First Position: Feet together, in line, heel to heel. Second Position: Feet apart, in line, heels opposed. Third Position: Feet together, front and behind, overlapping by about a half foot length. Fourth Position: Feet apart, front and behind. Feet may be a) closed - fully overlapping, or b) open - no overlap. Fifth Position: Feet together, front and behind, fully overlapping.
First position: maintaining the curved shape, arms are brought up so that the tips of the fingers are in line with the navel or no higher than the sternum. Second position: arms are out to the sides, angled down and forward, with palms facing forward. Elbows are slightly lower than the shoulders, and wrists are slightly lower than the elbow. A position intermediate between the first and the second position is called demi-seconde. Third position: one arm is in second position; the other is in first position. Fourth position: one arm is in first position; the other is rounded and raised above the head. Fifth position (en haut): arms are extended above your head, slightly frontwards, as arms maintain a gently curved line. Shoulders must be kept down. Wrong...Wrong...Right!
Body Position: Start in Parallel 1. feet well planted 2. legs extended 3. light at the hip 4. tight at the stomach 5. elongated head to tail 6. free neck 7. shoulders placed A. to properly place the shoulders- say that your mid neck is the only connection to your shoulder. You are wearing a cape and you roll the cape back- gently brush the cape back and stand firmly placed 8. your spine- not completely straight, not too far back, not too far forward 9. (go ahead and turn out for tail positioning) tail should be tucked to create line and to keep movement coming from your core or center (your abdomin) A. to demonstrate, put one leg in relever and go from turn in to out slowly. The muscles that should move the leg are actually 5 deeply burried muscles in the inner thigh, NOT the glutes. * to practice correct positioning you can do turn out/in in 1 leg relever paying special attention to keeping your tail tucked and using the proper muscles. Some stretches to reinforce positioning: 1. Seated butterfly- A. Bending all the way down and all the way up B. Strengthening core with arch and in and reinfore the elongated spine 2. Standing stretches that reinforce tail position while strengthing core A. Legs and Arms in Second going side to side B. Legs and Arms in Second going front to back Ballet Feet positions: 1. First Position: Feet together, in line, heel to heel. 2. Second Position: Feet apart, in line, heels opposed 3. Third Position: Feet together, front and behind, overlapping by about a half foot length 4. Fourth Position: Feet apart, front and behind. Feet may be: a) closed - fully overlapping, or b) open - no overlap. 5. Fifth Position: Feet together, front and behind, fully overlapping Ballet Arm positions: 1. First position: maintaining the curved shape, arms are brought up so that the tips of the fingers are in line with the navel or no higher than the sternum. 2. Second position: arms are out to the sides, angled down and forward, with palms facing forward. Elbows are slightly lower than the shoulders, and wrists are slightly lower than the elbow. NOTE: position between the first and the second position is called demi-seconde. 3. Third position: one arm is in second position; the other is in first position. 4. Fourth position: one arm is in first position; the other is rounded and raised above the head. 5. Fifth position (en haut): arms are extended above your head, slightly frontwards, as arms maintain a gently curved line. Shoulders must be kept down.
7 categories of movements in ballet: (Today we will start with the first 3) 1. plièr - to bend (plie) 2. etendre - to stretch (tendu) 3. relever - to rise up (releve/ eleve without plie) 4. saute - to jump/leap 5. elancer - to dart 6. glisser - to glide 7. tourner - to turn NOTE: In a pas de deux (duet) you can add at least four more: Plie- to lift to throw (jeter) to catch to carry Means "bend", from the verb plier, to bend. A smooth and continuous bending of the knees. This can be grand-plié, a bend to the deepest position. For demi-plié the dancer bends knees until just below the classical hips while maintaining turn-out at the joints, allowing the thighs and knees to be directly above the line of the toes without releasing the heels from te floor. The intention here is keep the heels on the ground as long as possible. In either instance, the motion is fluid and does not stop in downward bend. As soon as the bottom of the bend is reached the bend is reversed and the straightening of the legs is begun, equally as smoothly. Tendu: Literally, "stretched"; a common abbreviation for battement tendu. Usually done as an exercise at the barre from first or fifth position, the working leg is extended to either the front, side or back, gradually along the floor until only the tip of the toe remains touching the floor (tendu a terre) or even further stretched so that the tip of the toe comes up off the floor a few inches (en l'air). A tendu can also be used in preparation for other more complex steps, such as pirouettes, or leaps. Releve/ Eleve: Literally "rise". A relevé without the plié, so that the dancer simply rises directly to demi or pointe from flat feet and straight legs all the way to the balls of the feet.
How to practice :-) Stretches from sitting and standing position to reinforce body placement. Ballet movement sample practice for first and second position with 3 movements:) (If you use music 8x will be two 8 counts) 8x demi-plie (arms in first position) with feet in second position: 8x demi-plie (arms in second position) 8x tendu with right foot frontwards (arms in second position) 8x tendu with left foot frontwards (arms in second position) 8x tendu with right foot side (arms in second position) 8x tendu with left foot side (arms in second position) 8x tendu with right foot back (arms in second position) 8x tendu with left foot back (arms in second position) 8x eleve (arms in fifth position) with feet in second position: 8x eleve (arms in fifth position)
LESSON 2. Review with stretches- 1. Stretches- CORE standing in second- sides/core butterfly- 32 reps (4-8 counts) seated leg stretches (4 x to each side- 8 counts; then circle to middle and hold on both sides, then core circles seated) 2. Review foot positioning/arm positioning 3. REPETIONS: WITH FEET IN SECOND POSITION 8x demi-plie (arms in second position) WITH FEET IN FIRST POSITION: 8x demi-plie (arms in first position) 8x tendu with right foot frontwards (arms in second position) 8x tendu with left foot frontwards (arms in second position) 8x tendu with right foot side (arms in second position) 8x tendu with left foot side (arms in second position) 8x tendu with right foot back (arms in second position) 8x tendu with left foot back (arms in second position) ADD IN REPS- GRAND BATTEMENT in preparation for learing saute/straight leaps (grandbaught-mahn) a battement simply means a movement of the leg PREP; To front, side back 8x with both legs from first, make sure to go through your tendu 4. ADD Saute (SOH-TAY) Saute (SOH-TAY) means to jump or to leap on one or both feet REPS: (in First) (plie, releve, plie, and prep 8 times) then add the jump (ALWAYS FINISH IN PLIE, THEN CLOSE LEGS UP TO PREP) (plie, releve, plie, and saute 8 times) REPS (in First) Tendu touch front 1-2- close 3-4, side 5-6- close 7-8, back 1-2- close 3-4, plie 5-6, saute 7-8 5. Saute- do a straight leap first start with height needed by running and jumping Run, run, leap & land (jumping off one foot and extending legs and landing on the other foot)
step, leap, step, leap 6. ADD Glissade (GLEE-SAUD) Glissade means to glide, moving side to side- you want to flow like you would on ice, yet you want to think of your vertical being as high as possible REPS (in 5 th position) Tendu touch side 1-2- close 3-4, glissade 5-6- close 7-8