cabriole

[elie]

Hello everyone!

I am sending this because I got really desperate yesterday..

We 're having a performance at the end of next month and there is a part at the end where all the dancers have to do 4 cabrioles (correct me please if I spell it wrong) moving to the left and then four moving to the right. I just can't get this step right! It's frustrating, especially because it doesn't seem to be the hardest step in our performance (I mean, I don't have much trouble dancing the rest of it on pointe). I really don't get that.

Could anyone give me any tips on how you perfrom that step correctly??

Thanks in advance!

[Mel Johnson]

What kind of cabrioles are they? Are they devant, derriere, de coté, character? Which are they?

[Guest Bryan Lawrence]

Cabrioles can be done in various positions and in combination with various other steps. I would need to know whether the cabrioles you are doing are to the front, the side or in arabesque and also what are the linking steps. It all makes a difference. Also let me know what is your problem exactly.

 

 

[elie]

Thank you for your concern..

They are cabrioles done to the side. We are just moving from the left side of the stage to the right, doing 4 consecutive cabrioles. It is something like cabriole - then a fast simple step, then another cabriole and so on. I am sorry I can not describe it more accurately.

I am not sure what my exact problem is. It seems I can't jump AND kick my feet at the same time and (what's more) do that 4 times !

[Mel Johnson]

First part of the remedy: Do the combination WITHOUT beating the legs. After all, it's just a degagé that way. Sort of like doing a glissé and jumping at the same time. Then, as your coordination gets together, add the beat. These sound like cabrioles de caractere, and are done in both Sleeping Beauty and Raymonda, which spring to mind most immediately.

[elie]

Thank you very much for the advice, Major Mel

 

Actually the performance is composed of different parts of Sleeping Beauty.

I forgot to mention that this particular part (with all the cabrioles) is Mazurka, so I guess it IS more like a character step.

[Victoria Leigh]

Very definitely a Character step, elie! And a fun one too! That are really not hard, especially in Character shoes. They are actually much harder to do in ballet shoes, since the heels have to hit each other.

 

In all forms of cabriole it is the supporting leg that does the work. The dégagé leg is out there, but the supporting leg has to move to it, which is how you travel.

[elie]

Thank you !

 

So, I just do a degage with one leg and then make the heels meet by moving the supporting leg only..

I gathered it is not an extremely difficult step, but every step seems harder than it actually is if the teacher does not take time to explain it properly, especially to an adult student like me..

I missed RAD grade 5 last year (where the step was taught I think) and this year (grade 6) all the other girls already knew how to do it right..

[Victoria Leigh]

Understandable, elie And with less than 2 years training, you have probably not had Cabriole yet! The classical cabriole is harder, but the same theory of execution is used. One leg goes up, the push off leg goes up and beats it, and the leading leg rebounds upward. Sounds simple, but it really isn't. It is meant to be a moving and jumping step, and is light and free, meaning it moves and lands just like a temps levé, with no thud!

[Guest Bryan Lawrence]

I think people imagine this step is harder than it is and use much too much energy to perform it. It is actually a very easy step you will find when you have got the right feeling of the movement. Although you are moving in a certain direction, don't be afraid to lean your body slightly in the opposit direction. This actually applies to all the cabrioles, whether they are classical or character. If you lean towards the direction you are travelling you will fall in that direction. Let yourself lean easily sideways and try to relax.

[pleiades]

while we're on the subject. . . we're now learning cabrioles, first without and then adding the beat. I can add the beat in front and things go just fine (relatively speaking!), but I cannot for the life of me get the one in the back.

[elie]

Hello again!

Yesterday the teacher sort of simplified the step, because it seems that I was not the only one who could not get it right. She tols us to do a degage and then perform a very low jump and just beat the heels in the air, without having to concentrate on which leg moves and which doesn't (she said that the whole movement from the right side to the left has to been done in a really fast pace and we don't have time to think about getting the supporting leg to beat the other). Actually I 'm not sure it even looks like a cabriole anymore, but last night during class I figured out it's much easier for me that way.

Anyway, I mainly wrote this because I want to thank you all very much for your advice, tips and support!!

[Mel Johnson]

That's good. That was going to be my next step of advice once you had the jumped degagé correct. They're really pretty low, and don't require a lot of force. They sort of skim along the stage.

[duckie9876]

I recall doing a step like this and the teacher called it a "halupitz" (sp?). Does anyone know what that is?

[Mel Johnson]

Holubetz. That's a species of character cabriole. It's part of the RAD vocabulary for character dancing.