This week’s Preschool Ballet Lesson Plan is focused on how to teach Sautés and Port De Bras, including a detailed lesson plan PDF to use in your class.
Important Note: This lesson plan builds on the skills and terminology taught in weeks #1, #2, and #3.
How to Teach Sautés
Start by defining terminology: Sauté means to jump
To introduce sautés for the first time, you will want to use dots or another landmark to help students find their foot placement, and prevent them from hopping all over the room.
I actually introduce sautés without doing any jumping at first- Meaning I have the students practice going from plié, to releve with straight legs and hands glued to hips, then back to a plié in first. This is super helpful for them to learn how to keep their legs straight in the air.
After practicing the plié>relevé>plié combination several times, then you can move into actual sauté jumps in first, then second position.
Starting with sautés in first position, keep both feet on the dot and hands glued to hips. Practice 4 sautés in first, making sure there is a solid plié in between each jump. Then repeat in second position.
After trying these en centre, you can do a fun across-the-floor activity using dots in a hopscotch formation, so the students can jump from first to second, landing with their feet on the dots. After they finish the hopscotch, have them do skips to the end of the room. My dancers love this!
After a few weeks of practicing sautés, you can add in proper arm placement in first/second.
How to Teach Port De Bras
Since we are working with preschoolers, it’s important to make learning technique FUN!
For Port de Bras, I use the “Balloon Analogy,” to teach students how to carry their arms from first, to high fifth, then floating down to second position.
- Pretend like you are holding a balloon in front of your belly button (arms in 1st)
- Now we inflate our balloon and it goes over our head (arms in high 5th)
- Then, our balloon “Pops”! And it floats down to demi second.
I recommend doing this about 4 times then reversing the processing, starting with demi second and going up to high 5th.
After the students have practiced the port de bras a few times, go over the terminology for each arm placement:
- First means CLOSED = hands form a circle like you’re holding a balloon
- Second means OPEN = drop your balloon
- Fifth means UP HIGH = balloon floats up over your head
Repeat this several time as a class, practicing the port de bras as they say the terminology outloud to help build retention.
Tip: Incorporate more port de bras and arm positions in their exercises! Ex: Sautés with arms in first, tendus with arms in second.
Lesson Plan PDF
| Activity | Description | Notes |
| Attendance/Question | “What is your favorite flavor of ice cream?” | |
| 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 & Tendus | In 1st position: plié, then tendu right foot to the side, closing in first | Working on finding their center and quickly shifting weight from right to left side |
| Repeat other side: plié in first, tendu left | ||
| Repeat several times then turn around on relevé | ||
| 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 | ||
| Port de Bras | Start with arms in 1st, then rise to 5th | Refer to post called “Teaching Port de Bras to Toddlers: The Balloon Analogy” |
| Our balloon “pops” and our arms float down to demi. Repeat 3 more times and reverse | ||
| Sautés | 4 Sautés in 1st position, hands in a circle (1st) | Focus on strong arms! |
| 4 Sautés in 2nd position, hands in 2nd | ||
| Challenge: Eschappe Sautés with arms! Practice jumping from first to second, just like they do in the hopscotch across the floor | ||
| Skips / Passé Hops | Hands on hips: Skips across the floor, bringing your second foot up to Passé. | |
| Chasses | Repeat 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 | Use Epaulement: Open arms from first to second as they jump! |
| 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 | Hold arms in a “T” position |
| 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. | ||
| Dance Circle | Put on a fun song, perhaps one the kids even know (if they’re lucky!) | Make sure everyone gets a turn in the middle! (This might not the best activity for a huge class) |
| Students take turn dancing in the middle of the circle doing their favorite dance move | ||
| Everyone in the outer circle will copy them, then they choose someone to go next after about 2 eight counts |
