Балет

[melsauer.livejournal.com]

I have yet another presentation to do! This time, however, I am going to be talking about ballet and also teaching it to the class. I have a few questions аbout the basic formations of phrases that deal with how to move one's body and ballet terms. I realize that ballet is a specialized construct and the terminology may be different than in English. That being said:

to do ballet: делать балет
Does this make sense? Or is the verb танцевать needed?

ballet shoes/ pointe shoes: ботинки балета/ботинки пуната.
I found the word пуант to mean pointe on a few Russian ballet websites, but I've also seen simply пунт.

to go en pointe: танец в пуантах
Same deal as before. Also, I've seen танцевать на коньчики пальцев as meaning to dance on the tips of your toes. Does this make more sense than на пуантах?

to make a circle with your arms: закруглять ваши руки ИЛИ образовать круг с руками.
Which one makes more sense?

to make a triangle with your legs: образовать треугольник с ногами.
Again, does this make sense?

When saying the opposite leg, does one use the adjective противоположный оr обратный as in the sentence raise your left leg, then raise your opposite arm?

raise your leg behind yourself: поднимать ногу позади себя? за собой?

in front of yourself: перед собой?

place your feet together/stand with your feet together: стоять с ногами вместе? или стоять с одной ногой вместе с другой ногой?

point your toes: указывать ваши пальцы ИЛИ показывать ваши пальцы

If I think of any more questions, I'll post. Thank you so much!

Comments

[2-lya.livejournal.com]

The first arms position... I can understand this only because I danced ballet myself. I'm not sure it's good description for someone who never know about first position of arms.
What I would say is something like: make a circle with your arms, as you hold big imaginary ball and lift your arms without changing this position till your hand on the level of your diaphragm (you can use also - the edge of your ribs instead of diaphragm)
In Russian: округлите руки, как будто вы держите большой воображаемый мяч, и не меняя позиции рук, поднимите их перед собой, так чтобы кисти ваших рук оказались на уровне диафрагмы / границы ребер.

For "good posture": плечи расправлены и опущены, голова приподнята.
In English literally: shoulders are straighten and lower, head is lifted.

Oh, I also don't know if there is any difference in arms position in different ballet school. Maybe what you mean by "first" position is "preparatory" - when you don't lift your arms till the diaphragm level, but leave it down there.