Foundations of Ballet Technique

This unit introduces foundational ballet technique, safe practice habits, and essential performance skills. Students progress from floor stretches to barre and center work—learning alignment, turnout, basic jumps, turns, musicality, room mapping, and introductory partnering—to prepare for intermediate technique and choreography in subsequent units.

Learning Objectives

• Demonstrate foundational ballet technique by performing barre and center exercises (including demi-plié, fondu, battement développé, battement tendu, grand battement, petit allegro, glissade, and pas de cheval) with appropriate alignment, turnout, and control across multiple repetitions.
• Apply safe practice principles by selecting suitable practice spaces and surfaces, executing warm-up and floor-stretch routines, and performing stabilizer-strengthening exercises that reduce injury risk.
• Analyze musicality and spatial awareness by mapping pathways through the room, counting musical phrases, choosing appropriate musical options for exercises, and maintaining consistent spotting while turning and traveling.
• Evaluate and demonstrate introductory performance and partnering skills by interpreting classical ballet constants and repertoire references, using gesture and phrasing to tell a simple story, and executing basic partner balance/support tasks.