Combinations
01 · Term and function
What is Adagio combination?
A slow movement phrase that combines several technically independent elements into one continuous musical and physical task.
connect · phrase · transfer · coordinate · finish
connect transitions, balance, line, and musicality
Interactive schematic movement analysis with its own movement logic
02 · Technical execution
What matters in Adagio combination
Technical elements are connected without losing clarity at the points of change.
Each element establishes the support needed for the next one.
Tempo and duration organize the phrase as a whole rather than as isolated exercises.
The spatial line remains readable through successive movements.
Breath, focus, and musical phrasing connect the individual elements.
Body awareness: Notice which part of the body supports the movement, which part travels, and where the movement can remain clear without forcing range, turnout, speed, or height.
03 · Movement phases
Adagio combination step by step
Organize weight, direction, feet, torso, and focus for the movement that follows.
Carry out this phase with a clear direction, coordinated weight organization, and controlled transition into the next phase.
Carry out this phase with a clear direction, coordinated weight organization, and controlled transition into the next phase.
Return or close with the same precision used to begin the movement and arrive in a clear final organization.
Carry out this phase with a clear direction, coordinated weight organization, and controlled transition into the next phase.
Rotate with a clear supporting organization and maintain spatial orientation through torso, head, and gaze.
04 · For children and beginners
Observe and explore safely
Work in a small, controlled range first. Make the supporting leg, movement direction, and return position clear before increasing range or speed.
Which foot or leg is supporting you right now, and which part is moving?
Can you keep the direction and supporting organization clear while the movement changes?
Work only as large, fast, or high as you can control comfortably and without pain.
05 · Teaching and feedback
What teachers and learners can observe
Alignment, footwork, supporting/working-leg organization, and controlled return.
Graded use of force appropriate to the movement task.
Usable range without visible compensation.
Timing, duration, movement flow, and intentional accent.
Direction, focus, beginning, and finish remain clearly readable.
Maximum height, speed, turnout, or range is not a meaningful criterion on its own. What matters is controlled, physically coherent execution.
06 · Choreographic use
How the effect of Adagio combination can change
A technical movement is shaped on stage by time, space, form, gaze, and relationship. These variables change perception without assigning a fixed psychological meaning to the movement.
The ordering and duration of elements determine the shape of the phrase.
Slow/fast, sustained/accented, and stable/mobile sections can be juxtaposed.
A combination can remain local or reorganize the entire stage.
Different dancers may share, offset, interrupt, or redistribute the same phrase.
07 · Feeling, need, and relationship
Possible readings — not fixed meanings
Feelings and needs are not derived from Adagio combination itself. They are possible readings of a specific situation. Feeling, need, intention, and movement operation therefore remain separate.
Possible feelings: concentration, composure. Possible needs: orientation, stability. Possible intentions: prepare, organize, sustain a state.
Possible feelings: determination, tension. Possible needs: clarity, effectiveness. Possible intentions: set an impulse, mark a direction.
Possible feelings: connection, caution, resistance, or curiosity — depending on context. Possible needs: cooperation, autonomy, respect, or orientation. Possible intentions: respond, follow, avoid, support, or mark a boundary.
Choreographic guiding question: How does one person’s action change another person’s possibilities for action?
08 · Continue learning
From Adagio combination to related movements
The arms are not moved as isolated decoration. Shoulder girdle, elbows, wrists, hands, head, and torso form one connected movement organization.
Fondu means “melted.” The movement combines controlled yielding of the supporting leg with gathering and subsequent extension of the working leg.
The working leg is first gathered through Retiré and then unfolded forward with control before returning through Retiré and closing.
Promenade is a controlled turn on the supporting leg without the rapid rotation of a pirouette. The shape of the working leg is maintained while spatial orientation changes.
The mostly extended working leg describes a large circle in the air from the hip joint.
The extended working leg is slowly lifted backward and lowered again with stable torso and pelvic organization.
The extended working leg is slowly lifted forward without using the Retiré pathway of a Développé.
The body turns slowly around the supporting leg while the working leg is carried in Attitude.
Additional professional background
Books on learning and body awareness
The movement lexicon complements two book projects by Mathias Ellmann: The Ballet Teaching Tree for reflective, healthy learning and Leni and Oscar and the Secret of the Ballet Tree for younger readers.
The Ballet Teaching Tree
A model for healthy, reflective, artistically oriented ballet learning — with body awareness, motivation, self-respect, and long-term development.
About The Ballet Teaching Tree
Leni and Oscar and the Secret of the Ballet Tree
A story about body awareness, courage, learning, and the joy of development for younger readers.
About the children’s bookConcept · Ballet knowledge · Choreography
Mathias Ellmann
Mathias Ellmann develops the Ballet Movement Lexicon as a connection between classical ballet technique, body awareness, learning, and choreographic application.
Movements are first described in observable terms. Choreographic variables, relationship, and possible dramaturgical readings are added only afterwards.
In the contemporary ballet projects, classical ballet technique is used as a precise language of human relationships. The central question is: How does one person’s action change another person’s possibilities for action?