Perfecting Entrelace

[Guest thumpinhippo]

I find that when I do entrelace, it's either very jerky or else my knees are completely turned in and it just looks horrible. Are there any tips on achieving a balance of smoothness and turnout ?

[Mel Johnson]

In a grand jeté en tournant entrelacé, the maintenance of turnout throughout the step is essential. At no time can you drop it and hope to pick it up again in the air. As to the jerkiness, the chassé or whatever you use as a preparation has to have the right amount of momentum to carry you first upward and along the "line of dance" as the RAD calls it, but then, in the air, you must transition somewhat to a landing looking back along the line you've traveled on the floor. And of course, there is the basic correction, jump higher. It gives you more time to do all the things you have to do in this somewhat complicated step.

[Victoria Leigh]

One way to work on this step is to do it without the jump, slowly and carefully, being sure to use your demi plié and the port de bras coming down to en bas and then up to en haut as you lift the front leg. Feel the rotation of the front leg as you rise to demi pointe, and then turn your body to go back where you came from and lift the back leg in a turned out arabesque, and lower your arms as you go into the plié, holding the arabesque. Do it all in slow motion until your body understands what it has to do when you add the jump. Also work on the preparation into the entrelacé, being sure to articulate the legs and feet and step through the toes!

[Guest thumpinhippo]

Sorry...it's actually much simpler than that! I was referring to a straight entrelace.

[Mel Johnson]

I think we have a shorthand problem here. Entrelacé doesn't exist by itself, it's an adjective (actually a past participle, but hey...). The term by itself is often used as a shorthand for jeté entrelacé, which in the two major Russian schools is the same as grand jeté en tournant or "tour jeté". So, what step is being described here? Mind, the advice about turnout still holds, and Ms. Leigh's practical advice about practicing a step slowly on the ground still holds, no matter what!

[Guest thumpinhippo]

Oh really? I had always learnt it as just plain entrelace. Point taken about the advice. Anyway the step was going forward when one leg lifts in attitude behind you then the other one. Hope that was clear enough. So what's the name for that?

[Victoria Leigh]

Sounds to me like you are describing a jeté passé, or a temps de flêche en arrière, thumpinhippo.

[Mel Johnson]

Or given that the leg goes to attitude, it could even be a pas de chat russe.

[Guest thumpinhippo]

I just thought of another way to describe it - it's the only (i think) jump done in the prelude of Les Sylphides. Is that a jeté passé, a temps de flêche en arrière or a pas de chat russe?

[Mel Johnson]

OK, that's just a small pas de chat russe, according to Vitale Mikhailovitch Fokine. A jeté passé is done with straight legs, and the temps de flèche can be pretty similar, but I recall Vitale Mikhailovitch calling it a "Russian pas de chat, but pretty small." There is another jump in the Prelude, though - there are some assemblés.

[Guest thumpinhippo]

That just dawned on me after i'd replied... . Thanks for the advice

[Marenetha]

In a tour jete, is it merely a stylistic thing, or in all versions, does your head remain gazing at your hand until the final second?

[Victoria Leigh]

It's a stylistic thing, however quite commonly used. I don't use it though, until the student is very proficient at performing both the jump itself and especially the preparation into it. I found that leaving the head back towards where you started, as you do the tombé coupé or the 3 runs into the step causes inexperienced students to be not only turned in during the preparation, but usually making the last step heel first, which is a Cardinal Sin! (It is absolutely a total mystery to me why so many dancers do this and it has never been corrected! They don't even know they are doing it, and it takes a while to get this fixed.) The tombé, or chassé coupé should move into a 5th in the air, which is very difficult if you are moving sideways and turned in! An advanced dancer should be able to do the preparation correctly and still leave the head for a moment at the beginning of the movement. However, if they are doing the 3 runs instead of the tombé coupé action into the jump, it's best to turn and go, not leave the head more than a fraction of a second from the starting position. Leaving it too long is what seems to cause the problems.

[Mel Johnson]

Another thing that happens in grand jeté en tournant entrelacé is that when it's done linked by chassés, the student will often drag the heel of the following foot in chassé, even if she doesn't do that anywhere else! That also takes awhile to train out. I personally have never used the "lingering gaze" while teaching the step, but have used it choreographically.