Terms & Positions

SF Ballet School student demonstrating her turn out in a grand plié in first position.
Photo © Marty Sohl

The most striking feature of ballet technique is the turnout of the legs from the hip. When a dancer is standing in a correctly turned out position, their knees and feet will be rotated so that they point away from the body straight out to the sides. Dancers maintain this rotation as they move from side to side as well as forward and back. Specific muscle groups help the dancer hold their turnout, which is the essential tool dancers must rely on to execute ballet technique correctly.

Want to try? Stand with your feet together, knees straight, toes facing forward. Without bending your knees, pivot your whole leg (toes, feet, and knees) out to the side, but leave your heels in place, as if your heels are anchored to the floor. If you can't turn your legs out very much, that's perfectly fine. Even with a slight rotation, you should feel your hamstring and inner thigh muscles working—these are supporting your turnout.

The dancer's turnout from the hips, strong frontal orientation of stage presentation, and even the proscenium stage itself can all be traced back to 400-year-old French court traditions. The original vocabulary for ballet was invented and codified in French.

Ballet steps come from a few fundamental ideas; here are some basic components with their French terms and pronunciation. All of these movements are refined, elaborated, and combined with specific body positions to produce flowing, swirling, and highly athletic choreography.

Bend - plié (plee ay)
Stretch - étendu (ay tahn due)
Rise - relevé (ruh leh vay)
Jump - sauté (soh tay)
Turn - tourné (toor nay)
Glide - glissé (glee say)
Dart - élancé (ay lahn say)

Positions

*Arabesque (ah rah besk)* The dancer stands on one leg (also called "supporting leg") with the other leg extended and raised to the back. Often, the lifted leg is held high enough to be at least parallel to the floor. There are several different positions of the arms that complement the placement of the leg in arabesque.		Katita Waldo in Balanchine's Symphony in C Photo © Lloyd Englert

*Attitude (ah tea tude)* This leg position was inspired by an Italian Renaissance statue of the Roman god Mercury. The body is supported on one leg while the other is raised to the back, side or front. The lifted leg (also called "working leg") is bent at an angle. The arms are held in a variety of curved or elongated positions to compliment the leg in attitude. The attitude position is used in a variety of ways; for example, as a pose in which to turn or jump.		Lucia Lacarra in Tomasson's Swan Lake Photo © Marty Sohl

*Développé (deh vell oh peh)* The word means to develop, or in ballet vocabulary, unfold one leg while balancing on the other. The working leg starts close to the floor, and the dancer draws an imaginary line up their standing leg with their toe. The knee lifts higher until the dancer finally extends the leg, straightening the knee, foot pointing up into space often above the dancer's head.		SF Ballet School student demonstrating développé. Photo © Weiferd Watts

*Jeté (jeh tay)* A jump from one leg to the other, in which the working leg is thrown forward, sideways, or backwards. The dancer jumps and lands on one leg before moving into the next step or pose. There are many kinds of jetés, and they may be done moving in all directions. Sometimes the dancer seems to move across the stage in one or two grand jetés (like a split or stag leap), and at other times a dancer does several small jetés while seeming to stay in the same place.		Kristin Long in Tomasson's Con Brio Photo © Lloyd Englert

*Passé (pah say)* This is a common position of the legs that looks a bit like a number 4. One leg is straight while the other foot is pointed and carefully placed near the side of the knee. Passé also means to pass, or pass through, and is used to describe the transition from one movement into another.		Muriel Maffre in Forsythe's New Sleep Photo © Lloyd Englert

*Pirouette (pea roh wet)* A pirouette is the French noun for spinning top, and in ballet terminology it also means to turn. Specifically, a pirouette is one or more turns on one leg. During the turn, the point of the lifted foot is often held against the spinning leg, in the passé position, for example. However, the dancer may pirouette on one leg while holding the other in a variety of positions. The arms have a specific role in helping the dancer keep balance as he or she completes several revolutions.

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