"Dance first, think later. It's the natural order." -Samuel Beckett
Introduction
Assemblé is a staple step of all allegros in ballet, both petit and grand. As such, it is important to master it pretty quickly in your training. Here's what you should work on:
Doing these three things will give you great assemblés, no matter if they are devant, en tournant, or whatever!
- Find your fifth
- Assemble your legs in the air!
- Brush the floor
Doing these three things will give you great assemblés, no matter if they are devant, en tournant, or whatever!
Completing the Assemblé
As I always say, "find your home base." This means you should start and end assemblé in fifth position. It can be tempting to start in fifth but slide your front leg forward to give your brush more power, but you can't give in. Stick to your position and use your plié to get off the floor instead. As you release the working leg, brush the floor just as you do in tendu or degagé at the barre. Since you start in plié, make sure that you straighten both of your legs at the same time, as you jump into the air. Finally, assemble your legs in the air by bringing the bottom leg to the top leg (not vice versa), and of course, landing in fifth.
Different Kinds of Assemblé
It is important to note that there are different kinds of assemblés. Firstly, the "spirit" of the assemblé is different, depending on whether it is done during petit allegro or grand allegro. In petit allegro, the assemblé occurs much more quickly and only moves up-and-down. In contrast, during grand allegro assemblé typically gets higher off of the ground and you are allowed to travel with the jump.
Most assemblés happen coming forward by brushing the back leg and landing with that leg in front. However, you can reverse that by brush the front leg and landing in back for assemblé reversed. You can also do a turning assemblé, known as assemblé entournant, which is often performed by male dancers.
Most assemblés happen coming forward by brushing the back leg and landing with that leg in front. However, you can reverse that by brush the front leg and landing in back for assemblé reversed. You can also do a turning assemblé, known as assemblé entournant, which is often performed by male dancers.