32 replies to this topic

[Amy Reusch]

I concur with Mme. Hermoine... These are emboités....   Temps levé would have more the supended dynamic of skipping...

[Amy Reusch]

Giselle 10:20:  sissonne failli assemblé... Sometimes shortened to failli assemblé.    I don't know what the turning chugs at 10:04 are called... I don't know what to call a jump that doesn't really loft into the air...   I did not see any demi contretemps...

[Paul Parish]

Thank you, Acsballerina, for your gracious reply. I'm picturing your step and thinking it's beautiful - -and realizing I haven't been asked to do demi-contretemps  since Brynar mehl's class. and remembering that hte chasse  was a lovely feature of that step -- which failli has  to a slight degree [as you come down on that foot it should slide forward a little before you jump from it, depending on how much time you have]. Was your teacher Cecchetti-trained?

@Mme Hermine -- i have also been trained to call that step emboite in attitude devant. But it would not be wrong to say it's hte ballet version of hte Cakewalk step, which was just coming into ballet at the time of Petipa's revision of Giselle [he used it a lot in Sleeping Beauty, too]. Check out this turn-or the-century footage, the step is done VERY clearly around ;30 till hte end:   you sometimes see African-American football players doing this step as they run into the end-zone, when they know they can't be caught before they make the touchdown.

Debussy composed a Cakewalk for piano -- here he is playing it himself

Here is Scott Joplin's Cakewalk "Swipesy" {which Macmillan used in his ballet "Elite Syncopatoins"]. Unfortunately Macmillan didn't use hte cakewalk step much.
Debussy had composed a Cakewalk

[kbarber]

That particular piece of Joplin is not used in Elite Syncopations, in fact.

[Amy Reusch]

Loved the historic footage.  Reminds me of Joffrey performing Ruthanna Boris' Cakewalk.

[Paul Parish]

Thank you, kbarber -- I thought 'Swipesy' was the opening number in the ballet-- which it resembles greatly but is NOT in fact the same. [Macmillan's tempo is way slower -- but the two pieces are very similar.]

[ascballerina]

Paul Parish, on 01 November 2012 - 10:24 PM, said:

Thank you, Acsballerina, for your gracious reply. I'm picturing your step and thinking it's beautiful - -and realizing I haven't been asked to do demi-contretemps  since Brynar mehl's class. and remembering that hte chasse  was a lovely feature of that step -- which failli has  to a slight degree [as you come down on that foot it should slide forward a little before you jump from it, depending on how much time you have]. Was your teacher Cecchetti-trained?

Yes, my teacher was Cecchetti-trained.  It's a lovely step!

[Stage Right]

Agreed: emboites.

[pbl]

OK another step I'd love to know the name for: the little sideways jumps at 1:05

[Amy Reusch]

Sissonne.   Sissonne fermé (ferme with accent on last e) to sissonne failli I would say.... One might insert arabesque or en avant to indicate that the sissonne passes through arabesque and travels forward.  (sissonne can travel  side to side or even backwards).  I believe Mel Johnson informed us once somewhere that the step was named after a count at court who was particularly good at them... But I forget the details...

[California]

Amy Reusch, on 18 March 2013 - 09:17 AM, said:

Mel Johnson informed us once somewhere that the step was named after a count at court who was particularly good at them... But I forget the details...

I don't know the count story, but in French sissonne means "split," which also seems apt for that movement.

[Amy Reusch]

Google translate isn't pulling that up for me... But it does suggest a noun "scission" for split... Could Sissonne be a corruption?  There is an area in France called Sissonne... where presumably the count was from...  

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sissonne


There exists also a Pas de Ciseaux, the scissors step... one would imagine there is a relation between "scission" and "scissors" and yet it is spelled "ciseaux".   Truly material ripe for much confusion...

[pbl]

This group is such a great resource for those of us just beginning to learn about ballet. Thank you.

[sandik]

Amy Reusch, on 01 November 2012 - 08:27 PM, said:

I don't know what the turning chugs at 10:04 are called... I don't know what to call a jump that doesn't really loft into the air...  

I went back a few entries when this thread re-emerged, and found your query -- I've always heard them referred to as arabesque voyage, and thought the idea of an arabesque taking a little trip was so sweet...

[California]

sandik, on 18 March 2013 - 02:13 PM, said:

Amy Reusch, on 01 November 2012 - 08:27 PM, said:

I don't know what the turning chugs at 10:04 are called... I don't know what to call a jump that doesn't really loft into the air...  

I went back a few entries when this thread re-emerged, and found your query -- I've always heard them referred to as arabesque voyage, and thought the idea of an arabesque taking a little trip was so sweet...

Isn't the arabesque voyage the movement for the corps starting at 6:03 where they scootch across the stage in lines in arabesque?