The Ultimate Ballet Quiz!

Answer: Pointe

Pointe is very often used in performances and if your ballet school follows the RAD (Royal Academy of Dance) dance scheme, you start to dance Pointe in Grade 5. Many professional dancers have seven pairs of Pointe shoes!

Answer: Pas De Chat

A 'Pas De Chat' means 'Step Of The Cat' because you lift your downstage leg up to your knee in a jump , your upstage follows creating a light, jumpy movement. You learn 'Pas De Chats' from the age of 9-11.

Answer: Carlos Acosta

Carlos Acosta has starred in many ballets such as 'La Fille Mar Garde', 'Swan Lake', and 'The Nutcracker' as well as creating his own contemporary ballet show. He became a Royal Ballet School principal in 1998. A principal means you become a professional ballet dancer. If you are a principal at the Royal Ballet School you would get a lot of leading roles in many famous ballets.

Answer: Barre

This is a horizontal (usually wooden) bar, approximately waist height, used for ballet exercises and warm up techniques. Many movements such as 'Plies' and 'Battement Tondu' are danced whilst holding it in the younger classes of ages 5-15.

Answer: Leg

In a 'Developpe' you pull your leg up to your leg, with your foot slightly under the knee and then unfold the leg using your muscles from your stomach and thigh. You can perform these to the front, back, both sides and lift the leg up to your head.

Answer: False

This is incorrect, Margot Fonteyn died of cancer. She was a truly amazing dancer and she has starred in 'Romeo and Juliet', 'Cinderella' and 'Swan Lake'. Margot Fonteyn was active from the 1930s - 1970s, but she was at the height of her career in the 1960s.

Answer: Prince Of The Pagodas

Darcey Bussell is one of our most famous RAD principals. Unfortunately, Darcey danced her last performance in June 2007, performing the famous and moving ballet of 'Song Of The Earth'. She retired from full-time dancing at that time, though still guesting.

Answer: To escape

'Echappe' is a movement done from first or fifth position. It goes in either second or fourth, then comes back to first or fifth position. This movement can be done using a jump, turn, extension or a simple point of the toe.

Answer: Swan Lake

"Swan Lake" is the story of a prince called Siegfried who goes hunting for his birthday. He comes to a lake with lots of swans and as he watches they turn into women. The leader, Odette, tells him they are under a curse and can only be free as women if someone falls in love with one of them. Siegfried falls in love with Odette but Rothbart, the man who set the curse, has a plan to ruin everything.

At Siegfried's birthday party, Rothbart arrives with his daughter, Rothbart disguised as a count and his daughter, Odile, disguised as Odette.

This is the scene where the 32 fouette turns are performed.

Answer: five

These positions are called first position, second position, third position, fourth position and fifth position. The choreographer Pierre Beauchamps is credited with defining the basic positions, so simplify the process of recording how a dancer was to move. Some choreographers use more positions, but these are specific to their work, not basic ones.

There are also five basic arm positions, but there are other arm positions along with them which extend the arms in some way instead of curving them.