Frappes

Hi guys. Guess who turns 25 in a month? (Well, 33 days, to be precise). ME!!!!! I am very excited about my birthday. I have some amazing things planned.

I hope your summer is going well. Mine is very chill so far. This weekend I’m providing childcare services for a conference at a local hotel. It’s only for 3 days and only 10 hours total. I’m also starting acting classes with the Houde School of Acting next month, and I’m so excited about that. But with all that said, let’s get straight into this post.

My ballet series is back, and this month’s ballet technique tip is on frappes. I’ll be honest; frappes is the one move in ballet that I wasn’t the best at. But it’s a very important move to master, so let’s get right into it.

There are two ways to do frappes, flexed and wrapped. Both are correct, but different ballet methods do it in different ways. I learned both. Flexed is more RAD method, and wrapped is Balanchine. You need to always remember that frappe means “to strike.” You will be “striking the floor” with your foot. Think of your foot as a serpent’s tongue striking out. It’s fast and sharp, which is precisely how the frappe should be. The “strike” part of frappes is the basis for doing petite jetes. Flexed frappes are the easier way to do them, and that’s how you should learn them initially.

Flexed When frapping to the front, the strike happens instantly. The formula for a frappe is flex —> ball of the foot —> out to degage position. The nice part about flexed frappes is that your body stays square to the front and doesn’t change directions the way wrapped frappes do.

Wrapped The easy way to find where your “wrapped” foot is, put your foot in the flexed position and then curl the toes back. Wrapped frappes are different because it’s harder to strike the ground. The initial strike should either come from the ball of the foot or the big toe.

You want to hear the “strike” on the ground when doing frappes. I know you’re told that ballet should be quiet and soft, which is true, for the most part. The exception to that are frappes.

You can do double frappes (both ways) with a beat as you get more advanced. Wrapped frappes go beat-beat out to tendu. Either way, you do it; it’s the heel of your foot that does the beat-beat before it goes out to the degage/tendu position.

My final tip is to think of frappes from the knee down. There is little to no hip moment in frappes. Thinking of it this way will keep your frappes contained. The formula for this is knee —> shin —> ankle —> ball of the foot/toes.

Practice

Now it’s your turn to practice with this simple frappe combination.

I hope you found this post helpful. Frappes are the ballet move I love to hate. It’s really fun when you understand them, but it can be tricky initially. Like everything, keep practicing and working hard. You will get there!

If this post has helped you, please don’t forget to leave me a like and share it with all your dance friends/teachers who may benefit from this. If you have any tips on frappes, please leave me a comment. As always, sending you all the light and love in this world. See you in July!