Tendu Is Taking Action

Tendu, the second most widely used step in ballet. Used in every single dance class I’ve ever taken. Tendu means to stretch but it’s so much more.

Anatomically a tendu is a full body experience, to properly execute it the body must be strong, long, and shaped. Starting from the hip one leg extends long while the other stays in place, for now lets say the right leg must remain rooted to the ground like a tall tree while the left swings freely in a circle, to the front, to the side, wherever the combination may take it. Above all both hips and shoulders stay parallel to the floor, a position so neutral that the body is able to move in any direction from this starting position.

Working beneath the hips are the knees. In a tendu the rule is simple, stay straight! Unless otherwise advised you can count on this rule, BUT it’s very important that the straightening happens through correct alignment in the hip. While hips are strong they must also be long. How can hips be long? It’s all how you think about it. Think about your pelvis, two points sticking up at the front, and two points sticking out underneath (sits bones) now think of your ribs, two oblong structures running inside your body vertically. Think of the two top hip points lifting upwards and closing the gap between hips and ribs, meanwhile in the back of your body we lengthen the tailbone and sits bones downward. Length = lifted front body + elongated back body. Now, think of your hips again, the two sockets which include your femur bones like two doorknobs. Opening from the inside out brings forth something we refer to in ballet at “turnout”. Toes, Knees, and Inner Thighs all rotate to the outside boundaries of the body opening up to movement and light.

Now that we have our hips in proper allignment and our body turned from the inside out our hips have been stacked directly atop our knees. This adjustment allows engagement of the muscles around behind the knees and therefore the straightening can begin.

Now, we can begin to focus on the tendu itself. Like stated before, one leg remains rooted to the floor, lifted through the front and elongated through the hip, turned out, while the back of the knee remains engaged to add length. The foot and ankle are our next area of focus. Think of the word “Disengage” this means to separate or release. Now if something “separates” or “disengages” first it must be engaged or whole. Like we talked about before in hip alignment, our body starts whole and strong, in a tendu the body becomes two parts as the working leg disengages with the standing leg remaining strong and tall and the left working leg sweeps the floor with its foot and toes. Remember two parts, the standing right hip and leg remain still, while the working left leg, like a pendulum, reaches it’s limit then returns following the same path to engage and become a part of the first shape before disengaging in another direction. That is a tendu…to the simplest extent. Both legs remain engaged, weight shifts to the standing (right) foot while the working (left) leg extends forwards to the side or to the back. Weight is never transferred onto the working (left) leg but instead travels from two feet onto one, and back onto two as the working leg returns.

Now, as the leg extends outwards it grows longer and longer via extension through the foot and ankle. At first the whole left foot touches the floor, as it begins to extend the heel lifts, and the ball of the foot only touches. From here we continue to work outward and the ball lifts so that only the tip of the big toe touches the floor. With weight entirely in the right standing leg this position can be quite the balancing act. To return the foot and ankle go through all positions again finishing in a fully flexed foot back where it started from with heels together and toes pointing outward with your body weight supported with both feet.

You have just completed your first tendu.

To make it a bit easier there are many ways to visualize a tendu.

One school of thought is that the working leg can act as a stand that props you up on the standing leg, think of a standing picture frame, the further you reach your foot out the more you prop yourself onto the standing leg

Another thought is to imagine standing in a mud puddle pushing the mud away with your feet

I used the thought of spreading butter with the foot yesterday.

One thing all these (and many others) have in common is pressing the working leg down into the floor. It all says the same thing, “down to go up” or “press down to stay tall” the same concept as a plie. You can only stand so tall, length has to be created by pressing downward as well as lifting upward. down through the back, and up through the front. A strong tendu you could say becomes shaped through all the ups and downs of life, the more you experience the deeper your understanding of what this step means to you. Take action, explore the ups and downs, disengage when needed, and engage again when the time comes. Tendu means to take action.