Dessous-Dessus

[Agnes1022]

After a soutenu, we are to do the D-D. But I am confused whether it is dessous - dessus or if it should be dessus - dessous? I lose my footing and timing as a result of trying to figure out which one it is....help!

[Victoria Leigh]

Agnes, what step are you supposed to do either over/under or under/over? You do the soutenu, then what is the next step?

[Agnes1022]

We do the soutenu from left stage to right stage. At completion of the soutenu, we degage the left leg a la seconde to initiate the D-D. I get confused at this point, whether to do the dessous-dessus or dessus-dessous. I thought I saw our teacher do the dessous-dessus, where she degage'd her left leg a la seconde then passed it to the back of the right standing leg, but didn't see how the right leg moved.

[Victoria Leigh]

Agnes, dessous-dessus, or vice versa, is not a step. It's the direction of a step, either under or over. It sounds like she might possibly be doing ballonnés, which would most likely be over then under, but I can't be sure by your description what she is doing.

[Agnes1022]

Is it possible that she did a pas de bouree with the D-D going from left to right?

[Victoria Leigh]

Almost anything is possible, Agnes. Really need to know exactly what the next step after the soutenu is. I think you are going to have to ask the teacher.

[Agnes1022]

Hmm, best I can recall, the net visual image of her working feet was a figure 8 on the floor. I think the next step after the soutenu was the PDB with the D-D, which was followed by preparation for a single en dedan pirouette, concluding with the pirouette.

 

Does that give you a clearer picture?

[Victoria Leigh]

Were the pas de bourrées turning?

[Agnes1022]

No ma'am. The direction was a straight line moving from left to right.

[Victoria Leigh]

I'm trying to figure this out, Agnes, but I'm afraid it is not making much sense to me. Sorry. Maybe someone else can decipher it.

[Agnes1022]

That's alright. I'll show the D-D part to my teacher, and see if that was what she demo'd to us. Either way, it should clarify which D goes first . Thanks for helping.

[Hamorah]

When you take a pas de bouree over/dessus with the back foot and then one under/dessous with the front foot, or vice versa, it looks a bit like it's making a figure of 8. It depends which foot you start with as to whether you are doing the pas de bourees over/under (dessus/dessous) or taking them under/over (dessous/dessus). If you are doing them after a soutenu, I suspect that you are taking them dessous/dessus, but it could just as easily be the other way too! Pas de bouree dessous means that you close the first working foot back and then front. So if the working foot starts at the front and then crosses to the back and finishes front, that would still be dessous. If you follow that with the pas de bouree dessus/over starting with the back foot (it opens out in order to cross front and finishes in back) it will look like you're making figure of 8 circles. Is this what you mean???

[Victoria Leigh]

Hamorah! That was so well explained!

[vaganova_dancer]

Since you say it led into a preparation for pirouette en dedan, it seems to me like it would be dessous-dessus like Hamorah explained, because the pdb dessus would finish in fourth position croise left foot in front from which you would go into the en dedan pirouette -- unless, of course, the preparation for the pirouette was a passe from fifth. In that case, it would be dessus-dessous because you would end in fifth position right foot in front, prepare with a passe, lower to fourth position croise left foot front, and then execute the pirouette.

 

Also, if you remember the direction of the head and the positioning of the arms, that could help you figure it out. In pbd dessous, typically the arms would be in second position with the head inclined 'under' (front) toward the arm that is the same arm as the leg that is opening; in pbd dessus, typically the arms would be in second position allonge with the head inclined 'over' (back) toward the arm that is opening.