Positions of the feet in ballet#Second position
{{short description|Part of classical ballet technique}}
The positions of the feet in ballet is a fundamental part of classical ballet technique that defines standard placements of feet on the floor. There are five basic positions in modern-day classical ballet, known as the first through fifth positions. In 1725, dancing master Pierre Rameau credited the codification of these five positions to choreographer Pierre Beauchamp.{{cite book |title=The Grotesque Dancer on the Eighteenth-Century Stage |first1=Rebecca |last1=Harris-Warrick |first2=Bruce Alan |last2=Brown |author-link2=Bruce Alan Brown |publisher=University of Wisconsin Press |year=2005 |page=115 |isbn=978-0299203542}} Two additional positions, known as the sixth and seventh positions, were codified by Serge Lifar in the 1930s while serving as Ballet Master at the Paris Opéra Ballet, though their use is limited to Lifar's choreographies.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sxcYAAAAIAAJ&q=%22seventh+position%22 |title=Lifar on Classical Ballet |first=Serge |last=Lifar |authorlink=Serge Lifar |publisher=Allan Wingate |year=1951 |asin=B0006ASYP2}}
{{cite book
| author = Ries, Frank W. D.
| title = The Dance theatre of Jean Cocteau
| publisher = University Microfilms International Research Press
| location = Ann Arbor
| year = 1986
| page = 132
| isbn = 0-8357-1994-4}}
The sixth and seventh positions were not Lifar's inventions, but revivals of positions that already existed in the eighteenth century, when there were ten positions of the feet in classical ballet.
{{Cite journal
| last = Paolacci
| first = Claire
| title = Serge Lifar and the Paris Opera during World War II
| journal = Journal of the Oxford University History Society
| page = 8
| year = 2004}}
Five basic positions
The first basic position requires the feet to be flat on the floor and turned out (pointing in opposite directions as a result of rotating the legs at the hips).
=First position=
=Second position=
File:Ballet feet 2nd position.png
The feet point in opposite directions, with heels spaced approximately {{convert|12|in|cm}} apart
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=Third position=
File:Ballet feet 3rd position.png
One foot is placed in front of the other so that the heel of the front foot is near the arch of the rear foot.
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=Fourth position=
File:Ballet feet open 4th position.png
File:Ballet feet closed 4th position.png
There are two types of fourth position: ouverte and croise. In both cases, one foot is placed approximately {{convert|12|in|cm}} in front of the other. In open fourth position the heels are aligned, while in closed fourth position the heel of the front foot is aligned with the toe of the back foot.
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=Fifth position=
File:Ballet feet 5th position.png
In fifth position, the feet are parallel, with the heel of the front foot in contact with the big toe of back foot, and the heel of the back foot in contact with the last toe of the front foot.
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Lifar's additional positions
Serge Lifar (1905–1986) codified two additional positions known as the sixth and seventh positions, with the feet turned in, not out like the first five positions.
=Sixth position=
File:Ballet feet 6th position.png
In Lifar's sixth position, the legs are turned in with the feet side-by-side and parallel.{{cite book | last=Craine | first=D. | last2=Mackrell | first2=J. | title=The Oxford Dictionary of Dance | publisher=Oxford University Press | series=Oxford Paperback Reference | year=2010 | isbn=978-0-19-956344-9 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=42g8Hp-xA48C&pg=PA171 | access-date=April 17, 2024 | page=171}}
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=Seventh position=
File:Ballet feet 7th position.png
Similar to fourth position, but performed en pointe with heels in center with each other. There are two seventh positions, determined by whether the left or right foot is placed in front.
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See also
{{Commons category|position=right|Ballet positions}}