Jumps
01 · Term and function
What is Pas de chat?
Pas de chat means “cat step.” From plié the legs lift one after the other; both are briefly in the air before a controlled landing.
bend · lift · jump · change · land
coordination of both legs in the air, jump timing, and lateral travel
Interactive schematic movement analysis with its own movement logic
02 · Technical execution
What matters in Pas de chat
Plié organizes force absorption and the direction of takeoff.
Foot, ankle, knee, and hip extend in a coordinated impulse.
Leg shape and foot articulation remain clear in the air.
The upper body supports direction and height without destabilizing the landing.
Land through the forefoot into plié with controlled leg alignment.
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
Pas de chat step by step
Organize weight, direction, feet, torso, and focus for the movement that follows.
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.
Maintain the characteristic leg and torso organization while the body is airborne.
Receive the floor through the foot and plié, keeping the leg axis controlled and the next movement available.
Use the supporting foot and leg to create a clear upward or traveling impulse while maintaining alignment.
04 · For children and beginners
Observe and explore safely
Practice the preparation and landing before adding speed, height, beats, or rotation. Keep the jump small enough to land quietly and with control.
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
Takeoff, leg organization, foot articulation, axis, and controlled landing.
Appropriate force in push-off and controlled absorption on landing.
Usable range without visible compensation in the pelvis or torso.
Timing, duration, flight rhythm, and intentional accent.
Clear direction, focus, beginning, and finish.
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 Pas de chat 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.
Low and high jumps create different intensities.
Vertical, lateral, or traveling pathways change the spatial effect.
A sharp takeoff or a softer flight curve changes perception.
Jumps can be simultaneous, delayed, crossing, or responsive.
07 · Feeling, need, and relationship
Possible readings — not fixed meanings
Feelings and needs are not derived from Pas de chat 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 Pas de chat to related movements
A small jump from an organized starting position: plié, push-off, flight, landing in plié, and re-straightening.
A jump from two feet landing on one foot while the other leg remains open; it may then close.
Glissade combines plié, brushing, a small flight phase, and closing into a usually connecting traveling jump.
A small jumping weight transfer: one leg brushes out, the body leaves the floor and lands on the brushing leg while the other leg becomes free.
A large cat-like jump, often with a developed front leg and a widely opened back leg; naming overlaps with Grand pas de chat depending on the school.
A sequence of alternating one-legged jumps or steps in which the legs alternate like interlocking movements.
A rocking change of jump in which body and legs alternate forward and backward or into opposing directions.
A large traveling pas-de-chat form with greater height and more open leg lines than the smaller Pas de chat.
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?