Fondu: to melt in French.
To execute a fondu properly, you must incorporate many
basic elements of the ballet technique. By using your demi-plié, relevé, coupé, and développé, you can begin to
connect different technical ballet elements to produce movement that begins to
look a lot like the movements advanced dancers do at center, onstage, and in
choreography. In other words, an
understanding and aptitude must be achieved with the above steps before you
move on to learning a fondu.
It is often useful to teach fondu starting in fifth
position; the step begins by moving your working leg into coupé, while
simultaneously executing a demi-plié with your standing leg. There is an emphasis on
the knee of the standing leg gliding over the foot; during the demi-plié, your
weight must be concentrated over the ball of your foot. It is emphasized, when learning this step, that you should not let your standing leg roll in at the expense of achieving
maximum turnout and that your plié should be continuous, not stopping and
starting back up at any time.
The depth of your demi-plié is determined by the tempo
of the music to which you are executing the fondu. If the tempo is quick, the
plié will be short, whereas if the tempo is slow, the plié can be low enough to
release the supporting heal from the floor. Practicing fondu at different tempos will develop the control and
strength necessary to dance as quick and/or slow as choreography will one day
require of you. From this demi-plié,
both the standing and working legs should straighten, reaching fully extended
knees at the same time. Regarding your working leg, the foot should be drawn up the working leg, towards the knee,
before being extended to either the front, side, or back. Low fondus are
executed in a range from presenting the foot to the floor all the way up to
forty-five degrees; when executing a low fondu, the path of the working leg
follows a similar action to that of a pas de cheval. This is to say that the leg moves in a similar
circular motion, except that it doesn’t go through a sur le cou-de pied. The action of a fondu should be a continuous
plie that arrives in an extended line with both the working and standing leg pausing in the extended position, as though to indicate the completion of the
step.
Fondus that are executed to a high line are
characterized by the working foot, which is presented to ninety degrees or higher
and instead of using the pas de cheval trajectory, they are executed like a
développé. Like a développé, the
standing leg will reach full extension before the working leg; the supporting
leg reaches full extension while the working leg passes through passé, continuing
to be lifted to higher levels of extension. When executing a fondu, you should focus on presenting your working leg
exactly front, side, and back; extra turnout should be displayed as the working
leg reaches each of these positions.
While you keep these details in mind, care should also
be given to the timing with which you start and finishes your fondu. You should
arrive with extended legs at the same time, with a standing leg that has no
abrupt stop in plie and a working leg that goes through an exact coupé position. You should also stress in the execution of
fondus, that when returning to coupé for consecutive fondus, you should keep your
knee straight on your working leg, as the leg lowers; the knee of the working
leg should not bend until it reaches a level below forty-five degrees, at which
time the knee bends and the working foot returns to coupé.
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