how to do a tour jete

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How to Do & Improve Your Grand Jete in Ballet

Last Updated: November 10, 2023 References

Learning the Jump

Building & maintaining flexibility, building & maintaining strength.

This article was co-authored by Murisa Harba . Murisa Harba is an Acting Coach, Dance Instructor, and the Artistic Director & Owner of About the Works Actors Studio and Take My Lead LA. With over 13 years of experience, she specializes in private ballroom dancing lessons and encouraging actors to creatively tell stories. Murisa holds a BFA in Theatre and a Minor in Dance from Boston University’s College of Fine Arts. There are 8 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. This article has been viewed 162,610 times.

A Grand Jeté is a stunning ballet movement in which the dancer leaps into the air to perform a split. Also known as a split jump, this impressive move is doable if you take the right steps, but take care to prepare properly. The Grand Jeté is a show-stopper if done correctly, but can cause serious strain on your body if done incorrectly.

• Stretch only until you feel a minor burn in your leg muscles, and then hold it for 30 seconds. [3] X Trustworthy Source Mayo Clinic Educational website from one of the world's leading hospitals Go to source
• If you are new to stretching, start slowly; take your time.
• Do this stretch every day.

• Perform this stretch every day until your legs are both flat on the floor and you are sitting comfortably. But please do not push yourself while doing the splits, as you may injure yourself.
• Allow yourself several weeks to reach a split. Go slowly and carefully to avoid a pulled muscle.

• If you can't manage 30 reps, set a smaller number and gradually build up over several days.

• Be sure you're using your glutes to achieve leg height.
• Do 30 reps and switch legs.

• Bound for around 30 yards (27.4 m), jog again, and then bound again.
• Three rounds of bounding is ideal.

Community Q&A

• Other plyometric exercises such as jump squats can help improve your jump. Try as many as you like, but only do them two to three times per week. [8] X Research source Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0
• Point your feet for the full effect. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0
• Extend your arms gracefully out or above you during your jump. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0

• Make sure you are doing the split jump on an anti-slip surface or in anti-slip shoes such as canvas or leather ballet shoes. Thanks Helpful 19 Not Helpful 4
• Do your best to avoid injury by stretching thoroughly. Whether it's training when leading up to your first jump attempts or just before your actual jump, it's very important to stretch out and warm up your muscles. Thanks Helpful 18 Not Helpful 4
• Only perform strength training exercises every other day. Thanks Helpful 10 Not Helpful 11

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• ↑ https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02qyf2w
• ↑ https://youtu.be/MKWBPKIxK5M?t=67
• ↑ https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/fitness/in-depth/stretching/art-20047931
• ↑ https://www.webmd.com/fitness-exercise/features/body-weight-workout-video
• ↑ http://healthyliving.azcentral.com/leg-strength-exercises-ballet-8426.html
• ↑ https://www.nbcnews.com/better/health/5-simple-exercises-stronger-tighter-glutes-ncna870381
• ↑ http://healthyliving.azcentral.com/improve-ballet-leaps-fast-7561.html
• ↑ https://greatist.com/fitness/explosive-bodyweight-exercises

About This Article

The grand jete is an advanced ballet move where you leap into the air and perform a split. You’ll need to stretch regularly until you can comfortably do a split on the ground to pull this off. To do the move, start with your right foot flat and your left leg extended in front with your pointed toe touching the floor. Step forward with your right leg and raise it while pointing your toe. Then, push off your left leg and jump as high as you can. While you’re in the air, extend your legs in a forward split and extend your arms at your sides too. Land on your right leg and bend your knee to absorb the impact. Keep your arms and left leg extended like they were in the air for a second. For more tips, including how to jump higher, read on! Did this summary help you? Yes No

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Step of the Day: Jeté Entrelace

Step of the Day: Jeté Entrelacé (zhuh-TAY ahn-truh-la-SAY) is a jump from one foot, followed by a half turn, then a split jump landing on the other foot. The step is common for both men and women. The step is commonly referred to as a Tour Jeté. Gail Grant in her Technical Manual and Dictionary of Classical Ballet calls this reference a “corruption of the term.” More proper names are Grand Jeté Dessus en Tournant (French School), Grand Jeté en Tournant en Arriére (Cecchetti method), or Jeté Entrelacé (Russian School). Because all of these terms are a mouthful for such a simple step, many prefer Tour Jeté.

I show some great examples of the step. Ethan Stiefel performs jeté entrelacé en menage (circle). The step after his grand jeté en tournant is a grand jeté a la seconde. Note his great extension and line. In the second clip, Leonid Sarafanov in La Bayadére takes extension to a new level with a greater than 180 degree split at the peak of his jump. Amazing sequence. Igor Zelensky of the Kirov Ballet (now Mariinsky) in Swan Lake shows great command along the diagonal.

American Ballet Theatre Le Corsaire, Image Entertainment, 2000

YouTube, Johnson Zhang, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xh-YdmyAcqg

The Kirov Ballet Swan Lake, Kultur Video, 1991

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Teaching Tour Jeté

Karen Lynch of Lynch School of Ballet shares an effective teaching tool for helping students attain a better tour jeté.

How Do You Do a Tour Jete in Ballet?

A tour jeté is a ballet move that requires an incredible amount of skill and technique to master. It is an impressive step that can be seen in many classical works, such as Swan Lake or The Nutcracker, and is a hallmark of advanced ballet technique.

A tour jeté consists of a dancer performing a powerful leap with one leg extended in the air while the other leg remains on the ground. This move is often accompanied by multiple revolutions in the air, making it even more impressive.

To successfully perform a tour jeté, dancers must have strong legs, core muscles, and balance to be able to lift one leg high enough while maintaining control over their body. Additionally, they must also have agility and flexibility to be able to rotate their body in the air with ease.

Before attempting a tour jeté, dancers should first practice proper alignment of their feet and legs. They should ensure that their feet are pointed straight forward with both feet parallel to each other.

Then they should practice lifting one leg off the ground while keeping the other firmly planted on the floor. This helps develop the strength in their legs needed for the move as well as familiarity with being off balance.

Once dancers have mastered proper alignment and posture for lifting one leg off the ground, they can begin working on doing so at speed and height for a tour jeté. To do this, dancers will need to use their arms for momentum by pushing up from their center as they jump into the air with one foot extended outwards from them. They must also focus on rotating their body quickly during the jump so that they are able to complete multiple revolutions before landing back on two feet again.

Finally, after mastering these elements separately, dancers can put them all together into one movement for a successful tour jeté: beginning in proper alignment of both feet; pushing up from center; lifting one foot off ground; extending it outwards; rotating quickly; completing revolutions before landing back on two feet again. With practice and patience anyone can master this complicated step!

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How to Do a Perfect Jete

Jete is a throwing step. This movement is a jump from one foot to the other in which you brush the working leg into the air and it appears to have been thrown. There is a great variety of jetes and you may perform them in all directions.

Table of Contents

What is the Jeté movement?

Jeté means “thrown” and consists of throwing one of the legs. The Battement Jeté starts from Tendu. That is an extension of the leg by sliding the sole along the ground until reaching the pointe position and returning to the initial position. The difference is that the foot rises to about 25 degrees in height and returns to the initial position.

Beginners could start doing a Jeté in the first position. But this movement is generally done from the fifth position.

What is the use of the Jeté?

It is often worked on the bar, combined with Tendus. With the Tendus and Jetés, you can assimilate the work in Croix or Cross. In other words,  those exercises you can perform forward, to the side and behind.

It is a movement that has to be very precise. Also, it works on strengthening the muscles and tendons of the foot and leg.

Like the Tendus, it also works on balance on the supporting leg. Then, this will allow you to perform more complex movements (when you stretch the toe, you should be able to lift your foot without losing your balance!).

Click here if you want to practice at home and are looking for a ballet barre.

How to do a Jete step-by-step

Petit jeté: This is a small jete. Start from a demi plie in the fifth position.

Secondly, glide your right leg along the floor until it reaches 45 degrees ( “a la demi hauteur position”).

Then, the left foot springs from the floor.

Finally, the landing is made in fondu on the right leg, and your left foot is in cou de pied.

Secrets to the Perfect Jete

This is a petit allegro step. It is going from one foot to one foot. So, in assemble,  we’re going from one foot to two feet. This is one foot landing on one foot. Then, like assemble, jete begins with a brush and plie on the supporting leg. When you are throwing the leg, think of a frappe . Also, make sure that you fully engage the toes in the cou de pied.

• One of the most common mistakes is to travel side to side. You should always stay in one straight line.
• Another mistake is not fully stretching the supporting leg . Before you land with the throwing leg, extend fully the supporting leg. In other words,  you should extend your feet in the air for just a moment.

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Advanced Leap and Jump Drills

I wanted to put together a few videos of some more advanced leaps and jumps – I did a series a while back on leaps and jumps – basically ending with switch leaps. So in this post I’ll start off with switch leaps and other similar leaps and jumps and move on from there.

This first video is a great video of LOTS of drills that can be done on Tumbl Trak from Deanna Sigler Grader. A few of my favorites are the seat drop to split jump – the girls REALLY have to drive their back legs hard if they want to get even and the tuck fulls to seat drop. The beauty of doing a tuck full (or straddle/wolf/split) is that it’s very easy to tell if they don’t get all the way around AND it forces them to tuck their hips under. It’s great.

These next series of videos show ways of breaking down switch 1/2s and tour jete 1/2s. First the split 1/2. This is one where a lot of kids get confused about the timing and end up in a straddle in the middle. Breaking it down like this not just for a day but for weeks will really help them develop the muscle memory of the skill.

The same type of break down can be used for the tour jete 1/2 – the girls do a foute, then split jump, then 1/2 turn. The skill is now in three parts. When they get better instead of the foute, they can do tour jete, split jump 1/2. All of this can be done up to panel mats too. As they get good at the tour jete + split 1/2, start speeding it up. When that is fluid, have them do the split 1/2 before landing on the floor. You’d be amazed how breaking things up makes it so much easier.

This next one is a great drill from Chelle Stack really emphasizing the active flex in anything that involves a ring. I think a lot of us assume that naturally flexy kids will ring really well – but if they don’t have the strength and active flex (not just passive) to get their foot above their head it won’t work.

This last video is a flex circuit from Tammy Biggs. As the jumps and leaps get bigger and more complicated both active and passive flex need to get better. If you’re on the look out for ways to improve these Tammy always has some great ones.

Video 1: Region 5 Insider

Videos 2,3,4,6: Coachmelstreeter 

Video 5: Erika Keener

Zari Goldmann

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Breaking Down Coupé Jeté en Tournant With ABT’s Carlos Lopez

There’s something uniquely exciting about coupé jeté en tournant. “I think it’s the combination of turning, jumping and traveling,” says Carlos Lopez , American Ballet Theatre’s director of repertoire and a former soloist with the company. “Usually you see it at the end of a ballet, in a manège in the coda. It requires a lot of energy and momentum, so it really feels like you’re flying across the stage.”

Lopez, who refined his approach to coupé jeté by watching videos of former ABT star Julio Bocca , says the step has always been one of his favorites, ever since he was a student. “Every time I had to do them in a coda I’d think, Okay, here is my moment.” Below, he shares his tips for powerful coupés jetés.

Build Coordination

The combination of elements that make coupé jeté so exciting also make it more difficult. “You have to have the coordination of the coupé en tournant with the arms closing, and then open them while the leg brushes out at the same time,” says Lopez. “You need those separate movements to be very correct and integrated in your body so you can execute the whole step.”

To help build this coordination in younger dancers, Lopez breaks everything down at the barre with this exercise:

• Facing the barre in fifth position, coupé the back foot and plié, maintaining turnout in the legs.
• Close to fifth plié, and then dégagé the front leg out while straightening the legs, closing in fifth.
• Eventually, add a jump, replacing the dégagé with a jeté en avant. (See video)

From there, Lopez has dancers try simplified coupés jetés from the corner, without the coupé en tournant, to practice closing the arms in first and then opening them in tandem with the legs. He eventually adds the turn as dancers gain coordination. The last stage is to try coupé jeté in a manège.

Push From the Back Leg

Remember to push off the back foot as it lowers into plié from the coupé en tournant, says Lopez. That’s where your jump’s power and forward propulsion comes from. “When you don’t push with your back leg, then you aren’t able to open your front leg into the split.”

Lopez notes that many dancers often coupé jeté from more of an open fourth position, especially in a manège. “There are different ways people execute it,” he says. “In the lower levels I usually like to get really clear in the coupé jeté from fifth. But as dancers become professional and need to cover more space, they often choose to open it up a bit more.”

Avoid “The Tilt”

Without a strong push from the back leg, Lopez says, dancers aren’t able to travel forward and achieve the full split in the air. “You see this especially during a manège. When you’re going in a circle, your body tends to want to tilt towards the inside,” he says. While the back arm can open up a bit in the first arabesque position, the shoulders and front arm should stay square, in line with the front leg and reaching towards the direction you’re going.

If you struggle with this, break it down: Practice grand battement in effacé devant with the arms in a square first-arabesque position, feeling the connection between the shoulders, arms and brushing leg.

A Powerful Split

This may seem obvious, but if you have trouble achieving a split in the air, you need to stretch on the ground. “When I was a dancer I used to try to feel the split on the floor, keeping my arms square in that first arabesque position,” says Lopez. When you do the actual coupé jeté, use the step’s energy and momentum to help push the legs apart as you jump.

Maintain Your Turnout

Another common trouble spot comes after landing the jeté, as the back leg pulls into coupé. “The tendency is to turn in the leg,” Lopez says. Keep the rotation in the knee and thigh activated during the coupé en tournant so that your back foot can push off from a turned-out position.

Let Your Spot Help You

A strong, fast spot is crucial, especially during a manège. “Use the coupé en tournant to change your spot to the next direction you’re going to go in,” says Lopez. This will help you stay oriented as you make your circle. “You want to think about facing a different front with each coupé jeté.”

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Definition of tour jeté

called also jeté en tournant

Word History

French, literally, thrown turn

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“Tour jeté.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary , Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tour%20jet%C3%A9. Accessed 22 Apr. 2024.

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