Glissade on over- 6 forms of glissades

Glissades are one of the basic steps in ballet. Glissade means to glide and is a moving step where one starts from a fifth position and pushes off of one foot to land on the same foot while closing the second moved foot secondly. Although they might seem simple, when one begins to switch the ways of doing them, they can become quite challenging. The following is description of commonly used glissades.

• Glissade Dessus- (glide over) In this step you switch the back foot to the front. For example if you stand with the right foot back, you would initiate the step with the right foot and then have the left foot finish behind the right in a fifth positon.
• Gilssade Dessous-(glide under) In this step you switch the front foot to the back. Starting with the right foot front, glissade and end with the right foot in back by closing the left in front.
• Glissade Devant- (glide in front) This glissade does not require a switch in the front foot. For this step, one starts with a foot in front in a fifth position (say right) and then does the glissade movement closing the back foot in back. The initiating foot is the direction the dancer travels as well as the front foot.
• Glissade Derriere- (glide in back) This glissade is the opposite of the glissade devant. This step begins with the back foot, travels towards the foot which in back, and ends with the same foot back as it began with.
• Glissade en avant- (glide forward) This glissade is very simple to figure out. Start with the front foot, glide it forward and close the back foot in back. Unlike the previous glissades, this one travels forward instead of side to side.
• Glissade en arriere- (glide back) Glissade en arriere is similiar to the glissade en avant in that it starts with the back foot, travels backwards, and ends in the same position as it started with.

These are the six basic glissades. They can be used in various combinations and in between other steps. The following video is an example of glissade dessus and glissade dessous. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-DUOlHKKVU

Hopefully this helps anyone who wanted to know more about glissades =]
Keep dancing