For Week #3 of our Preschool Ballet Dance Class Curriculum, we are focused on teaching Passés and Chasses. These are two important foundation moves for ballet, but also other styles of dance, like jazz and contemporary. These are great skills to introduce early-on in the year, and continue to incorporate throughout the year. As they gain stronger balance and leg strength, you can add variations of each of the moves to make them more challenging (more details on that in the sections below).
How To Teach Chasses
As always, start with terminology. Chasse is an easy one. Chasse simply means to chase. I will have my students repeat several times “Chasse, CHASE” until they can remember it.
I prefer to introduce chasses facing the mirror, skipping to the side. For beginners, this is easier than facing forward because they can focus on the “chasing” motion without worrying too much about finding fifth position and getting their legs crossed up.
Start with breaking down the skill altogether in center, before going one at a time across the floor.
- Start facing the mirror with your hands on your hips.
- Tendu right foot to the side
- “Chase” your pointed leg, and you “meet” in the air!
- Important: Explain that your back leg never crosses in front of your front leg
- Repeat a few times going to the right side of the room.
- Repeat going to the left side
A few things to explain and look for the first time they try chasses:
- Explain that ONE chasse is when you meet in the air ONE time. This will be important when you are choreographing recital and want them to do 4 chasses, not 40. They will need to understand how to count each chasse!
- Pointed feet in the air and leading into the chasse! No leading with the heel
- Keep chest straight up, not bouncing with each skip
- Stay in a straight line. Use marley tape or other landmarks in your class to help them navigate.
After the practice in center, you have a few options:
- Divide class into 2 lines facing the mirror. They will hold hands and practice chasses side to side altogether
- Go across the floor, one or two people at a time. Go all the way down to the right side, and all the way back! Having them do right and left side in one pass reduces time spent setting up lines on the left side, which takes a while with this age!
Later on throughout the year, you can introduce chasses from fifth, where you are facing your leg and skipping to the front, rather than the side.
Here are some progressions to consider adding as they advance throughout the year:
- Adding in arms (in second, first, etc.)
- Chasses from fifth (facing your leg and skipping to the front)
- Chasses holding hands in a circle
How To Teach Passés
A passé technically means to pass-through, but I usually don’t focus on defining that term for this age. I want them to focus on finding more of a retire, where they connect their baby toe to knee, with a strong upper body.
Since I typically don’t use barres with this age group, I teach passés en centre altogether. This actually can help them build a really strong core from a young age, because they are not relying on the barre to balance (and the barres just turn into gymnastic equipment for this age group).
- Start in first position, hands glued to hips.
- Tendu to second, and bring pointed foot to the knee
- Keep knee turned out, baby toe connected to standing leg
- Hold for 3 seconds, then tendu back to second
- Close in first
- Repeat left side
I teach the method of tendu>passé>tendu>close, because it teaches them to hold their balance through the very end as they tendu, rather than just slamming their foot down to first and dropping their chest.
After practicing altogether, incorporate passés into your center floor / barre exercises. Try combining other skills we’ve worked on this year, including tendus, relevés, piques, pliés, etc..
For fun, you can have them do a passé balance competition! My students love that. I give a sticker to the winner 🙂
Later on in the year, you can start doing these progressions to make the passés more challenging:
- Hold arms in first or fifth position
- Try balancing in relevé
Lesson Plan PDF
This curriculum is building on the skills taught in week #1 (pliés & relevés) and week #2 (tendus and piques).
| Activity | Description | Notes |
| Attendance/Question | “If you could have any superpower, what would it be?” | Give examples |
| Butterfly | Pick a place to fly to | |
| Nose to toes. “Smell your stinky toes” | ||
| Try to pull in feet slightly closer and bend forward again. | ||
| Pike / legs out in front. | Practice switching arms from 5th to demi second. Changing tempos to quick and slow | |
| Flex and point feet. Bonus: Practice “Barbie” feet AKA demi-pointe | ||
| Stretch forward. Flex feet and try to grab toes, pulling heels off the ground. | ||
| Straddle | Reach towards each foot and “rainbow to the other side” | You can “make a pizza” in your straddle, ask kids for toppings, spread the sauce, put it in the oven, then enjoy 🙂 |
| Reach towards the middle, without rolling in toes/hips | ||
| Flex and point feet | ||
| Cobra / Child’s Pose | Press up on hands “like a mermaid” | |
| Bend knees and reach feet to head – Hold for 8 counts | ||
| Lean back into child’s pose, hold for 8 | ||
| Pliés | 8 pliés in 1st > rise to relevé with arms in high 5th | Explain there should be a diamond in between their legs when they plié. |
| 8 pliés in 2nd > rise to relevé w/ arms in high 5th | ||
| Repeat pliés with relevé turn (arms in high 5th) | ||
| Tendus & Piques | 2 tendus to the front, then 2 piques to the front | Repeat terminology! Tendu = TO STRETCH Pique = TO PRICK Have students repeat words several times |
| 2 tendus to the side, then 2 piques to the side | ||
| Repeat left side | ||
| Retiré / Passé | Start in First Position with hands on hips | |
| Tendu to second, then bring your baby toe to your knee (Retiré) | ||
| Try to hold for 1-2 seconds, go back to tendu in second, then close in first. Repeat left side | ||
| Chasses holding hands | Have students hold hands in a line, facing the mirror | |
| Teacher: Stand at the right end of the line | Keep it slow! Can also try it in a circle | |
| Everyone tendus their foot to the right, then slowly “chase” their right to the other side of the room. | ||
| Repeat going back to the left | ||
| Skips / Passé Hops | Hands on hips: Skips across the floor, bringing your second foot up to Passé. | |
| Chasses | Explain terminology: chasse means to chase | Have them go all the way down and back in one turn to reduce time spent setting up a line on the other side! |
| Face the mirror, start in 1st position | ||
| Tendu to 2nd position and chasse all the way across the floor, and back | ||
| Sautés | Lay out dots hopscotch-style | Keep hands on hips for now |
| Dancers jump to 2nd and first, following the dots | ||
| Hands on hips, focus on feet jumping out and in | ||
| Arabesques | Set out 3-4 dots across the floor | |
| Have students ballet walk to each dot, they land in 1st on the dot. | ||
| Tendu to arabesque, reaching arms to the opposite side of the room. Find balance with foot on the ground and hold. | ||
| Chasse Freeze Dance | Introduce rules for freeze dance: No screaming, running, gymnastics, etc. | If you have LED lights in the studio, turn them on if you think the class can handle it! |
| Play any energetic song | ||
| Students will chasse around the room until the music is paused | ||
| When the song stops, have them hold a passe! |
More Preschool Ballet Lesson Plans
