Piano Music for the Ballet Technique Class

Barre 4 - Dégagé

Description of elements of a typical combination:

Sometimes called battement “glissé” or “jeté”
"This exercise is very similar to battements tendus, except that in this exercise, the toes are allowed to come off slightly off the floor" (Lishka 1979, p. 21).
These steps require an even brisker tempo than the tendus (Cavalli 2001, p. 104).
Common steps used in this combination:

Degagé (or battement glissé or battement jeté

Balance (in coupé or passé)
Plié

Meter

duple (2/4 or 4/4)

sometimes fast triple (3/4)

Tempo

moderately fast - 98 bpm

Accentuations

Very marked articulation usually more staccato quality.
Clear “and” for when the leg is going out

Example of Teacher Demonstrating a Degagé Combination:

Cues from teacher's demonstration:

Like the tendu combination, this combination needs to have a strong “and” in order to give the dancers an aural cue of when the leg it to be “out”.

Music Selected: Franz Schubert, Moment Musical No. 3 in F Minor

PDF of Original

04_Original_Moment Musical no. 3_Schubert.pdf

PDF of Arranged Score

Barre04_Degages_Moment Musical No. 3_Schubert10.22.22.pdf

Changes made in arranged score:

I only used mm. 1-35 of this piece, but if more time is needed, one could play through m. 58 in the original score.

Videos of Dancers performing combination with selected music:

Reactions while playing the combination:

This specific piece is a good test of the dancer’s musicality. Because there are two strong eighth-notes on each “count” they need to be very clear about the leg going out on the “and”. You can hear me trying to help them with this particularly in the eighth note at the very end of the introduction (by adding an accent/touch of the sustain pedal).

Next: Barre 5

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