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Creative Ballet Learning © 2019 Cadence Joy Whittier

Chapter 4

Seven traditional ballet movements

The French balletic terminology is a wonderful source of inspiration when looking for movement concepts to explore in technique class. When analyzing the defi nitions of the different terms, you will discover a colorful landscape for describing movement:

plier is bending tombée is falling jeté is tossing and so on ...

You can use these movement qualities—bending, falling, tossing—as “guides” to analyze the technical and artistic quality of multiple steps and exercises throughout class. Doing so will deepen your body awareness and enhance your ability to experiment with movement in novel ways.

Since the French balletic vocabulary is an essential part of learning ballet, let’s explore how it can be used conceptually in ballet class! We will begin with the seven tradi-tional movements:

plier (to bend) relever (to rise) glisser (to glide) etendre (to stretch) elancer (to dart) sauter (to jump) tourner (to turn

When explored as concepts, how do these movements support your technical and artistic execution of different balletic steps?

30 Creative Ballet companion website material


Plier —to bend

yielding folding suppleness malleability creasing

When you use plier as a concept, you invest in bending and yielding movement qualities. You identify how your body folds and creases.

• Improvise with how your ankles, knees, and hips bend during lower body movements, such as plié , fondu , pas de cheval , developpé , and pas de chat .

• Attend to the suppleness of your body as it folds and inclines during large movements, such as a port de corps , or penché arabesque , or grand rond de jambe .

• Explore the yielding and malleability of your lower body in demi-plie dur-ing petite allegro , consecutive plié relevé , fouetté rond de jambe en tournant , and so on.

How else would you experiment with the concept of plier/bending in class?

Figure 4.1 Explore plier as a concept during pas de chat

Seven traditional ballet movements 31


Figure 4.2 Explore how the body rises into space

Relever —to rise

growing ascending expanding soaring inflating

When you use relever as a concept, you invest in an expansive use of your body. You identify how steps soar, grow, and ascend into space.

• Improvise with how different ballet steps rise in space, such as temps lié , battement piqué , port de bras , grand battement , and so on.

• Attend to the expansiveness of your body: growing upward from a grand plié , soaring into space during a chassé sauté arabesque , feeling the breath expand the upper chest during grand adagio .



• Explore different dynamic ways to rise: the difference between exploding upward during a sauté and raising the leg slowly during a relevé lent .

How else could you explore relever/rising in class?

Glisser —to glide

sliding skimming flowing whooshing skating

When you use glisser as a concept, you invest in a gliding use of your upper and lower body in space. You identify movements that slide, whoosh, and skate.

• Improvise with sliding your feet along the fl oor during steps like chassé , glissade , balançoire , brisé , and pas de cheval .

• Attend to how your limbs glide or whoosh through space during port de bras , reversé , balancé , sissonne , and cambré , for example.

• Explore how the tips of your toes skim along the fl oor before a pique en pointe , or a battement tendu devant into a tomb é, or a pas de valse en tournant .

How else would you emphasize the concept of glisser/gliding in class?

Figure 4.3 Explore the gliding quality of the arms



Etendre —to stretch

lengthening elongating extending prolonging allongé (outstretched)

When you use etendre as a concept, you invest in the elongation of your torso and limbs in space. You identify movements that stretch and lengthen.

• Improvise with elongating your spine during épaulment , cambré , attitude , grand jeté , and fouetté sauté .

• Attend to how your legs extend and lengthen downward into the fl oor during rond de jambe , balançoire , fondu developpé , relevé , or pirouette .

• Explore allongé qualities during any barre and centre exercises.

How else would you experiment with etendre/stretching in class?

Figure 4.4 Explore the elongation of the body



Sauter —to jump

ballon (bouncing)

springing elastic-like rebounding bounding

When you use sauter as a concept, you invest in the springing nature of balletic steps. You identify how your body bounces and rebounds with an elastic-like quality.

• Improvise with the bouncing or spring-like quality of battement piqué , temps lié , sauté , and plié relevé .

• Attend to the rebounding nature of plié as a transition step throughout class, and especially during pointe work, consecutive turns, and allegro exercises.

• Explore the elastic-like quality of battement degagé , fondu , ballonné , sissonne , or faille assemblé .

How else would you emphasize the concept of sauter/jumping in class?

Elancer —to dart

dashing fouetté (whipping)

bolting sweeping tossing

When you use elancer as a concept, you invest in a darting use of your energy. You identify how your body bursts and whips through space.

• Improvise with dashing your body through space during any traveling move-ments, such as failli assemblé , sissonne fermé , tombé pas de bourrée , and grand jeté .

• Attend to the bursting or tossing nature of balletic movements at barre —such as, battement frappé and grand battement —and in centre during any turn-ing or allegro exercises.

• Explore the sweeping or whipping quality of your arms and legs during any barre or centre exercise.

How else would you experiment with the concept of elancer/darting in class?



Figure 4.5 Explore sauter as a concept during petite allegro

Tourner —to turn

pirouette (whirling)

spinning spiraling rotation(ing) revolving

When you use tourner as a concept, you invest in movements that turn and spin. You identify how your body rotates and spirals.

• Improvise with how turning steps revolve and whirl: fouetté , pas de bourée en tournant , promenade , pirouette , piqué turns, chainés , and soutenu .



• Attend to how different body parts rotate: the hips in turnout, of the arms in second position port de bras , the spine in épaulment .

• Explore the spiraling quality of croisé , efface , and épaulment movements in centre .

How else would you improvise with concept of tourner/turning in class?

More explorations!

One step, different concept!

1 Practice the following steps from ballet class in any way you want.

Demi plié Battement degagé Rond de jambe (en l’air, à terre) Balancé

Figure 4.6 Explore rotation of the legs at barre



Pirouette in retiré (en dedans or dehors) Glissade assemblé Sissonne (fermée or ouvert)

2 Apply each of the seven traditional movements to the above steps. For example, perform a balancé by fi rst emphasizing the concept of Plier , then Relever , and so on. It is helpful to have the names and synonyms for the seven traditional movements visible as you do this.

3 Refl ect : How does each concept affect the technique of the steps?

How does each concept affect the expressive quality of the steps?

Discover concepts in other balletic terms!

1 Choose three more balletic terms to use conceptually during ballet class. 2 Defi ne each term (i.e. tombé : falling; passé : passed/passing; adagio : at ease,

leisure). Then, write about the movement qualities each term invokes. 3 Apply those movement qualities to different steps and exercises throughout

class. 4 Refl ect : How did those movement qualities facilitate your technical and artistic

exploration? For example: the quality of passing ( passé ) is useful when focus-ing on transitions between movements and steps.

seven traditional ballet movements - amazon s3 · • improvise with how different ballet steps...

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