The Historical Secret to Teaching the Ballet Attitude Position
- Geeky Ballerina
- Mar 5
- 4 min read
If you're teaching attitude as "retiré lifted out behind (or in front of) you," you're setting your students up for confusion and inconsistent shapes. But there's a reason this happens—and a 440-year-old statue that can fix it.
Most ballet teachers know attitude is a classical position with the working leg lifted derrière or devant, with the knee bent. What they don't know is where it came from, why it looks the way it does, or how understanding the original inspiration completely transforms how you teach it.
The Mercury Statue Connection
The ballet position we call "attitude" was inspired by Giovanni da Bologna's 1580 bronze sculpture Flying Mercury. The statue depicts the Roman messenger god mid-flight, one leg extended behind him with the knee bent, creating a sense of suspended motion and divine grace.
The statue shows Mercury in dynamic flight, supported by a column of breath from Aeolus (the wind god). His back leg is lifted and bent, but crucially, the position suggests forward momentum and upward lift—not a static shape held in place.
Carlo Blasis, the influential Italian ballet master and teacher, formally named and codified the attitude position in the early 1800s based on this sculpture. The term "attitude" itself comes from the French word for "pose"—but not just any pose. It specifically references the elegant, suspended position Mercury holds in da Bologna's masterwork.
Why This Historical Context Matters for Teaching
When you understand that attitude was inspired by a flying figure in motion, everything about how you teach the position changes.
The statue shows:
Forward trajectory (Mercury is moving, not frozen)
The bent leg as part of dynamic flight, not a held shape
A bend in the knee that serves the illusion of suspension
The whole body working together to create the impression of defying gravity
Compare this to how many teachers describe attitude:
"Lift your retiré in front of you"
"Just like retiré but out to the back"
"Passé, and then keep going without lowering your toe"
Do you see the problem? We're teaching it as a static shape (retiré repositioned) when the original inspiration was dynamic flight.
The "Retiré Out Behind" Problem
Teaching attitude as "retiré lifted behind you" creates two major issues:
1. Students focus on folding the leg rather than reaching through space
When you cue "retiré behind," students think about pulling their foot to their knee. But attitude isn't about the foot reaching the knee—it's about the thigh lifting to hip height (or higher) while the lower leg maintains shape. The focus is completely different.
2. The dynamic quality disappears
Mercury isn't carefully positioning his leg. He's flying. The attitude should feel like movement suspended in air, not a shape painstakingly assembled piece by piece.
Teaching Attitude with Historical Understanding
So how do you teach attitude when you understand its Mercury-inspired origins?
Start with trajectory, not assembly.
Instead of "lift your retiré behind you," try this progression:
"Imagine that you're beginning to fly. As your back leg lifts off the ground it naturally points and starts the retiré movement. But when you get to cou-de-pied the gust of wind lifts your thigh into attitude---sort of like a sail on a ship."
If you've been teaching attitude as cou-de-pied lifted to hip height (as I recommended in my recent newsletter), you're already on the right track. This approach gives students a consistent starting position and emphasizes the upward trajectory rather than the folding action.
Cou-de-pied → lift that exact shape to hip height → you've created attitude with proper alignment.
Use the Mercury visual when relevant.
For older students or those who respond well to imagery: "Think of Mercury flying through the sky. Your attitude isn't a static pose you're holding—it's dynamic motion suspended for a moment."
The historical context reinforces why this works: you're teaching the motion (cou-de-pied traveling upward) rather than the static assembly (retiré repositioned behind).
Beyond Attitude: Why Ballet History Makes You a Better Teacher
Understanding that attitude comes from a 16th-century sculpture isn't just a fun fact to share with students. It fundamentally changes your teaching approach by giving you insight into the artistic intention behind the technical form.
When you know:
Attitude = flying Mercury → You teach dynamic suspension, not static positioning
Arabesque was named for an Islamic motif during a period of Orientalism in Europe → You understand why it breaks so many ballet rules
Croisé and écarté were not in Louis XIV's movement vocabulary → it makes sense why we teach these positions after en face. They literally, historically come later.
Ballet vocabulary isn't arbitrary French words attached to random movements. The terminology reflects historical context, artistic intention, and centuries of refinement. When you understand where positions came from, you can teach not just what they are, but why they look and feel the way they do.
This is exactly why I created my Ballet History Curriculum. Every unit connects historical context to practical pedagogy—helping you teach with depth and authority instead of just memorizing French words and hoping students figure it out.
The curriculum includes 11 complete units:
Courtly Dancing (Renaissance foundations)
Ballet de Cour (French court development)
Romantic Era (the transformation that shaped modern ballet)
Bournonville (Danish technique and preservation)
Classical Era (Petipa and the golden age)
Mime in Ballet (the lost language)
The Ballets Russes (revolution and modernism)
Neoclassical (Balanchine and beyond)
Contemporary Ballet (evolution continues)
History of Pointe Work (technical and cultural development)
Black Pioneers in American Ballet (essential but often missing history)
Each unit uses the VARK Method (Visual, Auditory, Reading/Writing, Kinesthetic) so students actually retain what they learn:
Curated YouTube playlists showing historical examples from every era
Ready-to-teach lecture notes with built-in discussion opportunities
Period-specific word searches that reinforce vocabulary (and are also a good fidget outlet, which ultimately helps students focus better during the lecture portions)
Creative choreography projects using period-appropriate composers
Visual infographics that make complex timelines accessible
The Shift: From Static Assembly to Dynamic Suspension
When students understand the origin of the attitude pose, it becomes much easier to create the same shape each time. The context gives students a clear image and a trajectory to follow instead of trying to assemble a shape they don't understand.
And that 440-year-old statue? It just solved a problem you've been fighting for years.
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