What does “Positions of the body” mean in ballet?
There are eight to eleven positions of the body in ballet, eight in Cecchetti and RAD and ten or eleven in the Russian and French schools. The general positions are croisé , à la quatrième , effacé , à la seconde , écarté , and épaulé . Cecchetti and RAD's eight include croisé devant, à la quatrième devant, effacé (devant), à la seconde, croisé derrière, écarté, épaulé, and à la quatrième derrière . The Russian school further divides effacé and épaulé into effacé devant, effacé derrière, épaulé devant , and épaulé derrière , and the Russian arm positions on croisé derrière are the converse of Cecchetti/RAD's. In addition, the French school further divides écarté into écarté devant and écarté derrière .
See also
New to ballet? Read our ballet guide — history, the five positions, class structure and how adults can start.
Definition adapted from Glossary of ballet on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
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