CriticalDance Forum

I first heard of B+ when I was learning my dance recital for last year. It was the first year I had taken dance as an adult. I don't remember the teacher I had as a youngster name this position, although I do remember using it in center combinations.<P>Over the last year and a half, I have come to the conclusion that B+ is an extremely useful and pretty position. Imagine, if you will, a line of corps dancers. Costumes tulled and sparkling. They finish their dance, the soloist comes on stage and the corps hits their pose....arms at first, legs at B+.<P>If the back leg were extended back, the dancer's balance is more precarious. With the leg bent, there is a little bit more stability in the B+ position.<P>It is an easy position to move from. To glissade or jete or pas de bourre from this position is very easy.<P>And it is an very recognizable ballet pose. How many non-dancers strike this pose when they attempt to make fun of ballet dancers....<P>So let's hear it for B+. A very useful, pretty and underappreciated pose.....<P>*clap*clap*clap*....

AHallMark - LOL....it is a lovely position you are right. I saw lots of it last night when I went to a performance of the Paris Opera Ballet. The corps de ballet is really the stars of La Bayadere, the ballet which was performed.<P>In the last act 32 women stand on the stage in white tutus, in that lovely position, and it is breathtaking.<P>You can read all the reviews, including mine, in that thread in the Ballet Forum. <P>Someone told me that in notation, I think it is Benesh, that B+ is sort of, kind of, the symbol for that position, and that's how it got its name.

Question...should toes of back foot in B+ position be pointed or "forced arch" (toes flexed)? I have never gotten a definitive answer on this. Which looks prettier, which hurts the toes less?

The RAD calls it "classical pose", with pointed foot derrière (external side of the allux in contact with the floor). antoP.

Correct me if i am wrong (and I probably am) - but B+ sounds quite similar to sur le cou de pied derriere. I know sur le cou de pied is often raised slightly off the floor with the foot flexed, but I have been taught that it can also be placed on the floor with either the ball or the toe resting on the floor - as a pose or quite often used at the beginning of a dance as a preparatory position.<P>Does anyone else know of it being called by this name/<P>If it is the same thing then yes it is a very useful and pretty position.

I, too, have sometimes seen this position with the ball of the foot (toes flexed) against the floor. However, this is a position that I would not recommend. <P> I think that if the student/dancer stands with the ball of the foot on the floor, then there is a tendency to put weight on that back foot, which would be incorrect. Whereas if only the outside edge of the big toe is in contact with the floor then there is less of a tendency to have weight on that back foot.<P>I also think that the foot is much prettier, especially in pointe shoes, when it is fully pointed.<P>As I was taught, it is not quite sur le cou-de-pied. The foot is shaped the same way, but the space between the foot and the standing ankle is wide, the two legs only in contact at the knees.<P>I sometimes find myself standing that way in odd places, like in line at the food store. Adults don't seem to notice, but small children do. Children notice everything.

I see what you mean.<P>Yes i agree it is a nicer position with the foot pointed - and a whole lot easier that way in pointe shoes!

What is the 'normal', I mean French name, of B+? Cause I never heard of it, but i do know the position like Joanne and Basheva described.

You know, Anastasia, I have never heard it given an official French name. Maybe that's why we call it B+.

I was told that it was Balanchines favorite starting/ending postition. Thus B for Mr B and + for the crossing of the chin/calves. Anyone eles??

I think my teacher last year said it was a Cechetti term. She taught us a combination of Cechetti and Russian. But I do remember now that she mentioned Balanchine being associated with that pose.<P>Yes, it's sur le coupe de pied derierre, but a little separated from the supporting leg and a little more crossed, I think. And on the floor.<p>[This message has been edited by ahallmark (edited May 14, 2001).]

I was reading a book that called B+ a version of attitude a terre... but now I can't find where it was that I saw that.

I found one reference: In Classical Ballet Technique by Gretchen Ward Warren, she also calls B+ "attitude a` terre."<p>[This message has been edited by katheryn (edited May 14, 2001).]

That makes sense Katheryn. There is one difference though, I think, an attitude a terre would be directly behind the shoulder - an open position. However, B+ is crossed more - the knees of both legs touching.<P>Ah here I just found it on page 366 of Gretchen Ward Warren's book, (with the picture) she calls it a B+ position with no explanation that I can see for why it is given that name. But she also emphasizes that the knees have to be together. <P>What page did you see the attitude a terre Katheryn ?<BR>

Basheva, I saw it on page 13, in the bottom right hand corner. She says: "'B+' (also called attitude a terre), a common preparatory pose. Note that the knees are TOGETHER." There is a picture, indeed showing that the knees are together and the back foot completely pointed.