Gorgeous Glissade + Assemblé Jumps - Classical Ballet Technique - Petit Allegro

“Beauty, like ice, our footing does betray;
Who can tread sure on the smooth, slippery way:
Pleased with the surface, we glide swiftly on,
And see the dangers that we cannot shun.”

John Dryden (appointed England's first Poet Laureate in 1668!)

This week we have been exploring the theme of gliding in yoga, ballet, and coaching sessions. This is part of my series on the 7 Basic Movements of Ballet, and you can explore more about each of the movement ideas in my corresponding YouTube videos and podcasts.

The relevant YouTube videos that I created previously describing the first 5 basic movements of ballet are “The Seven Basic Movements of Ballet,” “Powerful Pliés,” “Plush Paralleleves,” “Tempting Tendus,” “Saucy Prances & Sautes,” & “Tourner - to Turn.”

To start practicing the skill of gliding, I also recommend my “Kicky Floor Kicks,” “Sweet Leg Swings,” & “Amazing Under-Curves.”

Laban Movement Analysis classifies the Effort of “Glide” as direct, light, and sustained. This type of movement has a specific focus or sense of directionality, and continues uninterrupted along its path, flowing weightlessly.

Moving towards winter, I especially enjoy Frederick Ashton’s ballet “Les Patineurs,” a playfully gliding riff on an ice-skating rink. But truthfully, in ballet we do like a bit more friction between our feet and the surface beneath us than an ice skater does. The floor still needs to be essentially smooth and free of obstacles for us to produce this quality of seemingly-effortless gliding that is one of the hallmarks of classical ballet technique.

The appearance of gliding in ballet performance requires supreme control and coordination, cultivated during years of practice, to attain this smooth otherworldliness. Much of our early work as dancers is developing a relationship with the floor as well as with our own bodies, learning to balance and to slide with poised control.

The exercise of battements tendus is a practice in sliding one foot across the floor, and it eventually leads to battements glisses, which fly just off of the floor, and then to glissade, which is a jump that involves sliding the feet across the floor and is performed either low-to-the-ground as a connecting step or with some elevation.

In the book of her Russian ballet technique, Basic Principles of Classical Ballet, Agrippina Vaganova clarifies, “It would seem that the very name of this step [glissade] indicates the gliding characteristic of it. Yet we see that this movement is very seldom distinguished from other movements, and is lost on the stage.” (p.96) Indeed, it is these small connecting steps that form the glue that creates the smooth whole of our dance performance.

Chapter Time Stamps
00:00 Introduction
00:44 I teach Assemblé
03:09 Practice Assemblé with music
03:42 Glissade
05:02 Practice Glissade with music
05:27 Glissade and Assemblé together
06:30 Conclusion

May you glide into this spectacular season, and visit me at ablythecoach.com for more helpful resources!

Blythe Stephens, MFA
she/her or they/them
A Blythe Coach: Dance Education & Coaching
move through life with balance, grace, & power
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Studio: Tanzraum Nippes, Cologne, Germany www.tanzschule-tanzraum.de/
Music: “Mahalo Wau 'O Ka Nani, Medium allegro” from the “Ballet Piano Music from Hawaii” recording by Megumi Kopp of West Hawai’i Dance Theatre, available on Spotify, Apple Music, and https://store.cdbaby.com/Artist/Megum...

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