Large jumps
01 · Term and function
What is Pas de poisson?
A jump with a characteristically curved, fish-like body and leg line; execution and terminology vary by school.
plié · push off · fly · organize · land
force absorption, takeoff, flight organization, and controlled landing
Interactive schematic movement analysis with its own movement logic
02 · Technical execution
What matters in Pas de poisson
The preparation establishes direction, momentum, and the takeoff leg.
The push from the floor creates height and/or travel without sacrificing alignment.
The legs open into the characteristic airborne shape with active feet.
Torso and arms organize the trajectory and spatial orientation.
The landing absorbs force through the foot and plié and continues the phrase safely.
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 poisson 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.
Use the supporting foot and leg to create a clear upward or traveling impulse while maintaining alignment.
Receive the floor through the foot and plié, keeping the leg axis controlled and the next movement available.
Return or close with the same precision used to begin the movement and arrive in a clear final organization.
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 poisson 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.
Height and distance determine the visual scale of the action.
A direct, diagonal, circular, or crossing path changes the dramatic use of space.
Suspension, acceleration, or delayed landing changes the perceived weight of the jump.
A large jump may approach, cross, avoid, follow, or answer another person.
07 · Feeling, need, and relationship
Possible readings — not fixed meanings
Feelings and needs are not derived from Pas de poisson 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 poisson to related movements
A large jump with clear forward or spatial travel and widely opened legs in flight; takeoff and landing are organized through plié.
A jump in which one leg beats against or visibly reaches the other in the air, after which the legs separate again or organize for landing.
A large turning jump with a marked change of leg and direction in which travel and rotation are closely linked.
A pose and movement organization on one supporting leg with the working leg extended behind; torso, pelvis, supporting leg, working leg, and arms form one spatial organization.
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?