What You'll Learn
- The mechanics of maintaining a stable attitude promenade by driving the knee back.
- How to transition effectively into a passé early to secure your balance during center turns.
- Techniques for a deep center plié to power pirouettes without leaning on the barre.
- How to use fondu and fourth position landings to calibrate your body for multi-rotational turns.
- The grace and etiquette of a traditional ballet reverence to close your practice.
About This Video
Refine your center work with this comprehensive 19-minute all-level ballet class from Broche Ballet. Moving away from the barre and into the center of the room is one of the most rewarding challenges in ballet, requiring heightened core stability, spatial awareness, and technical precision. In this session, we focus on two foundational yet complex areas of center work: the attitude promenade and the mechanics of a successful pirouette.
We begin with a detailed review of the attitude promenade. One of the most common mistakes is losing the shape of the leg during the rotation. You will learn the importance of keeping the working knee driving back, which naturally causes the standing heel to shift correctly.
A key takeaway from this lesson is the timing of your transition; we emphasize aiming for the passé shape even sooner during the promenade to ensure a stable, centered finish. Next, the class transitions into pirouette preparation and execution. Turning in the center requires a different level of commitment than turning at the barre.
We dive deep into the center bend, teaching you how to utilize a deep, active plié to generate power without the need to lean or pull on external support. By practicing the fondu and landing cleanly in fourth position, you will calibrate your body to handle the momentum of a turn while maintaining a vertical axis. Throughout the class, we also incorporate essential movements such as relevé, bourrée, and développé.
During the développé, we emphasize taking a moment to settle and find your balance before extending the leg, ensuring every movement is controlled and deliberate. We conclude the session with a traditional reverence, a slow, dignified bow that honors the art form and your hard work. Whether you are a beginner looking to build confidence or an intermediate dancer refining your technique, this Broche Ballet class provides the tools needed to feel secure and graceful in the center.
