Barre & battements
01 · Term and function
What is Petit battement?
The working foot moves rapidly between positions in front of and behind the supporting leg. The movement remains small and is organized mainly from the knee joint.
bend · change · beat · stabilize
speed of the lower leg, knee control, preparation for batterie-like actions
Interactive schematic movement analysis with its own movement logic
02 · Technical execution
What matters in Petit battement
Keep the supporting leg and foot organized while the working leg moves.
The working leg has a clear direction and returns without disturbing the pelvis.
Use the floor precisely through heel, ball, and toes according to the movement.
Avoid substituting pelvic shift or torso tilt for the intended leg pathway.
Close or recover the leg with the same control used to open it.
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
Petit battement 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.
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.
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 Petit battement 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.
Slow, sustained, quick, or accented execution changes the visible quality.
A small or large leg pathway changes spatial emphasis.
Devant, à la seconde, and derrière reorganize focus in space.
The same leg action may mirror, answer, interrupt, or avoid another dancer.
07 · Feeling, need, and relationship
Possible readings — not fixed meanings
Feelings and needs are not derived from Petit battement 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 Petit battement to related movements
Frappé means “struck.” In ballet it describes a quick working-leg action from a prepared position at the supporting leg into a clear extension.
From plié the body jumps vertically. In flight the legs rapidly change their crossing and return to a clear fifth position before landing.
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.
Fondu means “melted.” The movement combines controlled yielding of the supporting leg with gathering and subsequent extension of the working leg.
With the thigh held, the lower leg performs two rapid circular actions before the starting organization is restored.
The lifted working leg makes a quick beating action against or close to the supporting leg while thigh and torso remain as quiet as possible.
In double frappé, the preparatory foot action at the supporting leg is expanded before the working leg strikes quickly and clearly into the chosen direction.
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?