Connecting steps
01 · Term and function
What is Tombé?
Tombé means “fallen.” In ballet it describes a deliberately organized transition in which weight is transferred onto a new, usually bent supporting leg.
open · yield · transfer · stabilize
weight transfer and preparation for pas de bourrée, jumps, and turns
Interactive schematic movement analysis with its own movement logic
02 · Technical execution
What matters in Tombé
Make each change of supporting leg clear and continuous.
Place the feet precisely enough that the next step remains available.
Preserve a readable pathway through space rather than drifting between steps.
Legs, torso, head, and arms support the timing of the transition.
The step should prepare or continue the next movement rather than stop the phrase.
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
Tombé 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.
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 Tombé 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 connecting step can disappear into flow or become deliberately visible.
Changes of direction can connect, avoid, pursue, or redirect a phrase.
Small or broad travel alters how much space the transition claims.
A step can synchronize with, follow, pass, or yield to another dancer.
07 · Feeling, need, and relationship
Possible readings — not fixed meanings
Feelings and needs are not derived from Tombé 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 Tombé to related movements
Temps lié is a connecting movement sequence. A direction is prepared, weight is transferred, and the new position is organized without interruption.
A small three-part connecting step with rapid changes of foot and weight organization; modeled here as a neutral back–side–front sequence.
A turn on one supporting leg: preparation in plié, rise to demi-pointe, organization of the free leg in Retiré, rotation around the body axis, and a controlled finish.
Chassé means “chased.” The movement combines opening, drawing the other foot in, and continuing again into a clear traveling step.
Coupé describes a cutting weight or foot change in which one foot takes the place or function of the other; detailed usage depends on the school.
A gliding or stepping-through transition that often carries movement farther through space after a jump.
A Sissonne whose landing leads immediately into a Tombé or another continuing transfer of weight.
A transition placed against the expected step flow, with weight transfer, often used as a connecting preparation for further steps or jumps.
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?