Ballet Warmup

Quick Sketch

Use the structure of a ballet warm-up to move through your play.

When to Use

Anytime.

A Personal Global Warming

Warming up is a time honored tradition in many sports and art forms. Basketball players warm up. Musicians warm up. Actors warm up. So do Ballet dancers.

The Exercise

This exercise asks you to structure you play (abstractly) like a ballet warm-up.

NOTE: Each of the terms below can be found on the Glossary of Ballet at Wikipedia (which I've quoted below). Feel free to explore each term as much as you desire. Depending on the term, it may be best to keep it in the abstract as much as possible to find a meaningful use for the playwright.

1. Re-read your play.
2. Research the terms as much as you'd like.

3. Structure you play in the following order:

   • Plie
     • Literally "bent."
   • Tendu
     • Literally "stretched."
   • Degage
     • To disengage.
   • Frappe
     • To "strike."
   • Rond de jambe a terre
     • Literally "circle of the leg."
     • "straightened leg with pointed toe remaining on the ground to sweep around."
   • Fondue
     • Literally "melted."
   • Adage
     • Literally "at ease."
   • Grand Battements
     • "A kicking movement of the working leg (i.e. the leg that is performing a technique)."
     • "a powerful battement action where the dancer brushes and kicks the leg as high as possible, keeping it straight, while the supporting leg also remains straight."

4. Re-write your play using this structure (and the meaning of each of the ballet warm-ups) until you've completed a new draft.

Reflect

Now that you've finished writing your play in a pre-defined structure different from the standard structure I hope you've discovered something about structure. Perhaps you found out that well-made play structure just plain works best for your play. Perhaps you discovered that a different structure is more effective than others. Perhaps you've found a new way to "outline" your plays in the future. Maybe you've just been inspired to create/employ some actual playwriting warm ups for use in the future.

References

• Glossary of Ballet (Wikipedia)
• The Barre
• The Barre (Wikipedia)