Brises

[Mel Johnson]

What's the title of the book you refer to? I don't believe I've ever heard that terminology before.

[Guest lucy]

Mr Johnson, it is The Book of Ballet, by Genevieve Guillot and Germaine Prudhommeau. It's a very thick book that explains all the steps and has sample classes from Paris Opera school. It says it's a translation of Grammaire de la Danse Classique, but mine was published in USA- I got in a second hand bookstore.

[Mel Johnson]

That's actually quite humorous - Ms. Leigh and I were talking offboard about those terms and I said "kinda sounds like old French School". Another example of local ballet patois that didn't make it into the world vocabulary!

[Guest lucy]

But isn't it funny you still know what it means? My teacher was telling us all the different names the Imperial syllabus uses for ports de bras because we seem to be doing ISTD and RAD in the same lesson (!) (1st position/ en avant, 2nd position/ a la seconde etc) so even if someone has learned a different term for something, you can still dance the same steps. But I suppose you could look at in another way- why isn't it standardised into one syllabus? Hmmm.

[Victoria Leigh]

FYI, there is further discussion of brisé and assemblé battu in a new topic on the Teachers' forum!

[Guest Angelina_the_ballerina]

Appoligis for the spelling! I take advanced 1 ISTD (imperial syllabus)

and we have learnt these, has anybody taking RAD learnt this step?

Also, not really related (sorry), i am teaching a sequence for an

audition that has 'lame ducks' at the end, does anybody know the

technical name for these? they are sort of en dehdans pose turns.

Thank you for any help!

[Mel Johnson]

Brisé télémaque is a compound step of the old French school. It is also a part of old-time Bournonville vocabulary.

 

"Lame Duck" turns, as has been said many, many, many times on these boards are piqués en tournant (or tours piqués or posés, etc., etc.) en dehors.

[Guest aubri]

The brises Telemaque are execued that way in the French School:

Brise, royale, entrechat 4 Vole, means finished in coupe back, brise back, royale and again entrechat 4 vole, it is usually executed on diagonale.

Reference:Grammaire de la danse classique by Germaine Prudhommeau and Genevieve Guillot, edition Hachette (out of print) ;)

[Mel Johnson]

There are loads of variations on this one. I've encountered them twice in my dancing career, and one was rather different from the other. One thing I do recall is that one version had a glissade either straight forward or straight back. The story runs that it's named for a dancer named Télémaque, but I have a funny feeling that it was a signature step for the character of Telemachus in some opera-ballet based on the Odyssey.

[Guest aubri]

yes you are right it is a glissade back battu, which is the same thing as a brise back basically, in the French school, but there is no variations, there is only one brise Telemaque, but a lot of confused teachers, this is the definition you would find a the Museum and the one they teach for the state diploma.

[Guest Angelina_the_ballerina]

Are changement battu and royale the same step in different syllabi?

[Victoria Leigh]

Yes

[Mel Johnson]

OK, the glissade being counted as the old-fashioned glissade to fourth would explain a lot. In Bournonville during the pre-Volkova days, there was also a brisé télémaque which was slightly varied from this, but after all, where did Bournonville study, and when?;)

[Guest aubri]

It's also called entrechat 3 in the French school