Tour Jeté | Quick Ballet Tips

Today we are breaking down tour jeté also known as jeté entrelacé or grand jeté en tournant or simply "entrelacé".
Although it has many names today I will be referring to it as tour jete because that is what I grew up with.
I remember when I first started ballet this step seemed so complicated to me and I usually got myself all tangled up.
In this video I do my best to break it up into manageable bites while showing you exercises that can build the proper strength needed.
Thanks to my lovely student Tiegan for being me model again, miss you!
The sound in this is not fantastic, but I am hoping to learn how to remedy it in the future. Let me know if you have any questions!

[@justme9818]

Thank you for all the breakdown exercises. We were just thrown in at the deep end and expected to pull them off. I prefer your method!

[@TheWholePointe]

I hope it was helpful! Being a late starter myself I really love breaking complicated steps down so that you can examine each section. Thanks for watching!

[@arielburrow9433]

We were too!

[@autumnpendergast9151]

Definitely a step that is not usually "taught" which is so frustrating. Great video!

[@GeorgeOu]

Battement front is a myth. You should be in seconde as your toes leave the ground. Your student does it correctly and she's in seconde and not front at 4:33 in the video just as her toes are about to leave the ground. Here's a frame-by-frame breakdown of the jump from a girl in a Moscow competition. drive.google.com/open?id=0BzJPVjnDutJBa1NJdGZ1bkRXWWs Here's your student's screenshot the moment her toes are about to leave the floor. drive.google.com/open?id=0BzJPVjnDutJBeTRYeFhuOXczdGs Yes I know you have a photo of your student in your video at 0:38 with her in the air with legs exactly front, but you took that photo from her doing just a drill and not doing the actual tour jete. Luckily your student instinctively does exactly what you teach not to do in order to execute the proper tour jete. But not all students act on instinct and they take their instruction literally and they always have trouble with the actual movement. Dancers who attempt to do it "by the book" and battement front always screw it up because there isn't enough time to flip the body to do the second battement to arabesque. The jump-talented students end up doing this instinctively even when they're taught to battement front. But I know a lot of dancers who take instructions literally and stick strictly to the teaching and it hurts their ability to execute the move.

[@TheWholePointe]

Interesting take, I've never heard that before. I would agree that the leg to the front is immediately going into a fouette however I've always taught and been taught to aim for that front. Maybe they are two different schools of thought, I will play around with it in the studio tonight. Thanks for your input!

[@GeorgeOu]

The Whole Pointe Everyone who claims they go to the front actually go to the side on takeoff if they are able to do it correctly. They'll swear they're going front but if I freeze their video I will show them going to the side. Your student looks like she's going front but it flips to the side so fast that it's hard to see without looking at the freeze-frame. I have studied dozens of videos of elite dancers and some students who struggle. Every successful tour jete hits seconde before toes leave the ground. Pictures don't lie and I've included 2 examples. I've seen students battement front on takeoff and they never hit the proper second battement back in the air. Or they battement to the audience short 90-degree rotation and screw it up. This was a shock to me when I first saw this after 20 years of dancing. What was frustrating was that the more textbook correct I did the tour jete the WORST I got! I was doing it well as a beginner who jumped on instinct and the more I battement front the worst I got even as a professional dancer. I finally figured out that conventional wisdom was wrong and it suddenly became easy.

[@justme9818]

George Ou George Ou THANK YOU SO MUCH. Despite decent elevation as a student I could never get this step right. there just wasn't enough time. I always looked pathetic. Now I know it wasn't me! I can practice them properly now. :)

[@GeorgeOu]

You're welcome. I used to do this step very well as a beginner because of instinct but then I got worse and worse as I started adopting "proper textbook technique" which always tell you to battment forward. The girls in this video teaches you in slow simulated motion to battment forward but when she actually does it immediately goes to the side. I struggled with this step for over 10 years until I started to analyze the slow motion and how it actually works.

[@SarahArnoldTheAccidentalArtist]

I love your exercise at the barre and the kneeling one in center for a preparation-- I had not thought of that before! I will try it with my students :) I find the hardest element is building the strength to hold the upper back upon landing for the young ones. However, often their weight is back~ Take care!

[@TheWholePointe]

Let me know how it goes! I agree about the back, I do find that working at the barre before attempting it in the center helps them get a feel of the straight up and down feeling. When I first learned these I was all mixed up so I love breaking it down into pieces.

[@sarahwinner9165]

This really helps I've nevrer done ballet before and now I'm good at this!!!

[@coltballentine]

I really needed this step by step teaching! I wish every moves would be taught this way. Thanks! Big help for me.

[@TheWholePointe]

I'm so glad it was helpful! Let me know how it goes, this is such a fun step once the coordination comes!

[@LovelyMe93]

please a video on how to improve grand jete and saut de chat? :)

[@TheWholePointe]

Yes, I would love to do that! Thanks for the suggestion!

[@chloeprice743]

Oh my god you are literal lifesaver. I’ve been searching for videos that shows exercises and step by step and your video has helped me get mine really quickly actually❤️

[@TheWholePointe]

I am so glad - thanks for letting me know! I remember it looking so tricky when I first started!

[@christinastempke7600]

it helped me a lot too

[@natalkaeagle751]

Thank you so much! It really helped my daughter

[@TheWholePointe]

I'm delighted to hear that! Thank you for sharing!!

[@CHEESE-ui7vg]

I can do this

[@1995marixsa]

what a lovely video Thank you so much

[@TheWholePointe]

You are quite welcome!

[@wisdomseeker0142]

This is absolutely superb. Thank you.

[@TheWholePointe]

Thank you,I'm glad it was helpful!

[@arielburrow9433]

Thank you so much i think you just saved my life

[@TheWholePointe]

This is the best comment, haha, thank you! I totally understand, I remember how turned around I felt when first learning tour jete!

[@arielburrow9433]

My teacher showed us a tour jete and basically had us go for it, this breakdown is SO helpful!! also the barre exercises

[@TheWholePointe]

Yes, I understand! I started ballet later and was tossed in with the older kids, I remember being so confused! Glad to help, let me know if you have any other requests for breakdowns!

[@Hearts4Kaiden]

❤😊

[@TheWholePointe]

a fun video to make!

[@scarletsavenger1367]

Thank you so much!! I’m definitely going to be trying this out!! Today we were expected to just do it with little explanation I was landing with my leg straightened too...😅 she never said bend when you land...🤦‍♀️ now I can improve on it! ☺️❤️

[@TheWholePointe]

ouch! It feels like landing straight might hurt - did it? I know sometimes dance moves get thrown out there without much breakdown which is why I love making these videos! Let me know if there is anything else you'd like to see!

[@scarletsavenger1367]

@@TheWholePointe thank you so much!! It was more uncomfortable than hurting. I was doing little tiny ones so there was not do much pressure on my knee because I was not exactly sure what we were doing at the time.

[@xandrinekristianne]

thank you sooo much this is so hepful! i really hope you do a temps le fleche and balote tutorial please! also the saute-coupe-jete move. xx

[@TheWholePointe]

Thank you for the ideas, so glad I could be helpful!

[@singer2be256]

I keep ending up pulling something in my hip when I practice these. So painful

[@TheWholePointe]

oh dear, that's no good! Have you had it looked at?

[@singer2be256]

@@TheWholePointe No, but I think its getting better now.

[@lilyrose8353]

Hii!! This video is truly so helpful!! Every step is explaining so well with lots a exercices to make it easily possible !! Thank you so much

[@TheWholePointe]

That is my favorite thing to hear, I am so glad! Please let me know if there is anything you'd like to see in the future.

[@lilyrose8353]

Yes please if you can give some exercices to strengh the back and make it more flexible without feeling any pain. For the hips as well, what's your tips to keep them square and forward. What's the exact position of the feet to have the best turned out hips.? Basically i love your videos cause you're explaining every movement step by step. Sometimes we do things we don't even understand!! And that's exactly where you're so good!!

[@elainechen8179]

Thank you so much for the great video- I find it very useful! One problem I have though is that I tend to land on a straight leg. Do you have any tips about how can we make sure that we land when a plie?

[@TheWholePointe]

Ouch! That probably doesn't feel very good. I would say that doing the exercises shown in this video at the barre would be a good starting place. You can use the barre a bit to make sure that your are really rolling through the foot on the landing and putting your weight forward. The more that you can practice landing in the plie the more you can make it muscle memory. Do you feel like you land with straight legs on regular sautes in first position or only when you do a tour jete?

[@elainechen8179]

Thank you so much for your response! I find myself landing on straight leg more when I lend on single leg, such as after a Grand Jete, or Saut de Chat. I felt the exercises you introduced at the barre would be very helpful!

[@Lottiee88]

Very helpful tips !! It really works better for me.

[@TheWholePointe]

I am so glad to hear that! All of these exercises have really helped me and my students as well! Let me know if there is anything else you'd like to see!

[@negarzakhari8719]

Hi, I love this video. It helps me sooooo much, thx a lot,

[@TheWholePointe]

So glad to hear it! Let me know if there is anything else you would like to see a video on! ❤

[@faustorobalino9773]

Great vid❤️👏

[@TheWholePointe]

Hope it was helpful!

[@OopsieDaisyCottage]

I LOVE this video!

[@TheWholePointe]

I am so glad! It was fun to film!

[@rastar154]

Going to try this before class next week!

[@TheWholePointe]

I would love to hear how it goes! ❤

[@rastar154]

The Whole Pointe I have this mental block of knowing how to do it but not being brave and second guessing myself. We shall see if breaking it down like this will help!

[@TheWholePointe]

I definitely understand , when I first started grand allegro always scared me and I was overly cautious. You can do it!

[@sunflowervol.6414]

Hey, I really love your videos! They help me a lot! Could you maybe do one on jete elance? It would help me so much!

[@TheWholePointe]

Thank you - I am so glad! I don't typically use the term jeté élancé but since élancé means darting I am assuming it is a grand jeté where you are working more on traveling straight across and forward instead of arcing up and over. Does this sound right to you? I'd love to do a video on grand jeté anyway so let me know!

[@sunflowervol.6414]

The Whole Pointe yes! It would help me so much! Thanks for your answer