Grand pas de Chat

[sylphide]

Ok, so I have earned the right to execute grand allegro

...However, I really do not get how one leaps in the air while executing a high devellope when doing grand pas de chat to the front. The combo is usually glissade/grand pas de chat/grand pas de chat/grand pas de chat or sissonne tombee/pas de bourree/ glissade/grand pas de chat. When do you start your developpe? When do you unfold the leg? How not to drop your knee when doing developpe? By the time I try to think about all this, the music is over and my diagonal is done.

 

Any tips would be appreciated.(I hope I make sense)

[Mel Johnson]

We've got nomenclature tieups here. Are you referring to a sort of grand jeté which starts with a developpé? If so, don't think, just do. As soon as the weight goes to the take-off foot, the working leg goes to a retiré, and the take-off happens. A split-second later, the developpé goes out, and you are in a grand jeté position in the air. When you land, the leg that was in back passes through first position, and you're in a 4th croisé, ready for whatever follows.

[sylphide]

Sorry about that...yes I am referring to

a sort of grand jeté which starts with a developpé

I will try to "just do it " next time.

However, does one need to have more than a floor split to be able to get a full split in the air?

thank you again.

[Mel Johnson]

A split on the floor has gravity working for you. In a split in the air, you are working AGAINST gravity, and need the strength to put the legs into a split in the air despite that. Don't worry if it doesn't happen right away. This is one of those things that develops over time.

[sylphide]

Thank you for the advice Mr. Johnson. I suppose I will worry more, for now, on proper form than on my not achieving a split in the air!

[ashatNYU]

a sort of grand jeté which starts with a developpé

Is there a technical term for this?

[Victoria Leigh]

It seems to have become known as Saut de chat in most places these days, although that is really not how Saut de chat is described in Gail Grant.

 

Gretchen Ward Warren's book describes it as Grand jeté developpé en avant (also called pas de chat jeté). I have succombed to calling it Saut de chat, since that seems to be how everyone differentiates it from a regular grand jeté these days.

[elise]

Pretty un-french we call it the "flick" jete.

[sylphide]

I am curious on how Vaganova-trained teachers would call this step.

[Gina Ness]

I call it Saut de chat, too. When I was growing up, some of my teachers called this jump "stag leap".

[Mel Johnson]

That's a name borrowed from modern. The term came from the early Denishawn era of the 1920s.

[minty]

in France, my Vaganova trained teacher just call it 'grand jeté développé"