Two Musical Choices That Transform Your Barre Work

Most ballet teachers spend a lot of time thinking about what exercises to teach and how to correct them. Far fewer spend time thinking about the music they choose — not just the tempo or the mood, but two specific musical decisions that quietly shape what students are actually learning in every combination.

Those two decisions are meter and accent.

Meter: What You're Teaching Without Knowing It

Meter is how rhythm is organized — it's the same thing as time signature. The overwhelming majority of ballet music is written in either duple meter (2/4, 4/4) or triple meter (3/4, 6/8). And the meter you choose for a given exercise determines what skill you're actually developing.

Fondu is the clearest example. A fondu in duple meter (a tango works particularly well) communicates something specific: you can be here, or you can be there, but not in between. The emphasis lands on arrival. That clarity is exactly what you need when students are having trouble straightening both knees at the same time. The music does half the corrective work.

A fondu in triple meter does something different. The longer, more flowing phrase gives students time to travel — to pay attention to the pathway the leg takes through the air, or to check in on the standing leg and make sure turnout is being maintained. Same exercise, different teaching tool.

This principle extends beyond fondu. Rond de jambe often naturally carries an accent because it's usually performed to a triple meter. But if you switch to a smooth, slower duple meter, you get a rond de jambe with no accent — completely even, completely sustained. It's less exciting to watch, but it requires extraordinary attention from students to maintain perfect evenness throughout. It becomes a completely different exercise.

As you plan your barre, ask yourself: am I choosing this music out of habit, or because it develops the specific skill I'm after today?

Accent: Where the Emphasis Lives

The accent is which part of the movement you're emphasizing. A tendu that stretches out on count 1 and closes on count 2 is unaccented — the dancer spends equal time in each position. If you want the accent in (on the closed shape), the dancer stretches on the "and" so they arrive closed on the count. There is always slightly more time spent in the accented position.

A useful image: throwing a ball has the accent out — the preparation is the pullback, the throw is the accent, and you spend more time with your arm extended. Catching has the accent in — the preparation is watching the ball coming, and count 1 is the catch.

Tendus and dégagés are the best starting points for exploring accent variation because the step is familiar enough that students can focus on the musical challenge rather than the technical one.

Frappé almost always carries the accent out — the sharp extension is the point. But if you're preparing to teach ballonné, practicing frappé with the accent in can be genuinely useful. It develops the quality of arriving back into the supporting position with intention, which is exactly what ballonné requires.

Grand battement is typically done with the accent up. If you want to reverse it and place the accent on the descent, be prepared for the height to be lower. The body needs the momentum of the upward accent to achieve maximum height safely. If you remove that accent and insist on the same height anyway, and you're asking for an injury.

Why This Matters Beyond the Barre

George Balanchine understood accent as an artistic choice. In the solos for Apollo and the Melancholic variation from The Four Temperaments, he reversed the expected accent of leaps. Landing, rather than the height, became the moment of emphasis. The effect is striking precisely because it subverts what audiences expect.

Your students aren't ready for that yet. But you are. And when you start making deliberate choices about meter and accent in your barre combinations, you're not just teaching better technique — you're teaching your students to listen. To feel the music as a partner in their movement rather than a soundtrack behind it.

That's musicality. And it starts at the barre.

If you want the complete framework for integrating musicality and the other eight elements of artistry into your teaching at every level, the Ballet Artistry Course lays it out systematically.

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