CATHERINE BORRONE
BALLET
BALLET APPRECIATION
DANCE COMPANIES:
Ballet Hispanico
American Ballet Theatre
Dance Theatre of Harlem
New York City Ballet
San Francisco Ballet
Paris Opera Ballet
Royal Ballet
Alvin Ailey
Paul Taylor
Martha Graham
Complexions
Australian Ballet
Mariinsky Ballet
Dutch National Ballet
Bolshoi Ballet
Pacific Northwest Ballet
Miami City Ballet
Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre
Ballet X
Alonzo King LINES Ballet
Netherland Dans Theatre
Revelations https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCsv5QlFo2Q
Vessels
Serenade
Swan Lake
complexions youtube
VARIATIONS
Boys in Ballet: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-HAptjPuLc
Schools of Ballet:
1. The French School
2. Royal Academy of Dance (England)
3. Vaganova (Russia)
4. Checchetti (Italy)
5. Bournonville (Denmark)
6. Balanchine (US)
7. The Alonso or Cuban Method
Ballet Information:
1. Ballet Dancers and Companies:
Below is the link to the Ballet school, Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet (CPYB). The link below will direct you to the alumni page and the ballet companies CPYB’s former students dance in. In my Ballet classes at EDA, we study the CPYB syllabus, which is inspired by the Balanchine style.
https://www.cpyb.org/alumni/alumni-in-the-field
2. A Brief History of Ballet:
https://www.atlantaballet.com/resources/brief-history-of-ballet
3. Classical Ballets to Know:
https://www.danceplug.com/articles/10-classical-ballets-any-kind-of-dancer-should-know
Movies:
1. “A Ballerina’s Tale”
Documentray on Misty Copeland, Principal Ballerina with American Ballet Theatre
Found on Amazon Prime, iTunes, YouTube
2. “First Position”
Documentary on the largest student ballet competition, Youth American Grand Prix
Free: https://www.documentaryarea.tv/player.php?title=First%20Position
3. “Ballet Now”
Documentary on Tyler Peck, Principal Dancer with New York City Ballet
Found on Hulu
Some Famous Ballet Dancers:
1. Rudolf Nureyev and Margot Fonteyn dancing in Swan Lake:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qG7JvpPGdEU
2. Gelsey Kirkland and Mikhail Baryshnikov dancing in The Nutcracker:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mrF_W1FuOY
3. Lauren Anderson and Carlos Acosta dancing in Don Quixote:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIxfspAInkg
4. Sylvie Guillem dancing in In the Middle Somewhat Elevated, Choreographer by: William Forsyth
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WLWDtbHNzxw
5. Yuan Yuan Tan and Luke Ingham dancing in After the Rain, Choreographed by Christopher Wheeldon
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTPT_Yw6TWM
6. Hilda Morales- soloist ABT, my former professor
Some Famous Ballet Companies:
(see above for more)
American Ballet Theatre https://www.abt.org/the-company/about/#history
New York City Ballet https://www.nycballet.com/Discover.aspx
Ballet Hispanico https://www.ballethispanico.org/company/artistic/history
San Fransisco Ballet
Dance Theatre of Harlem https://www.dancetheatreofharlem.org/our-history/
The Royal Ballet
Paris Opera Ballet
Pacific Northwest Ballet
Australian Ballet
Bolshoi Ballet
National Ballet of Cuba
Complexions (contemporary ballet) video
Alonzo King’s LINES (contemporary ballet)
Ballet Hispanico https://www.ballethispanico.org/company
BalletX
Choreographers/Modern Dance Pioneers:
Bob Fosse (Jazz, Broadway)
Jerome Robbins (Ballet, Broadway)
Katherine Dunham (Choreographer, she brought African and Caribbean influences into the dance world)
George Balanchine (Ballet and founder of School of American Ballet)
Paul Taylor (Modern)
Alvin Ailey (Modern)
Twyla Tharp (Contemporary)
Martha Graham (Modern)
Merce Cunningham (Modern)
Lester Horton (Modern)
Doris Humphrey (Modern)
Jose Limon (Modern)
Some Modern Dance Companies:
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre (modern dance) Video
Batsheva Dance Company (contemporary)
Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company (modern dance)
Paul Taylor Dance Company (modern dance)
Martha Graham Dance Company modern dance)
Company schools such as SAB and Jackie Onassis, Summer Intensive Ballet and Dance Programs, Performing Arts High Schools, College/University/Conservatory Degrees, Professional Companies
https://linesballet.org/company/
CPYB CLASS: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLGj_PuhfnY
ABT, CPYB, and Boston Ballet summer intensives
BALLET TERMINOLOGY
BARRE:
Plié - to bend. Demi and grand from 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, & 5th positions with port de bras
Tendu -stretched. From 1st and 5th positions
Dégagé - disengaged. From 1st and 5th positions
Pas de cheval - step of the horse
Soutenu - sustained
Rond de jamb a terre - round of the leg on the ground
Fondu - sinking down/to melt
Rond de jamb en l’air – round of the leg in the air
Frappé - to beat or to strike
Petits Battement – small beating
Développé - time developed
Grand Battement - big beat
CENTER:
Tendu with épaulment (shouldering) and temps lié (time bind)
Adage:
Développé
Relevé lent – slow raising
Épaulment - shouldering
port de bras -carriage of the arms
promenade - turn in a walk
pas de basque
penché - leaning
ACROSS THE FLOOR IN A DIAGONAL:
Chainé turns - chain, links
Piqué turns - pricked
Pirouette - whirl or spin
Arabesque, attitude turns, turns in a la second
Pirouette a la second – turning in the second position
Tombé – to fall
Balancé – rocking step
Waltz – to revolve
PETIT ALLEGRO:
Sauté – to jump
Echappé – to escape
Soubresaut – jolt
Changement – to change
Pas de chat – step of the cat
Glissade – to glide
Jeté – throwing
Assemblé – to assemble
Temp leve – small hop on one foot
Sissonne –
Sissonne simple –
Temps de cuisse – a step of high pressure
Emboité – alternates from foot to foot
Baloné – balloon
Ballotté – tossed
Precipité – precipittae
Entrechat (trois, quatre, cinq, six) – interweaving or braiding
Royale – royal
Brisé – broken step
Brisé vole – flying brisé
GRAND ALLEGRO:
Tour en l’air – turn in the air
Cabriole – somersault
Failli assemble – bankrupt assemble
Temps du fleche – shooting an arrow
Contretemps – against the beat
Grand jeté – big throw (with a straight leg)
Saut de chat – cat’s jump (with developpé)
Tombé coupé jeté – fall, cut, throw
Tour jeté - truning throw or entrelacé – scissor
Reverence – the end of class, curtsey or bow, and say thank you to each other
MORE BALLET TERMINOLOGY
POSITIONS OF THE BODY:
B+ - Prep with legs
Preparatory – prep with arms also called bras bas, low 5th
En face – facing the audience
Croisé – crossed
Effacé – shadowed
A la second – to the side
Écarté devant – separated to the front
Écarté derriere – separated behind
Arabesques- 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th
8 Points of the room
DIRECTIONS:
Devant – in front of
Derriére – behind
En Avant – forward
En Arriere - backward
Dessus - over
Dessous - under
MORE TERMINOLOGY:
En Pointe – on pointe
Balancoire - swing
Bourreé – to cram or to stuff
Passé – to pass (an action)
Retiré – withdrawn (a position)
Relevé – raised vs. Rise
Pas couru – a running step
En cloche – like a bell
Fouetté- to whip
En tournant – whipped turning
Attitude
Pas de bourreé
Sous-sus- under-under
Sur le cou de pied – on the neck of the foot vs. cou de pied vs. coupé – to cut
Chasé – chassed
Flik flak
Gargouillade – rumbling or bubbling
Pas de deux – dance of two
Demi – half
Ballon – bounce
Battu – striking together of the legs
En dehors -outward
En dedans- inward
Manége – a circle within a circle
En croix- in the shape of a cross
Fermé – closes both feet
Ouvert - open
STAGE:
Center stage
Stage right
Stage left
Upstage
Downstage