Ballet

Point your toes and strike a pose!

Pointe - On the tip of the toes

In ballet technique is the most important as it is a highly technical dance form. It consists of techniques such as pointe work (dancing on the tip of the toes), turn-out of the legs, graceful flowing precise movements, soft arm movements, leaps and spins as well as its delicate qualities.

Subcategories of ballet:

• Classical ballet
• Neoclassical ballet
• Contemporary ballet

Each category has varying degrees of structure and rigidity.

A classical ballerina on pointe wearing a tutu

Ballet is taught in ballet schools all around the world, each adding their own culture to modernize the art.

Ballet is a formalized concert form of dance where the word ballet can be used to describe a story performed to music, using ballet dance techniques. Ballet performances include dance, music (usually classical music), costumes and scenery but no talking. Performances use dramatic expressions and dance movements in a storytelling format to tell the story.

Examples of the most popular ballets:

• Swan Lake
• Giselle
• The Nutcracker
• The Sleeping Beauty

Ballet training is hard work and the dancers must develop strength, balance, flexibility as well as grace. They learn a set of movements and gestures. All ballet students are taught five basic positions which form the basis for almost all ballet steps.

The 5 Basic ballet positions

The language of ballet: 

Ballet has its own vocabulary which consists of lots of French words. The steps were first named in France, and they have kept their French names. The rules and steps have been developed over centuries.

For example:

• When you spin on one foot, the step or movement is called a pirouette
• En pointe means on point - on the tip of the toes
• A pas de deux, meaning “step for two,” is a dance for two dancers 
• Barre, a railing that dancers use in warm up exercises to hold onto for support

Ballerina at a ballet barre

  

Pas de Deux: 

A dance done by two individuals (a ballet duet) is usually performed by a male and a female.

A Pas de Deux is made up of four main elements:

• The entree or entrance which is the introduction
• The adagio or slow combined section of the dance
• Variations, which is a solo performance given by each dancer or where one artist is the main focal point
• A coda which concludes the piece

Classical Pas de Deux: 

Classical ballet style dances where the choreographer chooses a story or theme for the ballet. The type of music danced to is classical music.

Two famous dances in this style are the Black Swan pas de deux from "Swan Lake" and the Nutcracker pas de deux from the Tchaikovsky ballet.

Classical Ballet

A classical Pas de Deux can be seen below choreographed by Thordal Christensen.

The classical ballet was performed by Ade Obayomi and Melissa Sandvig on pointe shoes to "Romeo and Juliet: Prokofiev's Suite (No.1 Op 64b, 6th Movement)" Orchestre De La Suisse Romande & Armin Jordan on Season 5 of So You Think You Can Dance.

A more modern form of a Pas de Deux performance can be seen below choreographed by Desmond Richardson and Dwight Rhoden who are co-founders of the Complexions Contemporary Ballet Company.

Katee Shean and William Wingfield dance to "Imagine" by David Archuleta on Season 4 of So You Think You Can Dance. 

Hope this has left you wanting to be as graceful as a ballet dancer.

Love as always & forever, in dance
Mia xxx