Fouettes, or expressed more precisely, fouette rond de jambe en tournant!

Fouettes, or expressed more precisely, fouette rond de jambe en tournant! 

There is no middle ground on this step – you either love ‘em or hate ‘em.  Fouette means whipped, and not all fouettes are turns; however, the turning fouettes are for many dancers among the most dreaded turns asked for in class or in choreography. It is a display of virtuosity for a ballerina, and Petipa’s choreography requires 32 fouettes in the coda for many of his pas de deux.

I happen to love fouettes, so when Runqiao called for them, I eagerly stepped forward. The key to executing fouettes is finding a rhythm and sticking with it. Once the rhythm is established, you can execute 8, 16, 32, 48, or until you get dizzy, your supporting leg gives out, or the teacher says, “Stop. That’s enough!” It is always important to keep your back straight, your shoulders down, and your arms strong because they control the speed of the turn. Your working leg must be straight and strong – it is the whip that propels the turn.  I concentrate on staying in one spot and not traveling, particularly when doing fouettes in a group. One traveling dancer can create havoc in class if she strays into space where another dancer is working. It is best to stop and regroup if you find that you are traveling out of your area.

The Russian pianist played the coda from Don Quixote pas de deux, music that is almost always used in class for fouettes, no matter what city or country you happen to be taking class in. Sometimes the pianist mixes it up with Corsaire or Black Swan, but Don Q is the usual accompaniment. This regularity and tradition is something I love about ballet. No matter where you go, no matter who is teaching, class will follow a pattern set down over a hundred years ago. Even if the teacher doesn’t speak your language, you can still take class and learn because the language of ballet is universal and transcends all verbal languages.

I sometimes stop and think that the steps that I am doing today, are also being executed by thousands of other dancers across the United States, and in many countries throughout the world. For the last hundred years, ballet dancers have been doing the same steps we are doing at TU, most likely to the same music that our pianist played for us today. Legendary ballerinas like Plisetskaya and Maximova did these very same fouettes, probably to the Don Q coda. My friends dancing in ballet companies or studying in other schools are also doing fouettes to Don Q. It is a link that binds all ballet dancers past and present.