Embarrassing Question :-)

[Guest Jonfb]

:giveup: hi there! Wondering if you goodpeople could help. I have just spent the last hour trying to find the name for a step I saw at a ballet in England last night (of which I have to write a review for).

It is when the dancer leeps into the air and whilst at their highest point the put both legs out comeplete flat, in opposite directions, and then trurn to the floor. A bad description I know. It is not like a Jete, i.e. both feet face in opposite directions. It is as though they were "doing the splits" but they are in mid-air.

I'm sorry my knowledge is so crude but i can't seem to come across any site with a descritption or photo of this position. I think it's quite a common one tho.

Anyone that could give me their view on what I'm describing (and pref a link to a photo or diagram, so I can confirm), would be a real lifesaver...

Thanks so much.

Your very very humble ballet dunce! :grinning:

[Mel Johnson]

Well, that just sounds like a plain old grand jeté! If it's in a split, one could further describe it as "à grand écart". So grand jeté à grand écart.

(And welcome to Ballet Talk here at Ballet Alert! Online! )

[Victoria Leigh]

Jon, go to American Ballet Theatre and click on Education and Training, then on Library, and you will see the Dictionary of Ballet. Go to "Jeté, grand" and I think you will see what you are looking for. B)

[dido]

Wait, is the dancer facing straight out toward the audience? And is the jump straight up--no lateral moevement? That's the only thing I can think of, if it really isn't a jete. Not that I know what its called.

[BW]

Hi dido - have you checked out that website Victoria suggested? It's quite helpful with the visuals - movie clips actually!

[Hans]

If I understand properly, the step Dido describes isn't really a true ballet step and won't be in any ballet dictionary.

[Mel Johnson]

If there's no, or not much, lateral movement, it could be a big sissonne (fermée? Does it end in fifth?) en avant.

[dido]

Hans has got me, I think the Candy Cane in Balanchine's Nutcracker does what I'm thinking of (maybe not though, now all I can remember is the hoop spins). I have to admit I associate it mostly with cheerleaders (spring straight up, hoik the legs out in 2nd to as close as a split as you can get, maybe touch your toes, then down). It's certainly nothing I've ever seen in a dictionary of ballet terms. I guess technically it's just a jump from 2 feet to 2 feet though...

[Old Fashioned]

Do you mean a jump in a straddle position? Like the ones the male does in the Chinese dance of Balanchine's Nutcracker? In figure skating they're called Russian split jumps, and I apply the same term for it when I see it in ballet.

Here shows a few figure skaters performing the feat: http://www.sk8stuff.com/f_recog/recog_sj_russian.htm

[dido]

YES! Thank you, Old Fashioned. That might be what I was thinking of in the Nutcracker, and it's a perfect description (and illustration) of what I was trying to describe.

[Guest Jonfb]

I think "Old Fashioned" has it. yes, I think it's the Russian Split , it's not a jete as my understanding of that is that whilst both legs are in the air horizontally, one foot points up and the other down - whereas what I saw, and what the russian split seems to be is, both feet pointing up.

So I was wrong all along then - this isn't a ballet move at all, or if it is, is "Russian Split" the terminology I should use to describe it in my article.

Thanks "Old fashioned"

yours demandingly - but appreciatively....

Jon

www.falconcottage.co.uk

[Alexandra]

My guess is that this is a step from Russian folk dancing -- maybe a split jump? (I'm sure it existed before skating competitions, although "Russian split" is such a descriptive term, it sounds perfect for an article for a general readership!)

[Guest LauraT]

I believe in cheerleading they are called toe touches. But don't trust me on it, I'm not, nor have I ever been a cheerleader. My band friends would probably kill me before I could sign up.

[djb]

Jonfb, the Russian split jump starts by jumping straight up in the air from both feet. However, that position can also be achieved during a traveling leap, which would make it a grand jete of sorts.

[Guest stacymckenna]

In gymnastics:

The static jump (off both feet) is called a "straddle jump".

The traveling leap (off one foot) is called a "side leap", and it usually is landed facing where you took off (the leap involves two 1/4 turns).

[Helene]

My cheerleading squad in high school called it a "Russian Jump" when it was in the air, and a "Russian Split" when it was on the ground/floor.

[Mel Johnson]

Okay, that's a character step that's called in French and Italian Schools, pas ciseaux (scissors step). Pas de ciseaux in the Russian schools is something else, which looks like a cross between a cabriole and a jazz switch-leap.

[Paul Parish]

In Berkeley we call this a Grand Ecart -- ("ecart" means spread wide open)

It's a classical step as well as a character step. It's a spring from two feet, landing on two feet, like a changement where the legs go wide (unlike a sissonne, which lands on one foot).

Grands ecarts are done in both second and fourth, and with straight knees or in attitude.

Examples from choreography I'm familiar with crowd into my mind. In SFB's Chinese Tea, the male dancer does a series of grands ecartes in second and fourth, and usually some Italian changements throwh in for variety. And in our Trepak, the "Russians" do them too.

But in Ronn Guidi's Nutcracker (at OaklandBallet), the Snow Queen does them -- as high as she can, Janet Carole did them at 180 degrees; and in Sally Streets's "Waltz of the Flowers," the butterfly does them (not very high) alternating with soutenu turns. In The William Tell pas de deux, include in NYCB's Bournonville Divertissements, the ballerina (young Darci Kistler on my tape) has a fabulous passage of jumps including a releve echappe, a medium-height (45degree) ecarte, and entrechat (quatre or sixe, I can't remember); it's a marvellously airy, beautiful combination....

[Rachel]

Could some one enlighten me as to the correct terminology of this step:

It starts from 5th and is executed en face like a big glissade in which the legs reach a straddle split. It lands en fondu on the first extended leg with the second leg in retire. Occassionally to finish, the leg is extended to efface devant 90 degrees or 3rd arabesque. Is this a jete ouvert? I'm quite sure that it is a classical step because my Russian teacher teaches it as part of the Vaganova syllabus.

Rachel

[Mel Johnson]

Oh, it's certainly classical! It's a jeté passé de coté in second position.