Let’s fly into this new year with the crescendo of all barre exercises – Grand Battement.
Words describing grand battements include…
Strong, powerful, sharp, precise, accented, throwing, tossing, controlled, lifted, reaching, stretching!
Grand battements are the highest degree of the battements, following the battement tendu/dégagé and battement jeté/glissé performed earlier at the barre. In this case, the working leg moves the same way as it does in tendu or jeté, but continues above 90 degrees, and has more of a “throwing” motion. In fact, the full name for grand battement is grand battement jeté where jeté means “to throw”. And while it marks the end of the battement series, the grand battement movement is also the beginning of a grand jeté – where the dancer throws one leg into the air and pushes off the floor with the other, leaping into a big forward split in space.
As the final exercise at the barre, grand battements are a true culmination of strength, balance and flexibility, allowing you to showcase all your hard work since the beginning of class. The powerful accents in the movement are also sure to leave you energised and ready for centre practice.
Tips and Tricks
To the Front and Side
Start the movement from the inside of the leg and the heel to ensure your leg moves with turnout. Practicing grand battements with a flexed foot can help you find and employ those interior muscles.
To the Back
Lead with the toes going back to engage your turnout. We are often cued to keep our hips square but sometimes this can cause the back leg to turn in. It’s a hard balance between opening the hip without allowing the standing hip to go with it, or letting the glutes go. Lastly, avoid pinching your back by taking the chest forward and making space for the leg to go up.
Find Freedom
You want the working leg to have freedom, exploring the limits of your extension. Make use of the floor pressure under your foot as you brush out to “throw” the leg into the air instead of gripping your quads to control the leg up.
Maintain Balance
That freedom must be supported by a strong standing side or the force of the battement will pull you off-balance. Have the feeling that you are pushing on the earth with the standing leg, and after “throwing” the working leg skyward, control it on the way down, allowing it to return cleanly through tendu.
Think Bigger
“When you dance, your whole body is breathing: You expand, and then come back to the centre” Incorporate this idea, even in a grand battement. Your body doesn’t finish at your leg or at the top of your hand – there is more energy around it. Having that kind of length will lift your dancing to another dimension.
Extra Tip
Think of grand battements as a test for what’s next. Hopefully you have been thinking of your turnout throughout the whole barre. Have you been pulling up on the supporting sides? Are you ready to step into centre?
Keep dancing and we look forward to seeing you at the BalletBody studios this year!
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