Ballet technique
principles of body movement and form in ballet
Ballet technique is the foundational principles of body movement and form used in ballet. It is an important aspect of ballet performance because ballet (especially classical ballet) puts great emphasis on the method and execution of movement. The techniques found in classical ballet are a framework for many other styles of dance, including jazz and contemporary ballet.
Aspects of ballet technique include alignment, which refers to keeping the head, shoulders, and hips vertically aligned. Turnout refers to completing movements with legs rotated outward; this promotes clean footwork, graceful port de bras (movement of the arms), and correct body positions, lines and angles. Other aspects of ballet technique include posture, toe pointing, keeping shoulders down, and pulling up, which combines proper posture and lifting of the muscles to increase turnout and enhance alignment and thus improve the quality of turns. Ballet technique is also used to exhibit ballon, the appearance of gravity-defying lightness, during leaps. Pointe technique is the part of ballet technique concerned with dancing on the tips of fully extended feet.
The core techniques of ballet are common throughout the world, though there are minor variations among the different styles of ballet. Together with stylistic differences, these variations produce an aesthetic and physicality of performance that is unique to each style.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Ballet technique” is principles of body movement and form in ballet. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Ballet, technique and principles, not as a finished interpretation.
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Object files, edition statements, performance records and contemporary criticism preserve different stages of the work’s history. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 25, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1037567. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
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This entry incorporates text from “Ballet technique” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.