Chapter 8
Getting a Leg Up
In This Chapter
Lifting and sustaining with the barre
Kicking like a Rockette
Stretching it out
Rising to new levels
The three chapters in this part make up a complete barre routine that you can do in sequence every day as an essential part of your ballet training. Chapters 6 and 7 help you with some basic barre moves, awakening and strengthening the muscles and skills that you need for ballet.
If you have already attempted all the moves in Chapters 6 and 7, you may develop a nervous eye tic on merely hearing the word “barre.” But stick with us for one more chapter — the payoff is straight ahead.
In this chapter you explore your newfound strength in order to hold one leg up higher and higher, accessing the proper muscles with impressive control — just like the pros. And when you can do that , you’ll be ready for anything.
Extending Your Leg Slowly into the Air (Grand Battement Développé)
If you chose your all-time favorite ballet moves, we bet the grand battement développé would be among them. This step, known as the développé (“DAVE-low-PAY”) for short, is one of the most beautiful elements in classical ballet. It is usually performed by the ballerina in a slow (so-called adagio ) tempo, often held up by her partner.
In fact, the pas de deux movements from the great ballets are positively riddled with développés. You’ve got yer Nutcracker pas de deux. You’ve got yer Sleeping Beauty pas de deux. And you’ve even got yer Othello pas de deux. Every one of them depends heavily on développés.
The look of a développé should be absolutely smooth and seamless, exactly as if performed underwater. With the exception that you can still breathe. And you don’t get drenched or tied up in seaweed. But otherwise it’s exactly the same.
The movement involves lifting your leg and sustaining it with seemingly no effort. As you might guess, this illusion requires a lot of muscle control and strength. And as you know by now, the best way to develop the strength and control you need is at the barre. So back to the barre with you.
Développé to the front
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Keeping in mind that this exercise forms part of the set of movements called adagio (very slow and at ease), take your time doing it.
1. Pick up your right foot and place it into the cou-de-pied front position (remembering to keep your right heel forward of your right toes), and lower your right arm to low fifth position.
2. Continue lifting your right foot up your left shin to the level of your knee; you are now in the retiré position. As you do this, lift your right arm to middle fifth position.
Still with us? Of course you are.
3. Extend your right leg toward the front, leading the motion with your pointed foot. As you continue straightening your right knee, lift your right arm to high fifth position (Figure 8-1a).
Depending on the flexibility of your hamstrings, the angle between your leg and the floor may vary. The great ballerinas of the world can point their legs almost straight up. But for now, if you can lift your leg to 90 degrees — parallel to the floor — you are doing great. Even 45 degrees is fine to start. Don’t push it.
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Figure 8-1: Développé to the front, side, and back, with port de bras. |
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4. When your leg is straight, feel it rising for one second more, to enhance the illusion of endless lift and ease. Now lower it back down, keeping your knee straight, and close it into fifth position with your right foot in front. Your right arm opens into second position.
Ladies and Gentlemen of the Jury — a développé to the front.
Développé to the side
For most of us mortals, the développé is much easier to do out to the side than to the front. Why? Because with your legs starting in fifth position and hips turned out, your leg is much less constricted when it goes to the side.
Inhale, exhale . . .
Breathing correctly is essential to dancing well — especially once you begin to dance more aerobic and strenuous combinations, like the one in this chapter.
The most important thing to remember is this: Never hold your breath. At any point in any motion, you are either breathing in or breathing out.
In any développé exercise, as you lift your leg to the highest point, inhale. Then, as you lower your leg back to fifth position, exhale. And for bends of the body, exhale as you bend over, and inhale as you return upright.
Stand in the starting position, but with your right arm in second position.
1. Draw your right foot up to the cou-de-pied position front as you bring your right arm to low fifth position.
2. Continue to bring your right foot up your left shin until your pointed toes are even with your left knee, simultaneously bringing your right arm up to middle fifth position.
Now this is where it gets interesting.
3. With your right leg turned out, start to lift your right knee. As you straighten your right knee, open your right arm into second position, in front of your right leg.
4. When your leg is straight, lift it for one second, remembering to breathe. Then, keeping your right knee straight, close it into fifth position, this time with your right foot in back.
If you look into a mirror in front of you when you have reached the full extension, you should be able to see the bottom of your right foot (refer to Figure 8-1b). Don’t be discouraged if you can’t get this unusual view right away. For now, the goal is grace and control. The extension comes with practice.
Développé to the back
The développé to the back is the most difficult of all — thanks not only to the aforementioned hip joint, but also to the stubborn (and often uncooperative) bones and muscles of the back.
Of course there are exceptions to every rule, and there do exist exceptionally limber and gifted dancers (read: freaks of nature) who can lift their legs even higher to the back than to the side. These dancers are few, which is a good thing for the rest of us. The gift of exceptionally loose hip and back joints often draws oohs and aahs from the audience, as well as the occasional snicker of “You’ve got to be kidding!”
So don’t be discouraged if you lack the flexibility of an acrobat when doing this exercise. The key in ballet is not to look acrobatic, but to appear natural and flowing at all times. You can do this.
Start in fifth position with your right foot in back, right arm in second position.
1. Lift your right foot into the cou-de-pied back position, remembering to keep your toes farther back than your heel. Meanwhile, lower your right arm to low fifth position.
2. Bring your right foot up the back of your left leg, touching your right heel along the leg and slowly moving the foot sideways until the toes of your right foot are touching the back of your left knee. (This is known as retiré back.) Bring your right arm to middle fifth position.
Now it’s time to put the “back” in développé back.
3. Start straightening your right leg out in back of you. Slo-o-o-o-owly, now, keeping your knee lifted and pressed out, allow your foot to follow your knee’s lead into the full extension backward. Meanwhile, bring your right arm to middle fifth position, then straighten the elbow and reach forward with the right side of your torso.
This is known as a second position arabesque. Your entire torso, in fact, should appear calm and in balance — blissfully unaware of that appendage sticking out behind you (Figure 8-1c). This is a momentous achievement.
4. After your leg is completely straight, lift your leg for one second more with a fully straight knee, remembering to breath the entire time (see the sidebar “Inhale, exhale . . .”). Then lower your leg down into fifth position with your right foot in back, and open your right arm into second position.
Kicking Your Leg Up, Controlling It Down (Grands Battements)
You gotta love this step; it’s one of the catchiest, most recognizable, beloved steps of all time. If that’s because the Rockettes made it famous, then so be it.
In ballet lingo, the straight-legged trademark kick of these multitalented ladies is called a grand battement (“GRAHN bat-MAHN”), and it has many uses in ballet. Alone, of course, it makes quite an impact: Kicking so high, and so often, and in unison with so many other people, never fails to impress.
But the grand battement also works well in combination with other steps. For example, if you were to leap off the ground, with the intent of splitting your legs in the midair, the first part of the jump would be a grand battement . Just think of the potential: Your legs are approximately half of your body length, so if you manage to throw that half up in the air, getting the other half up is that much easier.
Kicking with attitude
Before you book your ticket to Rockefeller Center, though, it’s time to explore a grand battement on training wheels. In this kick, your lifted leg is bent at an angle of slightly less then 90 degrees. Technically, this angle is known as attitude.
Starting this way enables you to lift your legs with the same energy and “attack” as in the straight-legged kick, but with much less strain on the ol’ hamstrings. Plus, let’s face it — a bent leg can go much higher than a straight leg. You might as well have some fun while you can.
To the front
1. Brush your right foot forward as if you were doing a dégagé to the front, and lift your leg up as high as you can. (Don’t forget to keep your leg turned out.) While you do, bend your right knee to almost 90 degrees, and keep your left knee straight (Figure 8-2a).
The motion of your right leg should feel more like a kick than a lift. Imagine throwing your leg up into the air underhanded, as if it were a softball.
2. Control the descent of your right leg, pushing gently against the force of gravity, as your leg floats back down into fifth position like a balloon.
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Figure 8-2: Grand battement en attitude to the front, side, and back. |
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There you have it — a complete grand battement en attitude.
After you get a feel for this motion, you can access the feeling for jumps. And that comes in very handy in future chapters.
To the side
Standing in the starting position, but with your right arm in second position:
1. Brush your right foot to the side as if you were doing a dégagé to the side, and lift your leg, bending your right knee to almost 90 degrees.
Just as in the développé to the side, the sole of your right foot should be visible when you look in a mirror in front of you — and from your perspective, your right heel should be in front of your right knee. Remember to keep your left knee straight (refer to Figure 8-2b).
2. Control your return to fifth position, with your right leg behind your left.
Your return to fifth position needs the same control as you used with the forward kick. But this time, in preparation for the grand battement en attitude to the rear, close your right leg behind your left.
To the back
Just one more attitude adjustment, and you’ll be in the big kick business. From fifth position, with your right leg behind your left and your right arm in second position, brush your right foot to the back as if you were doing a dégagé to the back, and lift your leg, bending your right knee to about 45 degrees (refer to Figure 8-2c).
In this move, your foot automatically wants to lift higher than your knee. That’s a good thing, as long as you maintain the turnout in your hip joint.
Kicking with straight legs
Your brilliance with the grand battement en attitude has inspired us to challenge you with something more brazen — the Rockette kick itself. The concept is exactly the same, but both knees are straight — giving your legs enormous power and momentum.
To the front
1. Brush your right leg forward as if you were doing a dégagé forward.
2. Continue to lift your right leg as high as possible while keeping your stomach and back lifted, both knees straight, and your hips turned out.
This motion should feel more like a kick than a lifting of your leg (Figure 8-3a).
3. Control your straight right leg as it comes back down to the fifth position.
Notice that with a straight right knee, your leg feels significantly heavier than when you did this kick in attitude (see the previous section).
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Figure 8-3: Grand battement to the front, side, and back. |
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To the side
Now for a grand battement to the side.
1. From the starting position with your right arm in second position, brush your right leg out to the right.
2. Continue to lift your right leg out to the right.
The toes of your pointed right foot should be the very last thing to leave the floor. Keep both knees straight, and your hips turned out. At the top of the kick, you should see the sole of your right foot in the mirror in front of you. Your right leg is behind your right arm (refer to Figure 8-3b).
3. As you lower your leg back into fifth position, touch the ground first with your toes, and then brush your foot along the ground. Finish by closing your right foot behind the left into fifth position.
To the back
Ready for a kick to the back? From fifth position, with your right foot in back, brush your right foot to the back, just as if you were doing a dégagé to the back. Make sure your toes are the first to brush the floor; then bring your leg up to 90 degrees behind you, keeping your foot pointed and your hip rotated out. If this position looks familiar, that’s because it comes up in a million ballets. It’s called arabesque.
At the full height of this motion, if you look in the mirror on your right side, your right heel should be completely hidden, in line with your leg in its most turned-out position.
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A Combination for Développés and Grands Battements
ALLLLL -righty then. You can’t imagine how much fun you can have performing développés and grands battements, one after the other, in a combination. This exercise does wonders for warming up your legs, hips, and back, and developing great strength.
For music, we suggest the Valse from Act I of Tchaikovsky’s Sleeping Beauty. Count the music in groups of 8 counts, with each “OOM-pah-pah” getting a single count. (Chapter 5 tells you all about counting beats in music.)
1. Stand in the starting position. Over counts 1 through 4, do nothing.
2. Over counts 5 through 8, move your right arm through middle fifth position and out to second (arm) position.
3. On the next count 1, bring your right foot to the cou-de-pied position in front, and bring your right arm to low fifth position. Then, over counts 2 and 3, bring your right leg up to retiré and bring your right arm to middle fifth position.
4. Over counts 4 through 6, do a développé to the front, simultaneously lifting your right arm up to high fifth position.
After reaching the extended position, lift your leg slightly.
5. Over counts 7 and 8, lower your right leg, passing through the battement tendu position in front, to reach fifth position with the right leg in front.
6. Over counts 1 through 6, do three grands battements to the front (one count up, one count down), with straight knees.
After each kick, return your legs to fifth position, maintaining your arm in high fifth position.
7. Over counts 7 and 8, bring your right arm to second position.
8. On the next count 1, bring your right foot to the cou-de-pied position in front, and move your right arm to low fifth position. Then, over counts 2 and 3, bring your right leg up to retiré and bring your right arm to middle fifth position.
9. Over counts 4 through 6, do a développé to the side, simultaneously opening your right arm to second position slightly in front of your leg.
After reaching the extended position, lift your leg slightly.
10. Over counts 7 and 8, lower your right leg , passing through the battement tendu position at the side, to fifth position with your right foot in front.
Your right arm stays in second position.
11. Over counts 1 through 6, do three grands battements to the side with straight legs.
Return to fifth position each time, alternating the right leg back, front, and back.
12. On counts 7 and 8, bring your right arm to low fifth position.
13. On count 1, bring your right foot to the cou-de-pied position in back, right arm in low fifth position. Over counts 2 and 3, bring your right foot up to retiré in back, while lifting your right arm to middle fifth position.
14. Over counts 4 through 6, do a développé to the back, simultaneously extending your right arm in front of your shoulder into second position arabesque (as defined in the previous section).
15. Over counts 7 and 8, lower your right leg, passing through the battement tendu position in back, to close in fifth position, with your right foot in back.
Leave your right arm where it is.
16. Over counts 1 through 6, do three grands battements to the back with straight legs.
Each time, return to fifth position with your right foot in back of the left.
17. On count 7, round your right arm in middle fifth position. On count 8, open it to second position.
18. On count 1, bring your right foot to the cou-de-pied position in back, while bringing your right arm into low fifth position. Over counts 2 and 3, lift your right leg into the retiré position in back, while lifting your right arm to middle fifth position.
19. Over counts 4 through 6, do a développé to the side, simultaneously opening your right arm to second position slightly in front of your leg.
After reaching the extended position, lift your leg slightly.
20. Over counts 7 and 8, close your right leg into fifth position, with your right foot in back.
Your right arm stays in second position.
21. Over counts 1 through 6, do three grands battements to the side with straight legs.
Return to fifth position each time, alternating your right leg front, back, front.
22. Over counts 7 and 8, lower your right arm to low fifth position.
Repeat the exercise with your left leg. Why should your right leg have all the fun?
Watch where you’re going!
In Chapter 2 we show you how to go barreless — practicing ballet barre exercises in the comfort of your own home, using solid furniture for balance in place of a barre.
If you opt for this alternative, make sure that you can lift your legs in all directions without hitting anything. Nothing stops the flow of the barre exercises more abruptly than a fractured fibula.
One of your present authors, unfortunately, learned this lesson the hard way. Before a performance many years ago, while warming up on grands battements backstage, she kicked her leg to the side just as a violinist from the balletorchestra was walking by. The top of her foot slammed into his violin case. Recovering from the crash, she was relieved to discover that the violin was safe inside its steel case. We wish we could say the same thing about her right foot, which was broken in three places.
Over the years, your author’s foot has also had unfortunate contact with other dancers, unsuspecting balletomanes, light booms, cocktail glasses, and even the family cat, which for a brief moment became a flying feline. (For more on the pas de chat, see Chapter 12.)
The lesson is clear: Watch where your legs are going.
Stretching Out Your Legs on the Barre
Now that all your muscles are warm — perhaps a little too warm — the time has come to re-e-e-e-ally stretch out your legs. Stretching is a very slow process, and you may need weeks to see true progress. But be patient. Every muscle can stretch, given the time.
Although acceptable barre substitutes abound, an actual barre is ideal for supporting these stretches. When you first start to stretch, look for a barre at hip level, or a little lower. Then, as your flexibility increases, try a higher barre.
The positions in the following stretching exercises are the same positions you need for lifting your legs in center-floor exercises (the subject of Part III) —unaided by the friendly barre. By stretching your legs at the barre now, you will eventually be able to lift your legs to these new heights by yourself.
The ideal position in front
Place your left hand on the barre and bring your right arm to second position. Lift your right leg up to rest on the barre just above the heel. (That’s where the Achilles tendon lives.) Make sure that your shoulders and hips are aligned perpendicular to your right leg. Keep both knees straight, both legs turned out, your right foot pointed, your back straight, and your stomach pulled up. Got it? Take a look at Figure 8-4a, just to be sure.
If you’re just starting out in ballet, this position itself gives you plenty of stretch. But if you can still move and breathe comfortably, it’s time to ratchet up the level a little — with the famous forward bend.
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Figure 8-4: Stretching at the barre to the front, side, and back. |
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Leave your left hand on the barre, and right arm in second position. Keeping your torso in the same alignment with your right leg, inhale — and simultaneously lift your torso a little bit.
Now exhale — and while keeping your back straight, bend forward at the hips toward your right leg. When you reach your maximum stretch, bring your right arm to high fifth position. Stay there for about three seconds.
Return upright, with your back straight. Meanwhile, bring your right arm back out to second position. Then repeat the forward bend and return.
The ideal position to the side
From the front stretch of your right leg at the barre (see the previous section), turn to face the barre, maintaining the turnout of your left leg as you turn. Place both hands on the barre and line up your hips and shoulders with the barre.
With both legs fully turned out, point your right foot fully, as shown in Figure 8-4b. Keep your right hand on the barre, and lift your left arm to second position. Now inhale, and bring your left arm to high fifth position. Exhale, and bend your torso to the right. Make sure to bend only to the side — don’t let your body pull you forward or back. After you have reached the maximum stretch, hold it for about three seconds.
Now inhale as you slowly return upright — and lower your left arm to second position, ready to repeat this stretch.
The ideal position in back
From the side stretch position, with your right leg still on the barre, turn to your left, until your right leg is behind you in arabesque. (Support your turn by sliding the right hand forward along the barre to just in front of the right shoulder, as you open the left arm to second position.) Meanwhile, turn out your left leg farther, with a straight knee, and align your shoulders in front of your hips. The right side of your upper torso should be well forward in opposition to your right hip — which is open to allow your leg to turn out in arabesque.
This may be plenty of stretch, so just stay there and breathe for an few moments, with your left arm in second position (refer to Figure 8-4c). Ahhhhhhh. Masochism.
If we’ve somehow underestimated you, and that’s not enough stretch, try a little back bend. Inhale, and bring your left arm to high fifth position. Now exhale, and bend back from your upper torso. This is a very difficult stretch — so don’t push it. Go only as far as you can. Some things in ballet are worth waiting for.
To get out of this contortion, lower your leg from the barre into fifth position. Careful here — your right leg will almost certainly want to slam down into the left like a slingshot. Keep the motion slow and controlled.
Now repeat the entire sequence of stretches with your left leg.
Focusing on Relevés
After you warm up all your muscles, and stretch out your legs and back, it’s time to do one final set of barre exercises — relevés. These exercises involve lifting your body up to the balls of your feet, and back down again, in repetition.
Relevés are crucial to the mastery of nearly all ballet steps — from slow (adagio) movements, to pirouettes, to big jumps. Muscular control in the ankles, calves, and knees allows ballet dancers to point their feet every time their feet leave the floor — and acts as a shock absorber on the way down.
If you need some help on how to do relevés (as well as the demi-pliés between them), refer to Chapter 6.
For music, we suggest the Street Dancers’ Scene from Act II of Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet. This music has an “OOM-pah-pah” rhythm like a waltz. For each relevé, go up on one “OOM-pah-pah” and down on the next. That speed allows you to do these relevés smoothly and at an even pace — like a piston.
In first position at the barre
This is not only the first relevé that a dancer masters, but it is also the first exercise that most experienced ballerinas do whenever they put on their pointe shoes — regardless of how many years they have been dancing.
1. Face the barre and place your hands on the barre at about shoulder width apart. Stand in first position.
Your elbows should be slightly bent and pointing downwards, placing you at a comfortable distance away from the barre.
2. Do a demi-plié.
3. Straighten back up and do a relevé in first position.
When you rise up, finish straightening your knees before beginning the relevé — but try to make this coordination seamless.
4. Lower your feet from the relevé. When your heels touch the floor, do another demi-plié.
Repeat Steps 3 and 4 until you have completed six relevés . End with a demi-pli é in first position; then straighten your knees to finish.
In second position
From first position, sweep your right foot to the side in a battement tendu, and lower your heel down, placing your heel in line with your left foot. You are now in second position.
1. Face the barre and place your hands on the barre about shoulder width apart. Stand in second position.
Your elbows should be slightly bent and pointing downwards, placing you at a comfortable distance away from the barre.
2. Do a demi-plié.
3. Straighten back up and do a relevé in second position, remembering to finish straightening your knees just before starting the relevé.
4. Lower your feet from the relevé. When your heels touch the floor, do another demi-plié.
Repeat Steps 3 and 4 until you have completed six relevés . Finish with a demi-pli é in second position; then straighten your knees, bring your right foot to the side in tendu, and lower your heel to first position. This completes the first and second-position relevés.
In sous-sus position
As you have probably noticed, when you rise up from a fifth position demi-plié and do a relevé, your heels are no longer in line with one another. The so-called sous-sus (“soo-SUE”), meaning “down-up,” alleviates this dilemma.
To accomplish the sous-sus, as you do the relevé, slide both feet together to meet, one directly behind the other (Figure 8-5). From the front, you seem to have one foot with two heels. (Why this is considered ideal is beyond us.) To reverse the motion, slide your feet apart and bring them into a demi-plié in fifth position.
Try a few, alternating your forward foot.
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Figure 8-5: The sous-sus position. |
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Escaping from fifth to second position (échappés)
In the following exercise, you use the relevé and demi-plié motions in another active combination. The French word échappé (“ay-shah-PAY”) means “escaped” — an appropriate word for this move, in which your feet “escape” from the cramped confines of fifth position out into the wide open spaces of second.
1. Face the barre and place your hands on the barre at about shoulder width apart. Stand in fifth position with your right foot in front.
Your elbows should be only slightly bent and pointing downwards, placing you at a comfortable distance away from the barre.
2. Do a demi-plié.
3. Straighten your legs with enough force to be able to slide your legs out into second position relevé.
Make sure your feet maintain contact with the floor the whole way out.
4. From the relevé position, use your inner thigh muscles to pull your legs back together. Then close to fifth position with your left foot in front, and immediately do a demi-plié.
Repeat Steps 3 and 4 seven more times, ending with demi-plié in fifth position. (Each time you reach fifth position, alternate the forward foot.) Straighten your knees. Repeat until your legs feel too weak to continue.
In the cou-de-pied position
This type of relevé is absolutely pregnant with meaning and possibility.
The relevé on one leg, with the other leg in the cou-de-pied back position, is an essential building block for some of the most beautiful steps in ballet. After you can do that, the next logical step is to do a relevé on one leg while lifting the other — to the front, side, back, or in retiré.
Don’t try this at home!
While we’re on the subject of relevés, it would be downright unballetic not to mention pointe work.
Of course, you’ve seen ballerinas go en pointe time and time again. They do it hundreds of times in every performance. But did you know that going en pointe is nothing more than an extension of the very same relevé you’re practicing here?
When you do a relevé in first position, you’re transferring all your body weight up onto the balls of your feet. Now if you were to continue transferring that weight farther, through the toes themselves, all the way out to the very ends of the toes, you’d be en pointe. (There are other ways to get there, too — for example, the sous-sus position.)
But going en pointe is an advanced technique. Women usually need a year or more to discover the necessary balance. As for men, they never go en pointe at all — except in highly unusual moments of satirical choreography.
For more on pointe work — and the shoes that make it all possible — we gently nudge you toward Chapters 1 and 22.
1. Face the barre and stand in first position.
2. Do a demi-plié.
3. Rising up, do a relevé onto your left foot. Meanwhile, lift your right foot into the cou-de-pied back position.
In the cou-de-pied back position, your right heel is just in back of your left lower calf muscle, with the toes of your right foot pointing backward, away from your left leg. Check out Chapter 7 for more information on cou-de-pied positions.
4. Do a demi-plié on your left leg, while maintaining the cou-de-pied position of your right leg. (Don’t let that right foot wander.)
Repeat Steps 3 and 4 six more times. After the final relevé, bend both knees into a first position demi-plié, and then straighten your knees. Burn, baby, burn!
Passing the barre
Still with us? If so, congratulations — you have completed your first “barre”! Truly an achievement worth celebrating.
But before we release your brain to a well-deserved hour of intellectually devoid TV-watching or bathtub soaking, we’re obligated to point out that these last three chapters, when done in succession, form the complete barre sequence that professional ballet dancers go through nearly every day.
The strength and control that you can develop in these chapters will serve you very well in the future, especially on the so-called “center floor” — where you dance across the length of the room, bowling alley, or parking lot, without the aid of the barre.
Never thought you’d accomplish that, did you?