chassé coupé

[je danse dans ma tete]

I'm having trouble figuring out a new step that our teacher taught last class. She called it "chassé-coupé". I know the chassé part, and I can do chassés by themselves, but I always end up jumping the chassé instead of gliding it when there is a jum that comes after. What my teacher calls coupé is like a sauté from 5th position. I never thought this was coupe before, because another teacher showed us coupe as where the heel of one foot is above the ankle of the other and you move the working foot from front to back over and over?

 

My questions: what exactly is coupé? how do I avoid jumping my chasse when I have to bring my feet to 5th in the air? Sorry if this does not make much sense, my English isn't that good sometimes.

[CDR]

Coupe literally means 'cut' and in this case it would be to change or cut the weight from one foot to the other. At the end of your chasse you need to get all the weight onto your back leg so you can do the next chasse and this is why you do the coupe. I'm not sure why you're struggling with the chasse part, just try thinking of getting a deep bend but then it's OK to spring up into the coupe.

[vrsfanatic]

The word coupe, to cut as stated already by CDR is very often used incorrectly in ballet by non-French speaking people. The position sur le cou de pied is often confused, unfortunately for the movement coupe. They are not interchangable. There is definitely caused for confusion because you are mixing up petit battement sur le cou de pied with the movement coupe! I suggest you speak with your teacher to try to figure out what is actually being asked!

[Victoria Leigh]

Right, CDR and vrs! This is one of my bandwagon things, where I keep preaching and preaching, and people keep calling a POSITION a coupé, when a coupé is an ACTION!

[Redbookish]

Well, I notice that in most US discussions of "retiré," which is the position, and "passé" which is the action! We do "retiré passé," and I notice that, in classes I've done in the States, this is contracted to just "passé." In the UK, the various teachers I have generally use the full term, or even - in the more basic classes I do to keep fit, "retiré to the back" or "retiré to the front" ie indicating a change of closing front foot in fifth. I've noticed the substitution of "passé" for "retiré" even on this board!!

[vrsfanatic]

My knowledge of the use of the words retire or passe is founded only in the Vaganova program of study where retire is the position and passe is the action however I believe that in other programs of study this may not be the case.

 

I must admit however I do use the word passe to describe the position quite frequently when without thinking I communicate with my students who should know the difference between the two. I will try to brush up on my uses of the words! Thanks for the reminder!

[Victoria Leigh]

Yes, I have the same problem, with passé just coming out sometimes, when I really mean retiré. We do really KNOW the difference, Redbookish!

[WendyMichelle]

 

Ms. Leigh is on her soap box!!!!

 

 

WM

[dancer5]

Oh yes! Those are two terminology situations where I am trying to retrain myself always to use the CORRECT term! Of course I understand teachers who use the "ballet slang," but in the classes I teach, my resolution for this school year has been to consistently use the right words.

 

I know this is a bit off the original topic, but in a similar vein, is it correct to say "tour jete?" One teacher told me the correct term is "entrelace" or "grand jete en tournant." He never used the name "tour jete" and I am wondering what the best phrase to use in my classes would be.

[Redbookish]

Well, I was sort of kind of teasing ... And I have always supposed that it's because saying just "passé" is quicker than "retiré passé" when you're setting a combination quickly. But isn't it just as easy to say "retiré"? I admit to sometimes having been a bit confused when teachers in the US say "passé" but then want the retiré closed without a passé!

[Victoria Leigh]

tour jeté is another short version for what should be grand jeté en tournanat entrelacé. I admit to using just entrelacé, but I cannot bring myself to use the term tour jeté, as that really is not correct. A jeté turning would be a different step, like for instance a grand jeté that goes around the corner, as in the step where you coupé under while partially turning en dehors and then grand jeté around to the other corner.

 

Redbookish, I totally agree that we should not use passé when we mean retiré, as that can be confusing, just as using coupé when you mean a position and not an action. I'm not sure why some of these terms have become so commonly used incorrectly, but I do find it frustrating.

[Redbookish]

Ms Leigh, in my classes in the UK, teachers call what in the US is often called "tour jeté" a "grand jeté en tournant." We tend not to add the final "entrelace" - I think in all these cases it's abbreviation for convenience's sake - the words feel a mouthful, if French is not one's main language!

[CDR]

Thanks Redbookish, I was feeling a bit stupid not knowing what a 'tour jete' was but I DO know what a 'grand jete en tournant' is!!

[Redbookish]

Oh, thanks, CDR - I'm not a ballet teacher (although I do teach in the performing arts field at a university) so I'm glad I'm not speaking out of line about ballet teachers in the UK. But I spend time in ghte US and do class wherever I find myself & I get interested in the differences in terminology & usage. I get rather comfused over some things so if someone asked me for a "tour jeté" I'd probably think they were asking for that boy's jump a double tour. (I can do a single tour but not a double, so I'd be stumped).

[olddude]

The word coupe, to cut as stated already by CDR is very often used incorrectly in ballet by non-French speaking people. The position sur le cou de pied is often confused, unfortunately for the movement coupe. They are not interchangable. There is definitely caused for confusion because you are mixing up petit battement sur le cou de pied with the movement coupe! I suggest you speak with your teacher to try to figure out what is actually being asked!

OK, so I looked up my old French texts from college. "...used incorrectly in ballet by non-French speaking people..." seems to be an understatement!! I don't think it's just French, I suspect it's French from 200 years ago as it evolved in the ballet world... Like others, I hear "coupé" 90% of the time when "cou de pied" is meant. Heck, my dictionary says a "cou de pied" is an instep, not an ankle. Thank God for Gretchen Ward Warren and the Ballet Talk moderators!

 

According to my books at least, "coup" is a noun - one of those with too many uses to translate into a simple dictionary entry (mine lists fourteen different English words, from beat to wound). Couper is the verb form, to cut (intercept, water down, interrupt...). Coupé is the form of the verb in several oddball tenses - j'ai coupé (I have cut), j'aurai coupé (I will have cut) - I won't even try to talk about the pluperfect and conditional! For some time I though there might be a confusion with coupée, a sort of noun made from a verb form (itself made from a different noun!) - but I could not locate such a word. Maybe some native French speaker or more advanced student will enlighten us?

 

In any case, you need a ballet book, not a dictionary, to make sense of it!