by keeping them lifted but you also will develop a bad habit that you will take with you to the center. You can't get height or build strength if you do not put your heels down.

--Toes lifting off the floor during rond de jambe and tendu. Tendu means "stretch" and you're not stretching if you allow the toes to come off the floor. Instead, point the toes and feel the legs lengthen all the way to the top of the thigh. By consciously feeling the floor with the baby toe, you will distribute the weight properly which will result in better positioning for releves and pirouettes.

--Hands flinging during allonge. To allonge means to draw out, stretch, lengthen the line. In particular, when we talk about the allonge line for an arm, we mean to rotate the arm up and back, away from the shoulder. Allonge does not simply take place in the wrists and hands. Start with the shoulder lifting up and back and then lengthen the arm away from it, back and up on the ecarte line, all the way to the hands.

--First arabesque arm that reaches higher than the head. The hand should be directly in line with the nose, no higher, and the arm straight at the elbow (unless you are doing Cecchetti in which the arm is often slightly bent at the elbow). But no matter what style you are studying, do NOT lift that arm above your head. It's an affectation that has repercussions through the rest of your body, destroying the line.

Next time I'll talk about things I do like seeing from students!

Happy dancing~