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Georgia Rood

Angelina Sansone

Ballet for Contemporary Concentration

2 April 2024

Countertechnique’s Value in the Study of Classical Ballet

Countertechnique is a holistic approach to contemporary dance that centers around

developing a systematic methodology of how one thinks and directs their energy in space. This

technique recognizes the body as something that is multi-directional and traveling, taking up

space in three dimensions on all spatial levels and planes. In Countertechnique, the way the body

looks is irrelevant and the training is centered around that exploration into the engagement of this

process of multi-directional awareness and the release of the concept of proper form. However,

the foundational thought process of Countertechnique can be applied to form-based techniques

like classical ballet, which is often held as the antithesis of this technique due to its intense and

exacting use of structure and aesthetics.

The use of accents and integral use of musicality in ballet when viewed through the lens

of Countertechnique’s teachings becomes a study in awareness of energy in the body in relation

to time, space, and stability. In ballet, every movement has a definite end and beginning. For

example, the tendu devant must close in fifth before the tendu à la seconde, the glissade closes in

fifth before the back leg can release into an assemblé. Since the technique of ballet is rooted in

this understanding of sequential structure of movements building upon each other, the artistry

and performance becomes rooted in the musicality of the dancer. In terms of energy, the core is

used for stability as the dancer is aware of their energy pulling inwards and upwards, allowing

for the feet, legs, and arms to have freedom of movement. The dancer is then able to manipulate
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their movements to call attention to the music, creating accents through motion. The dancer is

not just following the music, but anticipating the next note while maintaining awareness of their

limbs in reference to the stability of their core. This focus on the core as a central element of

structure is an interesting antithesis to Countertechnique’s concept of a body without a center,

that rather than focusing on the core as a central point of structure that the body is a bundle of

energy lines that are constantly refiguring. It can be argued that ballet does not rely on the core as

a pillar with which the limbs move around, but that the energy created through the opposing uses

of turnout and rotation throughout the body naturally gather in the core due to the torso’s limited

mobility forming an energetic center that is able to move with the dancer.

Another key element of balletic technique that lends itself to musicality is the use of

resistance, which can be viewed through Countertechnique’s theory on weight and expansion

versus contraction. In Countertechnique, weight is not a figure, but a result of energy in relation

to time and space, a constant transformation of energy that then molds the body’s physical shape

and spatial orientation. For example, resistance in a developé is not the use of muscular effort but

the action of the developé against the sensation of contraction, or similarly for an envelopé

against the sensation of expansion. Resistance appears because of the awareness of opposing

efforts, the muscles pulling apart against the joints expanding rather than compression of the

muscles to slow the movement. Another way of visualizing this is Countertechnique’s

understanding of the body in terms of volumes that are capable of infinite expansion rather than

understanding the body as a series of muscles capable of contraction.

With the understanding of the body as a series of volumes, this idea of sequential

initiation in ballet comes back into relevancy. Taking an earlier example used, that of a glissade

into an assemblé, the movements can be further broken down through the lens of
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Countertechnique beyond the elemental balletic terminology into a series of singular movement

initiation points. Where there is movement, there is always a point of counterbalance. For the

glissade, it begins with the release of the front foot, but to be able to release the front foot energy

must be sent down the back leg to ground the back foot in fifth. The front leg is able to extend

then because of the counterbalance point of the energy in the back foot, which in turn rebounds

its energy back up the leg in order to find space and expansion through the joints and achieve the

jump portion of a glissade. To finish this movement is a retrograde of these motions, the energy

and focus is then shifted to what was the front leg so that the expansion in the joints may cushion

the landing, the energy is sent into that landing foot to ground the body and slow the forward

momentum, and what was the back leg has the freedom to close into fifth position where an

equilibrium of focus and energy is grounded through both feet. The body is in constant

negotiation with itself, the environment around it, and the ideas of the positions that it must fill.

Countertechnique allows for sequential movement because of its understanding of the body in

space and the isolation of body parts, which can be easily applied to the sequential structure of

ballet through breaking down the positions of ballet technique beyond the visual and aesthetic

forms.

When thinking about dance in terms of energy and space through the lens of

Countertechnique there is a universal connection through the concepts of counterbalance and the

manipulation of momentum to achieve musicality in movement, however the main divider

between Countertechnique and ballet is in their purposes. Ballet is taught differently and appears

unique from Countertechnique in its performance because its purpose is to perform for an

audience, to describe a story or imprint a series of emotions to a viewer. The movements have

clear beginnings and ends similar to the spaces between words, but because the purpose of ballet
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is to be communicative each movement flows into the next like reading a sentence. There is a

clear purpose to each pose and a codified intention behind each epaulement. Not that

Countertechnique cannot be used in narrative storytelling, but the emphasis is more on the

dancer’s personal understanding of how their body can move in relation to their environment

rather than moving for the sake of their environment. Despite their intense visual and

philosophical differences, when studied together Countertechnique and ballet form a

codependent relationship in the dancer’s exploration of performance and technique.

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Works Cited

*For this works cited page I am unfortunately unable to cite academically as much of this paper

was written using notes taken during Kira Blazek-Ziaii’s class and Britt Gonzalez’s class. I also

referenced notes I took from a paper I read, “Understanding the Body” by Gerald Sigmund and

Anouk van Dijk that I have been unable to find online. To compensate for this, I have attached

images of my notes that I referenced below.

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