MYLOGO

On the last lesson of Term 1 Year 3 had a French lesson with a difference. One of their students, Lucy spoke to the class about her ballet lessons, performances, and showed the class some of her costumes and ballet shoes. Lucy has also won numerous competitions and is currently dancing at Grade 2 level with the Kerry Moore School of Ballet.

The Year 3 students were given a simple introduction to the five fundamental positions of the feet (first through to fifth positions), ballet steps, and their translation from French, and then attempted to copy Lucy as she showed them the positions. Some of the ballet positions are:

pas de chat - cat steps

devant/derrière - in front/behind

plié - bend

demi-plié - half-bend

port de bras - carriage of the arms

sauté - jump

relevé - lift up,

jeté - leap

Ballet developed as a performance-focused art form in France during the reign of Louis XIV, who was passionate about dance.

A distinctive feature of ballet technique is turnout; which is the outward rotation of the legs and feet emanating from the hip. This was first introduced into ballet by King Louis XIV because he loved to show off the shiny buckles on his shoes when he performed his own dances. (from Wikipedia).

Year 6 students are currently studying a play which features 'une ballerine' - perhaps they need a ballet lesson also!?