Ballet Terms...

[Dance_is_love]

i just started ballet this year (at age 14) and im getting confused on all the terms. there is Arabesque,Attitude,Battement fondu développé ,Battement sur le cou-de-pied, petit, and SO MANNY MOREE!! how do you guys keep it all straight? can you please give me some tips on how to remember them?

[vrsfanatic]

The terminology does become more familiar with time. Take a deep breath and believe that things will get easier. When I began ballet, something I very desperately wanted to study, I decided that I could, would never get ahead because I did not speak French! Here it is over 40 years later and it has been a most wonderful life! Enjoy!

[Victoria Leigh]

Dance Is Love, you might want to pick up a copy of Gail Grant's Technical Manual and Dictionary of Classical Ballet. It is a small and very inexpensive book, available at Amazon.com (click on link, above), or usually at Barnes and Noble and Borders.

[littlemisstwinkletoes]

I also started ballet this year and I found that constant repetition of the steps helps....and after each class I write down what steps we learned so before my next class I can refresh my memory. My teacher also tells us what the word means in english, example, fondu- to melt and that seems to help me. Good Luck!

[Dance_is_love]

Thank you all so much! I actually went to Barnes and Nobel and bought the ballet book!

 

 

[Edited by moderator to place upper case where needed.]

[Cambria]

I agree with Little Miss Twinkle Toes, when my teacher says a term outloud and then tells us what it means it makes it easier to associate the movement with the french word. Does your teacher do that? If not, maybe you could go home after class and look up the meanings of the words!