Relationship of Barre Exercises to Centre and Allegro Movements

Relationship of Barre Exercises to Centre and Allegro Movements

It is important to remember that, in addition to warming the body, all barre exercises relate directly to movements that occur later in class, in the centre and allegro work. The following list links basic barre exercises with some of their centre or allegro counterparts:

Plies – The beginning and ending of all jumping movements

Tendus; degages – assembles

Degages pointes – cabrioles

Petits developpes; pas de cheval – ballotes

Ronds de jambe par terre – pas de basque

Fondus – all jumps landing on one leg (in particular, ballonnes)

Passes releve – pirouettes in retire position

Ronds de jambe en l’air – ronds de jambe en l’air sauté; gargouillades

Frappes – all small, quick jumps (in particular, those initiated by a sharp outward thrust of the leg, such as petits jetes). The speed at which the frappe leg stretches outward and the ensuing hold at a point in space is analogous to the speed at which the legs are thrust away from the floor in any jump and to the strong contraction of the muscles at the top of the jump which “freezes” the pose en l’air. This “freeze” action makes the dancer appear suspended in air as if in defiance of gravity. Frappes executed in a sluggish manner will lead to a lethargic petit allegro without brilliance or speed.

Developpes; releves lents – similar center adagio movements

Developpes ballottes – ballottes at 90 degrees

Grande fouettes releves – similar centre adagio movements; grandes pirouettes that finish with fouettes to another pose

Petits battements – batterie, by emphasizing: (1) patterns for exchanging the legs relating to simple beats; (2) fast, strongly accented rhythms; (3) the correct placement of the foot sur le cou-de-pied (fully pointed, not wrapped), which is analogous to the final pose of small, beaten steps landing on one foot (entre-chat trios, cinq, etc.); (4) maintenance of turned-out thighs and sideways motion of the legs during batterie.

Grande battements – all grand allegro steps; all grand pirouettes. It is important to note that, because of the correlation between this exercise and the fast grand battement initiating all big jumps, grand battement should never be performed as a slow exercise in an advanced class. The leg should lift to its full height on the upbeat and close on the downbeat, just as it does when performing grand jete (and it should do so at a speed comparable to that of the battement for a big jump).

Grand battements developpes – all big jumps involving a developpe action of the leg(s), such as grande sissonne developpe ouverte, temps de fleche, grand jete developpe en avant (“split” jete)

Grande battements fouettes – grands jete entrelaces (“tours” jetes); grands fouettes sautés

Grands battements tombes – the landing from all big jumps that finish on one leg (in particular, grand jete)

Releves – allegro and pointe work

Pique turn en dehors – sauts de basque