spring ball related fun Ballet Terminology learn&discuss

TODAY'S TERM IS...
--Front Split & Side Split

These are basic movements a ballerina should learn to do as warm-up exercises, which greatly reflects the dancer's flexibility. Try to do it and you will realize that it is quite hard. Though anyone well-trained can do it easily. These exercises are essential to any beginner hoping to learn Ballet, more moves later will be related to this.

The pictures below represent the two movements. Front Split, or Grand écart devant (left) and Side Split, or Grand écart lateral (right)

Cassie Jiang wrote: 16 Mar 2026, 13:04

TODAY'S TERM IS...
--Front Split & Side Split

These are basic movements a ballerina should learn to do as warm-up exercises, which greatly reflects the dancer's flexibility. Try to do it and you will realize that it is quite hard. Though anyone well-trained can do it easily. These exercises are essential to any beginner hoping to learn Ballet, more moves later will be related to this.

The pictures below represent the two movements. Front Split, or Grand écart devant (left) and Side Split, or Grand écart lateral (right)

Cassie Jiang wrote: 16 Mar 2026, 13:04

TODAY'S TERM IS...
--Front Split & Side Split

These are basic movements a ballerina should learn to do as warm-up exercises, which greatly reflects the dancer's flexibility. Try to do it and you will realize that it is quite hard. Though anyone well-trained can do it easily. These exercises are essential to any beginner hoping to learn Ballet, more moves later will be related to this.

The pictures below represent the two movements. Front Split, or Grand écart devant (left) and Side Split, or Grand écart lateral (right)

Cassie Jiang wrote: 16 Mar 2026, 21:13 thanks @Elowin Prankhurst! Glad you liked it I chose Ballet because it is elegant and matches royalty!

@Nick Jameson hi Nick, I don't quite understand... can you explain a bit?

Nick Jameson wrote: 17 Mar 2026, 08:04

Cassie Jiang wrote: 16 Mar 2026, 21:13 thanks @Elowin Prankhurst! Glad you liked it I chose Ballet because it is elegant and matches royalty!

@Nick Jameson hi Nick, I don't quite understand... can you explain a bit?

I can’t tell where the legs are at the side or at a angle

TODAY we'll be focusing on some special 'clothing' in Ballet...
POINTE SHOES & TUTU DRESSES

Ever wonder how ballerinas dance on tiptoes? The key hides in their shoes. They are not normal shoes, but special ones with a square toe and a little chunk of wood hidden inside. Specially designed, it can support the dancer's feet and ankle to help them find their balance on tiptoes. It requires years of practise (usually 4 years and up) before one can dance in pointe shoes.

Such special dresses are designed and made to show the loooong legs of ballerinas while showing tremendous beauty. They have a lovely name-- tutu dresses. The dress also does not move or touch the dancer's legs so as not to influence their performance.

Pictures below are pointe shoes(left) and tutu dresses(right)

VARIATIONS

Perhaps you can imagine how tiring it is for the lead ballerina to finish a whole Ballet, which lasts for over an hour. What if a beginner wants to learn some more complex dance moves? If you watch videos of Ballet competitions, you will see that each competitor only dances for a minute or so. That dance in 1-2 minutes is a Variation.

A clearer definition for variation is-- a solo dance, usually a part of a larger Ballet production, which is for a single dancer to show his or her technical abilities and artistry.

For Cassie's performance, you will see a combination of various variations, which is tiring as well, because anyone who has experience doing variations will know how tiring it is to dance and jump and spin for a minute without a break!

There will be no pictures today, please ask if you have any questions~