32 replies to this topic

[pbl]

Hi everyone,

I saw there is an existing thread which begins with step names and then explains them. I have a different problem. I am entirely new to ballet. I began watching ballet DVDs around Christmas when I purchased Baryshnikov's Nutcracker for my four year-old, and together we have now watched scores of performances on DVD and have gone to a few performances together too. I've read a few books, but having never trained in ballet, sometimes the text descriptions don't help me make the connection. The ABT glossary/dictionary site is useful, but incomplete and some of the videos and explanations don't make sense to me yet.

All of which is a windup to asking about some steps. Here's my first question:

Paloma Herrera in Le Corsaire 1999:


at 7:40 she dances a small circle - what is the name of the step?

If it's OK with everyone, I will post some more questions with video links on this thread.

Best,Paris.

[pbl]

Next video link question. What is the name of the step/leap Angel Corella does at 1:28?



Thank you . . . .

[pbl]

And one more question:


What are the names of the steps at 10:04, 10:11, and the little jumps at 10:20?

If these are OK questions to ask here, and this is the right place to ask them, let me know, I have many more questions like this . . . thank you.

[pbl]

Oh, this too:


at 3:14

[pherank]

Hello, Paris - I'll have to leave the technical details to some of the other, very knowledgeable, members on the forum (many of whom were trained in classical ballet), but I will say that there are often choreographed steps/movements that are not necessarily codified ballet steps. The language of ballet choreography is built up from those basics, but doesn't consist solely of those building blocks (if that makes any sense).

[kbarber]

pbl, on 30 October 2012 - 02:24 PM, said:

Oh, this too:


at 3:14

those are bourrées.

[pbl]

Thank you!

Quote

those are bourrées.

[rg]

with regard to 'technical' names and vocabulary for ballet steps, as indicated above, sometimes the movement or pose has a classroom/syllabus name, but sometimes not.
Balanchine once replied to a query about the name of certain move that caught the eye of an observer of one of his ballets thus:
"Is not 'school,' is choreography."
that said, to be sure many of the steps that might catch your eye in watching performances do have specific names and some of these may be pointed out to you on this forum.

[ascballerina]

pbl, on 30 October 2012 - 01:56 PM, said:

at 7:40 she dances a small circle - what is the name of the step?

I would call them temps levés in attitude devant

pbl, on 30 October 2012 - 02:06 PM, said:

What are the names of the steps at 10:04, 10:11, and the little jumps at 10:20?

The little jumps look like a series of demi contretemps and assemblés.

[Mme. Hermine]

they look like what we used to call a 'failli assemble'.

[bart]

After a while, you get to know the basic steps.  It is the combination of steps, as these answers suggest, which are difficult for so many of us and which are not always codified or consistently used, as has been mentioned.  "Failli assemble"; "demi contretemps with assembles"; who knew?

When I first came to Ballet Alert, I relied a lot on American Ballet Theater's on-line dictionary.  I still do.

http://www.abt.org/e...nary/index.html

If you click that link and scroll down to "tour en l'air", you will find a listing for "jete entrelace" (accent on the final e).  That's NOT Corella's jump, but you will notice a few similarities in preparation and lift.  Complicating things is the information that, although this is called "jete entrelace" in the French School it is referred to as a  grand jete dessus en tournant" in the Russian School; and "grand jete en tournant en arriere" according to the Cecchetti method.

What makes questions like yours so useful is that they require those of us who are not trained dancers to look closely at the step(s), breaking them down into the basic components, some of which we recognize and some of which we won't.   That kind of analysis, once it becomes automatic and even unconscious, greatly enriches the ballet experience for me --  if I don't overdo it and end up missing the forest for the trees.  

I once read a complex term for Corella's jump, but have forgotten it, so I hope someone will help us out.  Tour en l'air (or grand jete)  avec ... quelque chose?    Aidez moi, svp.

The point, of course, is how cleanly and beautifully Corella performs those jumps .... whatever they are called.

[Paul Parish]

The only person who taught me demi contretemps worked in he Cecchetti system  taught it as a little airborne half turn with hte working leg bent, the back foot passing in a VERY low passe at hte ankle from the back to front by wrapping around hte ankle, then you'd chasse forward on that foot, from which it would be very convenient to do assemble.
This jump looks like what my ballets-Russes trained teachers would call Failli-assemble. where hte airborne jump comes through a low arabesque, with the back leg straight in hte air, then you fall onto it[similarly] and then do assemble. Failli-assemble is hella fun and a great way to skim across the ground -- you can travel a long ways in just a few of them. You don't have to jump high to jump FAR.

[ascballerina]

I've been taught demi-contretemps with a very small attitude to the back, then chasseing through to fourth, which is why I said it looked like a demi-contretemps, but really, it was hard for me to tell from the angle, which I'd never seen it done at before.  I will bow to those with superior knowledge, and agree from the descriptions that it is most likely the failli-assemble combination.

[AlbanyGirl]

Hi pbl, Welcome to Ballet Alert!   I suggest you purchase these two, IMO indispensible resources:  Gail Grant's book Technical Manual and Dictionary of Classical Ballet (Dover Books) and the DVD The Video Dictionary of Classical Ballet (Kultur).  I use them hand in hand in 'lessons' I devise to technically learn how ballet steps work and coordinate (without being a dancer myself).

[Mme. Hermine]

pbl, on 30 October 2012 - 01:56 PM, said:

Hi everyone,

I saw there is an existing thread which begins with step names and then explains them. I have a different problem. I am entirely new to ballet. I began watching ballet DVDs around Christmas when I purchased Baryshnikov's Nutcracker for my four year-old, and together we have now watched scores of performances on DVD and have gone to a few performances together too. I've read a few books, but having never trained in ballet, sometimes the text descriptions don't help me make the connection. The ABT glossary/dictionary site is useful, but incomplete and some of the videos and explanations don't make sense to me yet.

All of which is a windup to asking about some steps. Here's my first question:

Paloma Herrera in Le Corsaire 1999:


at 7:40 she dances a small circle - what is the name of the step?

If it's OK with everyone, I will post some more questions with video links on this thread.

Best,Paris.

emboite in attitude devant