- Welcome to part two of the beginning ballet series.
I'm really excited about this one, but
before you do this video, make sure you
click on the part one, so that you are up to speed.
Today we are going to add some
new exercises at the bar, in center,
and across the floor, so let's get started.
(mellow guitar strings)
Okay, guys, so before we get started I do want
to teach you two new positions at the feet and the arms.
So last week, we went over First, and we went over Second.
Now we're going to go to our Fourth position.
So, I'm going to put my right foot in front.
Fourth is a crossed position, okay?
So, your heel should be in line with that back toe.
So, we're in a beautiful Fourth,
our hips are squared, our toes are pointed out.
And your Fourth position can look like this,
or it's a crossed Fourth.
Now, the very last position is your Fifth.
So heel goes in, and it attaches
to that toe. Again, toes are pointed out,
don't worry about having a flat foot,
it's not really natural for a body.
Just turn out as much as you can
without straining your knees, okay.
And our arms lift up to Fifth on O.
Okay, so now that we're at the bar,
you've done your Pliés, your Tendus, your Rond de jambes
We're going to do our Développés.
Développé means 'to develop,' and
you go through four different positions.
Your Coupé, Passé, Attitude, and then your full extension.
So, for this beginner's series
we're just going to keep our hands on our hips,
so that we don't have any extra stresses.
You're going to start in a beautiful First position
with your chin lifted and your shoulders down.
Okay. We're going to come up to a
Coupé Devant, which means front,
you're going to lift it to your Passé,
extend it to a front Attitude, and then stretch.
As straight as you can,
come to a Tendu, and First, okay?
Coupé,
Passé,
Attitude,
extend.
Tendu,
and first.
You can try the back if you want.
I'll flip so that you can see it.
Coupé,
Passé,
Attitude,
extend,
Tendu,
and stretch.
So, eventually your extension will be
a lot higher, it'll be by your ear, no big deal.
But you first want to start out with a low leg.
And the reason being, is because
if you don't have the flexibility and
strength quite yet, your body's going to want
to do like a weird Hunchback of Notre Dame,
kind of a situation.
So, keeping your body lifted, and
keeping your legs as straight as possible
in the Fourth position
is ideal, okay.
Same thing, Coupé,
Passé,
Attitude,
keep it low and straight,
Tendu, back to First position
and stretch.
And don't forget to try your other side.
Alright, peeps, we are onto our Grand Battements.
Grand Battements are usually the
last thing that you do at bar before you go into center,
and they can happen front, side, and back.
So it's just a fancy word for your kicks.
Let's start in a First position, as always.
The same thing as your Développés,
they'll get higher with time as you're training.
But for now let's keep it at like, a 45.
A humble 90, maybe, okay.
So we'll go hands on our hips,
we'll lift up, now, you're gonna
brush through the floor like a Tendu,
it's gonna lift up like a Dégagé, and then
it's going to keep going, and that's
what makes it a Grand Battement.
So you go, brush, lift,
and down.
Now, your leg is pretty heavy, I know, okay.
So you're gonna kind of want to sink with it,
cause you're trying to lift your leg up,
but you want to pull the opposite way.
Remember oppositional pool in ballet.
So you're lifting, as your leg,
is extending out, and inside, and
you can go to the back if you want.
And then again to the side, and down.
That's pretty much it. Make sure you try the left side, too.
If you want to add the arms,
this is your front, your side,
and your back.
So you would go Devant,
À la seconde,
Derrière,
and À la seconde, again.
And always end with your arms off the bar, and lifted.
(clears throat)
Attention, we are now in center,
and we're gonna work on our Tombé Pas de Bourrée
Tombé means 'to fall,' so let's do First position.
First position is your friend in beginning ballet.
We'll go hands on our hips, you're gonna
step onto whichever foot you'd like.
I'm gonna do the right side, so
you step on the right foot, in a Plié,
you lift the back leg, just like
45 degrees off the floor and then you step back,
side, front, you are now in Fifth position.
Where your heel is attached to the other foots toe, okay.
Let's try that again. So from First, we step,
Plié, lift the back leg,
step behind, step to open,
cross in front, and stretch.
I'll show that one more time.
That's your Tombé Pas de bourrée
Seven, and Tombé,
Pas de bourrée, and stretch.
Tombé Pas de bourrée is used in a million things
in ballet, to prep your Pirouettes,
to prep some jumps, to prep some waltzes,
some Balancé, so you really want
to make sure that you get that move locked down.
Okay, we're gonna turn, now I had a special request
to teach you guys how to spot.
Spotting is when you pick one item in the room,
or one object in the room, or maybe even,
well hi English, even one person in the room
to look at the whole time that you're rotating.
So, if I were to spot you guys, or the camera
I would look at you. The moment I turn,
I would whip my eyes right back to the same spot.
So this ideally is what helps you
stay not dizzy while you're turning,
it helps you keep your sense of center,
because while you're rotating,
your eyes are locked into one position
and your body is able to balance better.
So to teach yourself at home how to spot
(laughs)
Forgot what we were talking about for a second mid-sentence.
Anyways, find something that is stationary.
You don't want to spot something that's moving,
that's really silly right? It's gonna defeat the purpose.
So, let's say you pick, I don't know, maybe
you just have a bunch of mats laying around
in your house like a typical home, yeah?
So, pick whatever you're gonna spot,
stand still and you're gonna do pivot turns.
So you're gonna step,
pivot, step, pivot,
right back to what you were looking at.
Step, pivot,
keep looking at it,
step, pivot,
straight back.
Now, when you move into our Pirouettes, you can
stay with that same object, and you can keep spotting it.
So I'm going to come to center, and
show you guys what I'm talking about.
But my advice is to find something
stationary in your home, practice pivot turns
with it first, then go to your Chaînés,
then go to your Piqués, then go to your Pirouettes.
All have the same object, and then
when you get into ballet class
you'll be able to just do it naturally because
you were practicing and now it's muscle memory.
Okay, so last week I taught you guys
how to do a single Pirouette.
You can stick with singles this week,
or go to doubles, maybe you're at triples,
maybe you're at 87 turns, I don't know.
You do you, but regardless, I'm gonna teach
you how to do the ballet lunge.
So after you do your turn, this foot that's up
in your Passé, is going to go behind.
Now you're in a bent and straight lunge.
Your arms extend to an Arabesque.
Your weight is slightly forward in your body,
and your eyes are overlooking your fingertips.
Ta-da
So, all of your turns end like that.
So, I'll give you an example.
We'll go to First position, Tendu, remember
that foot goes back, I lift up, and I land in a lunge.
So sometimes what happens when I teach beginners
is they do their turn and they wanna step forward.
That is not correct, the foot that's up goes in the back.
So we go out, Plié,
the foot that's up goes in the back.
And that's pretty much it. This is
a much more technically sound way to
land than just coming down. I'll show you one more time.
Tendu, Plié, and lunge.
Yeah, that's pretty much it.
Okay, guys, so we're gonna move onto Balancés,
and Balancés translates to 'rocking step.'
Like a little rocking chair, or a rocking horse,
is that what they're called?
- Mhm
- Like the old little guys?
- Yeah
- Yeah, okay, here we are.
So we're gonna do a rocking step
Now how I teach this,
is again hands on your cute little hips,
you're gonna step in a Plié, then
you're gonna go up. One, two, Plié
up, up, Plié,
up, up, Plié
up, up, keep going. So now you can
see how this is kind of a rocking step
Because I'm going back and forth.
Now, I'm in parallel right now, and
you can stay there just to get the motion
down, up, up, down, up, up, or
if you're like, girl I got that,
you can try it turned out, and you go
step, behind,
down. Step, behind, down.
So I'm extending, Pliéing, this foot
cuts in the back, and I put my weight
back on the front, extend, step, go back,
go front, extend, step, go back,
go front, Balancé, Balancé,
they're really fun when you get them.
At first you're like, what is happening?
But then it just becomes pretty rhythmic.
And those are your Balancés.
Okay, guys, last week I taught you
how to do the Waltz, but we didn't turn it.
So just to review the Waltz I taught you
was the brush, one, two, three,
brush, one, two, three.
This time, today, today's the day people.
I'm gonna teach you how to turn it.
So, you are always going over your right shoulder,
for the right side, that's gonna be
your best friend, remember that.
Okay, I go brush, one, two, three,
brush, right shoulder, brush, turn, turn,
turn, brush, turn, turn, turn.
So the number of steps that you're
taking doesn't change just cause you're turning.
People start to panic and they're like (gasp)
Don't do that, it's okay, just take a breath.
It's the same thing,
you're just adding one little baby turn.
We'll try it one more time.
So we go, brush, turn over your right shoulder,
brush, turn over your right shoulder,
brush, one, two, three,
brush, one, two, three.
So, each set, which is brush, one, two, three.
Brush, one, two, three
Has two rotations over your right shoulder.
Okay? Good luck people
Okay, we are onto our jumps, and
the next fancy jump that we're gonna do is our Changement,
Changement means 'to change' or 'to switch'
and that's because you are switching
your feet from front Fifth, to Fifth,
to Fifth, to Fifth, to Fifth, yeah?
That's it.
So, start in your beautiful Fifth position
hands on your hips, always start
with a Plié cause you're jumping.
Now in the air you're gonna squeeze into
a super tight Sous-sous, and then
in the air your feet are gonna switch
which one's in front, you're gonna land
again in Fifth in a Plié.
So, that was the breakdown, let's try it.
We go Plié, switch your feet, Plié.
Try it again. Plié, switch your feet, Plié.
Same mechanics as your Sautés, start in a Plié,
straight legs in the air, end in a Plié
Make sure your foot is fully pointed and
off the floor, and when you land
make sure your heels actually touch the floor.
Some dancers jump, and then they land with
their heels slightly off the floor.
That's not a good habit to have.
That's how you develop shin splints.
Okay, and you don't want those, those are really painful.
So, from Fifth we'll try four Changements
Plié, switch, switch, switch, switch.
Okay guys, we are gonna do our Glissade.
And your Glissade means 'to glide.'
There's two different kinds of Glissade.
A Glissade changé, which means change,
so a Glissade with a changing foot
or a Glissade sans changé, and that means
without change, pretty straightforward, yeah.
Your Glissade starts in your beautiful Fifth position
We'll try our Glissade changé first.
So we Plié, brush off the floor, okay,
both legs are stick straight in this jump
and then you're gonna switch feet.
Brush, straight, straight, switch.
I now have my left foot in front
Let's try it back on the left side.
Brush, straight, straight, switch.
And guess what people, we're landing
in a Plié, as per use, for your jumps.
Plié, brush, straight, straight,
switch your feet, stretch, Plié,
brush, straight, straight, switch your feet, and stretch.
Straight, straight is very difficult to say
Try saying it, it's kinda hard
- Straight, straight
- Straight
- Straight, straight, straight
- Straight, straight
(laughs)
Okay so we go Plié, glissade, switch your feet.
Plié, glissade, switch your feet.
It's v importante that you know
that you're landing on one foot, not two, one foot.
Now, I'm outta breath.
Second type of glissade, sans changé, without change
Same mechanics, just don't switch your feet.
Plié, same foot's in front, Plié,
same foot's in front, Plié, same foot is in front.
Okay, we're onto our last jump,
our last section of this vlogue.
You guys learned your Tombé Pas de bourrée,
and your glissade today, now you're
gonna attach that to your Saut de chat
Now, I know you're thinking, hey lady,
speak a language I understand,
you're gonna add two things that you learned today
onto your leap, is that better?
So, we're gonna go to First position,
instead of doing our Chassé, our gallop,
and our step, and our jump.
You're gonna do a different prep,
with the two things that you learned today.
Okay, so we go First, tombé, back,
side, Fourth, glissade, jump.
Whoa, whoa, whoa, let's back that up
cause that was a lot of stuff, okay.
First thing you learned was your Tombé Pas de bourrée,
you guys will Plié, we go back,
open, step in front of your left leg,
Your back foot is now ready to do your brush,
glissade, with no change, that
replaced your step, now your back foot is ready
to come through for your leap.
Uno mas
Just try it slow, yeah, don't rush,
don't stress yourself out.
We go one, two, three, four, five,
six, seven, eight.
Now right when I did that, I know
what you're thinking, what's the difference
between the glissade and that other jump
Your glissade is small and your
Saut de chat is a very big jump
Okay, so there's your difference
Yay
(laughs)
Okay, guys, thank you so much for dancing with me.
So I hope that you enjoyed part one and part two
of the beginner ballet vlogues.
Keep your eyes peeled for the intermediate,
so we'll bump to that next. And then
we'll move onto our advanced.
I'm loving all of the comments from you
guys and all of the support,
so please let me know what you want to see.
The reason that we went over spotting today
is because someone commented and asked for it.
So I'm there and I'm listening to you guys
and I'm just as excited as you
so remember that we have a new dance vlogue
every single Wednesday, and a new choreography
video the last Friday of each month
So again, click the bell, click the likes,
click the subscribe on the YouTube,
do everything to stay connected with us, yeah?
Thank you so much you guys, love you.
And I'll see you next week (muah)
(cute upbeat music)
- Hmm
(laughs)
- Don't film me thinking
- Do a spin
- I literally forgot everything that we're doing right now
(cute upbeat music)