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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 

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