Ballet Technique

Alignment (aplomb) and breathing

Aplomb (say "ah-PLOM") is the French word for balance and poise. Imagine a string running through your ear, shoulder, hip and ankle. If they sit on one straight line, your weight falls on the middle of your feet and you can move easily. If you lean forward, back or to one side, you must grip with your muscles to stay up.

• Lift the chest, but keep the ribs closed in front.
• Pull the stomach in gently and keep the hips level.
• Keep the neck long and the shoulders low.

Breathing: breathe in through the nose and let the ribs widen to the sides and the back. The shoulders do not rise. Breathe out as you move. Held breath makes the body stiff and tires you quickly.

Turnout and the five positions

Turnout means rotating the whole leg outwards from the hip joint, so that the knees and toes point the same way. A full turnout is 90 degrees for each foot, 180 degrees in all. Few people have it, and it is never forced from the knees or ankles. That can hurt the joints.

Every step starts from one of five positions of the feet:

1. First: heels together, toes apart.
2. Second: feet apart sideways, about one foot-length.
3. Third: one foot in front, its heel at the middle of the other foot.
4. Fourth: one foot in front of the other, with a gap of one foot-length.
5. Fifth: feet crossed completely, heel of the front foot at the toe of the back foot.

The arms also have rounded positions, so the body makes a clear shape.

Barre and centre: plie, releve, adagio

A class begins at the barre, a wooden rail at hip height. One hand rests lightly on it for balance. The barre gives support while the body learns each step. After that comes the centre, the same exercises without the rail.

• Plie ("plee-AY", bent): both knees bend over the toes and the heels stay down in a demi (half) plie. In a grand plie the bend is deeper. The plie is the spring and the shock-absorber of every jump.
• Releve: rising onto the balls of the feet with straight ankles.
• Tendu and degage: the foot slides out along the floor, then brushes off it.

Adagio means slow. In the centre, slow movements show balance: lifting a leg and holding it, in lines such as arabesque and attitude. Slow work is harder than fast work because every wobble is visible.

Turns and spotting

A pirouette is a spin on one leg. Prepare with a plie, push up to releve, hold the arms close and the core firm. Turns that go away from the supporting leg are en dehors (outward). Turns going towards it are en dedans (inward).

Spotting: choose a point at eye level. Keep the head facing the spot while the body turns, then whip the head round quickly to find the spot again. The eyes get a short, clear look each turn, so you do not get dizzy and you can turn many times. A faster whip of the head makes the body turn faster.

Remember: more turns do not matter if the line breaks. A clean single turn that ends in balance beats a messy triple.

Jumps: small, medium and big

Jumps are called allegro (fast). Every jump has the same story: plie, push, fly, land through the foot into a plie. Pointed toes and straight knees in the air make it look light.

• Small jumps (petit allegro): saute (a plain jump in one position), changement (jump and change the front foot), echappe (jump out to second).
• Medium jumps: assemble (two legs join in the air), sissonne (take off from two feet and land on one), glissade (a gliding step used to link).
• Big jumps (grand allegro): grand jete, a leap from one foot to the other with the legs split front and back. These need space and a strong run-up.

Higher jumps stay in the air longer. From h = g t² / 8, a 45 cm jump gives about 0.6 s of air time.

Batterie and pointe basics

Batterie ("beating") means the legs beat together or cross in the air. In an entrechat quatre the legs cross twice and land. Entrechat six has more beats, and takes high, quick jumps. Good batterie needs fast, light legs and a strong spring.

Pointe work: the dancer rises on the tips of the toes in a stiff, reinforced shoe. This needs strong ankles, feet and core, and good alignment, so teachers start it only after years of training (often around age 11 to 12). The shoe does not hold the dancer up; the muscles do. A poor line over the toes can injure the foot. Beginning pointe is often done at the barre with simple rises.

History of the style: Blasis, Cecchetti and Vaganova

Ballet began in the Italian and French courts in the 1500s and 1600s, and then moved to the theatre. In the 1800s Carlo Blasis (Italy) wrote books that set out the rules of the classical style: posture, positions, balance and the way a lesson is planned. Later, Enrico Cecchetti (Italy) made a method with a weekly cycle of exercises. Agrippina Vaganova (Russia) published a book in 1934 that arranged the steps so that the whole body works together, including the back and arms. This is the "Russian school", used in many companies today.

Historical dances are court dances such as the minuet and the gavotte, which gave ballet its poise and its floor patterns. Character dances take folk dances (for example the mazurka or the Hungarian czardas) and style them for the stage, in character shoes and with strong stamping. They appear in many full-length ballets.

Virtuoso forms: spectacular steps such as long balances, repeated turns (fouettes) and big leaps that show the dancer's skill. They only work on top of the basics you just learned.

Try it

At home (with an adult nearby, in socks on a safe floor):

1. Stand side-on to a mirror. Can you draw a line through ear, shoulder, hip and ankle? Lean slightly and see it break.
2. Hold a chair back. Do 4 slow plies with heels down. Check that the knees point over the toes.
3. Rise to releve for 4 counts, then lower for 4 counts.
4. Spot test: pick a spot on the wall. Turn slowly, keeping your eyes there as long as you can, then snap your head round. Does the room feel steadier than turning with the head fixed to the body?

In the 3D: before you move the lean slider, guess which way the red line will break. Then check. Try three turns with the turn slider and watch the head.

Key formulas and definitions

• Total turnout = turnout of left foot + turnout of right foot (full = 90° + 90° = 180°)
• Air time of a jump: t = 2 × √(2h ÷ g), with g = 9.8 m/s². Equivalent: h = g t² ÷ 8
• Turning speed = (turns × 360°) ÷ time in seconds
• Jump cycle: plie → push → fly → land in plie
• Aplomb: ear, shoulder, hip, ankle on one line

Worked examples

Common mistakes

• Forcing turnout from the knees or ankles. Turn the leg from the hip, and only as far as the hip allows.
• Lifting the heels in a plie, or letting the knees fall inwards. Knees go over the toes and heels stay down.
• Gripping the barre hard or lifting the shoulders to the ears. The hand rests lightly; the shoulders stay low.
• Spinning the head together with the body in a pirouette. Keep the head on the spot, then snap it round late.