Bag of Steps

(Keep checking this page, we will be filling it with lots of ballet terms! Feel free to use the comment form below if you have any suggestions of steps you would like us to cover.)

Click on links to learn more about different ballet terms:

{ 7 trackbacks }

The Bag Ladies -- Kinecting to The Ballet Bag Blog | Dance Advantage
July 11, 2009 at 1:14 am
Frederick Ashton
March 29, 2010 at 6:11 pm
Bag of Steps: Connections
January 27, 2011 at 5:29 pm
Ballet Vocab Game Beta Launch! « Ballet « Dance25.com
February 15, 2011 at 6:06 am
What are the canonical ballet steps? - Quora
August 17, 2011 at 6:13 pm
On Point Dance Inquiry « Yokittyjo
August 18, 2011 at 8:32 am
Your Questions About Ballet Terms - Ballet Class Music
September 27, 2011 at 3:16 pm

{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }

Lindy August 18, 2010 at 1:24 am

I have a stupid question.
does it matter which arm goes in front and which goes up in 4th position IN RELATION TO THE LEGS? does one arm always follow the leg? (ie: right leg forward left arm up?)also have the same quesion for 3rd. I think part of my problem is understanding the difference between Russian and French? there are just so many examples out there and most of them are contrary!

Linda August 18, 2010 at 10:24 am

Hi Lindy. The arms might change depending on the style / school and the step you are performing so you are completely right. I faced the same problem when I switched from RAD to Vaganova (Russian). For clarity, check out these diagrams at Andros’s website:

http://michaelminn.net/andros/technique/

We also recommend checking out Gail Grant’s Technical Manual and Dictionary of Classical Ballet. It’s not expensive and very helpful. Some of the pages can be accessed via Google Books. Hope this helps!

Kizzy January 5, 2011 at 2:38 am

\(o.O) every time I click the fondu link, it takes me to the adagio page for some odd reason.

Kizzy January 5, 2011 at 2:45 am

ooops ignore my ignorance, I’ve only been to three ballet lessons so far *isembarassed* (^^;) ah well, sorry for being a nuisance d(^_^) great blog btw, I stumbled across it when researching the manga Swan. I think so far, that its becoming my favourite ballet blog. I’ve learnt quite a bit though the articles and links here.

Linda January 5, 2011 at 9:06 am

Fondu is included in the Adagio article :)

JO August 18, 2011 at 8:10 am

HI I am loving this blog
this is slightly of topic to Library of Steps
looking for information on the Humphrey Technique :)

Emilia August 26, 2011 at 11:12 am

Thanks for the feedback JO! We don’t know much about Humphrey Technique over here, but here’s a link that may help: http://sites.google.com/site/humphreydancers/resources – Otherwise, are you on Twitter? If so tweet us @theballetbag and we’ll ask the dance community there. Hope this helps!

Anna April 30, 2012 at 7:43 pm

Hi. I was wondering if you could do a page on positions of the body.
Thanks!

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