Croise Suki Schorer on Balanchine Technique (Fifth in a series).

THE DANCER in croise is seen between profile and facing, the shoulders and hips generally facing one diagonal with the shoulders aligned generally on the other diagonal. The crossing of the legs seen by the public gives the name. The feet and legs are in exactly the same relation as they are en face; they look different only because the entire body has been rotated. "Perfect" alignment of the pointe in tendu to one corner and of the shoulders to the adjacent corners is possible only when the dancer is standing at the center of a square stage (or studio), where the two diagonals cross. This illustrates Balanchine's reason for wanting each dancer to cultivate her own sense that she is standing alone at the center of her own square space; she makes croise with reference to herself and her space no matter where she is placed onstage or in the studio. Dancers taught in schools that emphasize orientation to the corner in croise have a tendency to adjust the position of the working foot so that it is "correct" with respect to the corner, rather than keeping the relationship with the body constant. At the barre, in the center, and later onstage, front and back continue to refer to the center line of the body.

Mr. B taught a technique for the neck and head in croise that added greatly to the aesthetic beauty and distinctiveness of the orientation. The dancer's head and gaze are directed as is usual to the downstage shoulder, generally toward the corner. She can see herself in the mirror. However, the neck curves and the top of the head slants towards the downstage shoulder, thereby bringing the ear toward it. The head is usually level or very slightly tilted up; the chin is not thrown back, nor is it tucked. The effect is to bring the cheek forward, presenting it to the audience. "Ask for a kiss," Mr. B would say. A common tendency is to turn the head toward the downstage corner without slanting it, which is not nearly as warm or aesthetically pleasing. Another is to turn the head and slant it back without bringing the cheek forward, which tends to present the neck and chin while losing the face, or to tuck the chin in and down, losing the neck. I work to develop in each of the girls a personal presence, perhaps a sense of beauty, that is beyond the details of ear and neck and slant, the presence Mr. B evoked so well in telling us to "ask for a kiss."

The placement of the head is deceptive in its simplicity. Achieving the skill and flexibility to move smoothly in and out of the line Mr. B wanted takes regular practice, sometimes moving only the head or neck four or eight times at a moderately slow tempo: On one, straighten the head and neck and look toward the corner; on two, slant the head as the cheek is brought forward by curving the neck.

There can be something almost feminine about the line of the head and neck in Mr. B's croise, but only when shown by women: When men do this movement, there is a different projection, in part because of the difference in male and female proportions in the head and shoulders, and in part because of the musculature of the male neck. His images to help us sense the look of the head and neck in croise also included "lean on a cloud," which is a little ethereal or, with a different projection, a little godly, and "put your head on a pillow." Although much of what he said was directed at his women, he wanted his men to display the same aesthetic, but with manly projection.

Slanting the head takes its center line off the center of the body, so the arm and hand must accommodate the head to keep the fingertips over the center line of the head. The elbow bends more than it does when the head is straight, which, once again, takes more effort and awareness from the dancer.

This is the croise that Balanchine used most often in choreography and that we practiced most frequently in class: body straight, working leg directly front or back, neck curved, head slanted, upstage arm in a fifth high framing the face (meaning the hand is just in front of the head, rather than pulled to the back) so the fingertips are over the center line of the head.

In many schools, when the working leg is front, the torso is tilted back in croise, and when the working leg is back, the torso is tilted way forward. Mr. B's standard exercises for croise called for the torso to remain erect. Depending on the look required, the torso could bend somewhat to the side in some steps to enhance the croise line, for example, croise attitude back and developpe croise to the front. This was especially true when we were really dancing, moving across the floor. At times, he also used a cambre back in choreography, usually just as the dancer finished a developpe front as she tombes forward over and off point or off demi-pointe. She pushes her hips forward as she lifts her torso up, arching her upper back, extending the movement. However, the dancer needs first to master Mr. B's standard croise, to have a clear point of reference from which to bend or incline the torso.

DETAILS I OFTEN INSIST ON IN CROISE:

A) the legs remain in the same relation to one another no matter the direction in which the body is turned

B) correct curve of the neck and slant of the head

C) fingertips over the center line of the head, framing the face, not pulled back away from the face; the arm in second is not pulled behind the torso

D) torso straight, not inclined, unless the exercise is specifically set that way.

From the book SUKI SCHORER ON BALANCHINE TECHNIQUE by Suki Schorer. Copyright 1999 by Suki Schorer. Published by Alfred Knopf, Inc.