French For Dancers Newsletter: Plié
French For Dancers
Demystifying dance terminology and steps for dancers and dance-lovers!
Issue 2: Plié
Bonjour! Welcome to French For Dancers!
Each newsletter, we will look at a dance term, its pronunciation, meaning, use. Often, different dance techniques will use varying terminology for the same step, so I will try to include those, too.
We’re starting at the top of our first class, with our Pliés!
Parlez-Vous Ballet?
(Do you speak Ballet?)
PLIÉ
(plee-yay)
The word “plié” comes from the French plier, meaning to bend or to fold. Plier is a verb and plié is the adjective (bent, folded) and is also used as a noun in ballet.
In plié, the knees are bent from any standing ballet position to lower the torso vertically. In ballet, the legs remain turned out, with the turn-out coming from the hips, not the knees. The knees should stay placed over the toes, not forward or behind them.
The plié action makes a circular shape, opening the knees up, then closing them.
Demi-Plié (half bend): a half bending of the knees, with the heels remaining on the ground.
Grand Plié (large bend): a fuller, deeper bending of the knees, with the heels lifting slightly off the ground (except in 2nd Position) as the movement passes beyond demi-plié. The heels are returned to the ground as soon as possible on the way back up.
Important: every grand plié should move through the demi-plié on the way down and on the way back up.
Pliés are used before and after jumps, most turns, and many traveling steps. They help soften some movements and power up other movements – and help protect the body from injury.
Introducing my new helper, Danseur Bleu (Blue Dancer)! Bleu hopes to be a good dance model and demonstrate the steps for me, saving me a lot of time and paperwork in model releases!
Savoir-Faire
(Know-How)
Student Tip:
Pliés are your best friends! They help you spring in the air on the way up and absorb shock on the landing. At the barre, we use them to loosen and warm up muscles for class while building strength and flexibility, alignment and balance – they are ballet’s multi tool!
Think of a spring – if you press down on it, it bounces back up. And once it’s extended, it recoils back into position. This is how pliés help our legs propel us in jumps and then cushion our landings.
Don’t skimp on your demi-pliés before or after jumps, or you put your joints and muscles at risk for injury! And make sure you’re not letting your knees or ankles roll inward while doing your pliés – keep your knees over your toes and your weight over your entire foot.
Teacher Tip:
We sometimes teach pliés as a diamond-shaped opening of the legs, but we should also encourage students to think of it as a circular movement, a gentle expanding and retracting of the shape made by the legs as they bend and straighten.
With more advanced dancers, the use of port de bras (carriage of the arms) during the plié exercises helps students connect the upper and lower bodies and enhance the fluidity of the movement.
À La Carte
(From the Menu)
Recommendations, reflections, and/or useful links!
After a steamy, hot week in Connecticut, the ballet After The Rain keeps coming to mind. One of my favorite contemporary ballet pas de deux, choreographed by Christopher Wheeldon with music by Arvo Part (Spiegel im Spiegel), this gorgeous duet is simple and luscious, tender and haunting. I was fortunate to see Wendy Whelan and Craig Hall perform this beautiful piece at Whelan’s 2014 New York City Ballet farewell performance.
Enjoy this excerpt as danced here by (now retired) NYCB principal dancers Maria Kowroski & Ask la Cour in 2013.
If you’re interested, you can learn more about the piece’s connection with 9/11 when you click through the link.
Merci!
(Thank you!)
Thank you for reading this newsletter! If you have friends who might enjoy this, please share the link with them!
- Peggy