Expert: Dianne M. Buxton - 2/5/2008

Question
Hello, I have been dancing ballet for 20 years I have a BFA in ballet, I am dancing professionally, and I teach ballet.  I have been trained in Vaganova, Balanchine, with a little mixture of Bournonville and Cecchetti.  Suddenly a simple question that went against the way I teach Chaînés got me a bit confused.  Chaînés are taught in various ways, and I am confused as to which way is the most accepted way.  In my classical ballet technique book it says that Chaînés are short for Tours Chaînés or chaînés déboulés.  It notes that you can do Chaînés with the second step in 1st position or Chaînés with the second step in 6th position. (Soviet syllabus)  But I am 100% certain that I have been taught to turn with my feet in 1st position.  Then I just have to throw in that I have also seen TONS of teachers especially in jazz classes teach you to go from 1st to 2nd position with the arms opening and closing.  ARE all of these ways acceptable?  Or is one more acceptable than another?  I just want to teach my girls the correct or at least the most accepted way to do their Chaînés.
Thanks


Answer
Hi Tess. The most common form of chainees is keeping the legs and heels tightly together, so you would be held in first position. The idea is that you are turning, not really stepping. You are spinning in a straight line or circle and keeping the legs tight below you.

Opening the arms to second and back is not a balletic way to do the turns. I see mostly, in classical ballets, that the arms stay in fifth en avant, and even cross over to keep the position tight. This enhances the speed of the turns. Using the arms would drag the speed and throw the dancer off - especially in point shoes!

All the best Tess, Dianne.