Saut de basque

[dido]

I am obsessed with the idea of being able to do a double saut de basque all of a sudden. Right now that seems totally out of reach for me (I fully figured out the regular kind about 2 months ago), but was wondering how one works up to a jump like that in theory, and what the prepatory jumps/etc are.

 

Or in fact do you just go for it and fall over a couple times?

 

Edited to add:

I do have the bonus of pretty huge elevation, by the way. I assume that helps!

[FleetFeet]

Dear dido;

 

I have always done this by making sure that I have the single cold, then take a chance and maybe fall. And I have fallen!

[Victoria Leigh]

For a female dancer, a really high and open and clean single saut de Basque is a very nice jump. A double is generally not.

[dido]

That is really interesting Ms Leigh, thanks for another bit of information! Now I am curious as to why though. In general I wonder about those "not for women because it's traditional" things, and maybe trying to figure out the rational behind this one will help. I understand lots of the "not for men because it's traditional" (like pas de bouree pique for example) intuitively, but not the strictures for women.

 

(Of course, I only want to do them because it seems like they would be extremely fun.)

[lampwick]

I say go for it. I'd be excited to see a double saut de basque from a woman on stage. I remember how blown away I was when the Cubans toured here. They really push the envelope with thier technique and it was very fun to watch. The one woman who I've seen with truely exeptional elevation is Erica Cornejo (Herman's older sister) from ABT. She makes some of the men from ABT look like they barely leave the ground. Her gigantic leaps are very pretty, feminine, and light. Use your strengths!

[Mel Johnson]

There was a time when it was "traditional" for the ballerina to do double saut de basques in Balanchine's "Ballet Imperial".

[Gina Ness]

Gisella Caccialanza (Lew Christensen's wife) was one of the original principals in Ballet Imperial. If there were double saut de basques, Gisella executed them. She was Enrico Cechetti's last protege. Gisella could really jump! She created the third movement principal in Balanchine's "Symphony in C" (which has the double saut de basques). Gisella also created the "Waltz Girl" in Balanchine's "Serenade". She was one of the most gracious, sweetest persons I have ever met...

Edited September 10, 2004 by Gina Ness