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How does a glissade move a ballet dancer across the stage?
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ballet
La Camargo Dancing, oil painting of Marie-Anne Camargo by Nicolas Lancret, 1730; in the Musée des Beaux-Arts, Nantes, France.
A glissade (French for "sliding") is a quick, earthbound, linking step used in ballet to move a dancer across the stage.21
The movement begins and ends in the fifth position. To execute the step, the dancer starts with the knees slightly bent and extends one leg along the floor to the front, side, or back. The dancer then transfers their weight onto this working leg and slides the other foot along the floor until it meets the first leg, returning to the fifth position.21
Because of its fluid, gliding nature, the glissade is primarily utilized as a preparatory movement to lead into more complex jumps and leaps.2