Ballerinas: Ballon (A Triplet Ballerina Float)  

In “The Triplet Ballerinas”, brown-haired Julie’s ballet move is “floating”-so lightly she sometimes floats off her feet! In ballet,”ballon” (French for balloon) describes a ballerina who appears to be floating in the air (or suspended in the air) while performing movements during a jump. It may seem as though the dancer effortlessly becomes airborne, floats in the air and lands softly.

Ballon is also a term used to describe the quality of a dancer’s jumps or a dancer’s “bounce” before they jump. Ballerinas aspire to develop “great ballon”, which is that quality of appearing to hover in the air at the apex of the jump. Dancers try to achieve ballon in large jumps as well as in small, quick jumps. Ballon does not refer to the height of the jump though. Beverly