CriticalDance Forum

In my class we're learning Jete Battue and I can't do them! she broke it down and I still can't beat my leags fast enough. I never have been good at doing things were you need to beat the legs! Including, Royals (sp?) antricicots,antricitwas ect.! How can I learn to beat my leags faster?
BBT's Pride

<small>[ 08 December 2004, 04:28 AM: Message edited by: Stuart Sweeney ]</small>

Hi...For jete battu or any beats, be sure to beat your legs sideways, not forward and backward. This is a common mistake when first learning beats. Try doing a lot of beats from second position. This will give you the feel for this motion. Also, make sure you really think of hitting your calves together. If you do, the beat almost happens by itself...kinda like what happens when you bounce a ball on the floor. Lastly, always execute your beat on the way "up"...not on the way "down".

I think another great way (a way I personally teach) is to lie on ones back, raise legs to a 90 degree angle and practice beating the entire leg as a whole. also great for practicing turnout. gradually increasing speed but also perfecting the technique. just a thought. can anyone see any possible problems by teaching it this way? (I do realise one must of course look out for one's back. flat not arched. aligned with the ground etc. also hip alignment, core stability etc. etc. Love Spangles (Novice Teacher who loves to learn.xx

It also help to think that you are crossing the thighs not just the calf.
I also agree that it is great to practice while on our back and really cancentrate on the thighs.

The main teacher of my youth gave this exercise at the barre: start in 5th position and, keeping the foot flexed, do the action of an entrechat six with one leg, i.e., the front leg goes back, front, back (pause), front, back, front (pause), and so on. (Repeat with the other leg, obviously, or you could end up with some strange beats.) The idea was to open to the side as far as possible and keep up with the music, and also close all the way to 5th with each beat.

I don't know how effective it was, because I never experienced not doing this exercise on a regular basis.

thanks for that djb. will introduce that exercise also to students in the new year. as you can appreciate, people learn in many different ways and i feel that people learn by performing different exercises also, that still achieve the final outcome in the long run. excellent exercise i feel

Hi
While we are on the topic of perfecting beats, I wondered if anyone had any tips for perfecting a six vole? It is in the advanced 2 RAD syllabus (I think it is a swish up like a brise and the front leg is beaten back, front, back.)From 5th my entrachat six is ok (not great, but as I have very hyperextended knees I am just getting used to bending them to beat) Can anybody help?
R

With beaten jumps such as entrechat the beat is a sideways movement.

If you believe the legs should be straight in the air then logically the ball and socket movement in the hip performs the beating action. So training exercises to speed up this action etc are the ones to try.

If you believe the beaten action should take place in the knee joint - as in the real Cecchetti method – then the action is undertaken in the hinge joint - the knee. This is a correct use of a hinge joint and perhaps more sensible, though some ballet teachers seem not to understand this. The traditional training exercise of petit battements has value here. If you perform entrechats in this way use the force of the plie to thrust you up into the air, and the knees usually straighten, but on the way down it is easier to slightly relax the knees and the beats can take place. Perhaps a bit tricky at first but it does work & you may well get more beats in.

A good way to study beats is to look at the Bournonville training - again it is in the knee joint so you may find that the key to beaten jumps is in the use of the knees which is both logical and of course the traditional way of teaching.

For jete battu the knee is inevitably bent so that is where the beat takes place.

<small>[ 09 December 2004, 01:43 AM: Message edited by: Gavin Roebuck ]</small>

Gavin, thanks for that post. This is the way I teach batterie, but I didn't realize it's connection to the Cecchetti method, having never formally studied this syllabus.

<small>[ 09 December 2004, 11:02 AM: Message edited by: GN ]</small>

I guess you're talking here again about the Bournonville method, are you not? Because I don't teach it this way, I personnaly don't see it beaten in the knee, but I also wouldn't have the knee bent. I'm not saying this isn't possible or valid, but I can't say I've heard of this in fact in the past. :confused:

Your terminology must be different to mine I have never heard of a jete battu which does not end on a bent supporting knee the other leg being bent devant or derriere.

Oh, you mean in the landing?... but by then the beat has already taken place, has it not? :confused:

When I'm both doing and teaching batterie, including "simpler" steps like glissade;glissé, I always make a point of emphasizing the use of the push by the feet, making sure I/they truly use the bottoms of them. That we can both "hear and see the swish." I've found this is a marvelous tool that works for us.

Even with sissonne, I really focus on using my feet. The legs tend to take care of themselves. And speed (for me) is only achieved by making my feet do the work and go fast! Otherwise, the step becomes too heavy and "leggy." Then you really can tire yourself out. Spring in the feet keeps the requisite speed and energy up.

I'm confused now, too. For me, & the way I teach, the legs have to be straight for most kinds of battu movements, including jete battu. Then, an energetic crossing of the (turned out) thighs will result in a rebound effect, which gives energy to the beat. Bending the knees during the beat often results in a painful knocking together of the ankles.

I completely agree that speed in the foot action is essential for every kind of jumping, and one that many teachers don't emphasize enough (IMHO).

Hi...Gavin isn't suggesting that the legs are really "bent" to the point that ankles are whacking together. I believe he means (correct me if I'm wrong in my assumption here, Gavin!) that the knees are just slightly relaxed (the legs still "appear" straight) when the beat takes place. This allows for the beat to take place more with the calves than the thighs. I've just always felt that this was a more effective (at least for me) way of executing batterie. I think of a "breath" in the legs opening sideways on the way up and then executing the beat. The use of the feet, as Dean Speer and Beth Kurtz mentioned, is also very important. "Lazy feet" I sometimes mention to my students...

<small>[ 14 December 2004, 10:47 PM: Message edited by: GN ]</small>