Ballet class is where the dancer, whether absolute beginner or professional, moves through a series of carefully choreographed movements to warm up the body, find one’s center of balance, and build strength and flexibility. There is an order in to movement, one leads to the next. All terminology is in French.
Barre Work & Stretching
We begin class always at the ballet barre where we warm up the body, work on the coveted turn out of the legs, find our center, and build strength. The ballet barre is your support as your learn proper positioning of the body and legs. This is where you will take your very first plié or millionth plié.
Center
After work at the barre, we move to the center of the room. It is here we test how well we have found our balance at the barre. We move through a series of movements including port de bras (carriage of the arms), adagio (slow movement), pirouettes (turns), and petit allegro depending on the level of the class.
We then (eventually) move across the floor together on a diagonal waltzing, turning, and jumping (grand allegro). The class ends in reverence (a bow), where the dancers bow as a way of saying thank you for the class. Clapping is a tradition at the end of every class. We clap for our teachers, we clap for each other, we clap if there is an accompanist playing. It is the equivalent of every yoga class ending in Namaste. Welcome to a beautiful art form steeped in history and tradition.
Stay tuned for ballet terminology in my next post.
Until Our Next Plié <3
