Unlocking the Intermediate Level: Essential Barre & Center Combinations to Practice
You’ve mastered the fundamentals. You can plié, tendu, and relevé with confidence. Your body knows the basic positions, and you’re craving more complexity, more artistry, more dance. Welcome to the intermediate plateau—a challenging but incredibly rewarding stage in your ballet journey.
This transition isn't just about harder steps; it's about integrating technique, strength, and musicality into a seamless flow. The key to unlocking this level? Consistent, mindful practice of the right combinations. Let's break down the essential barre and center work that will build the strength, coordination, and grace of a true intermediate dancer.
The Barre: Your Foundation for Everything
The barre is your best friend. It’s not just a warm-up; it’s a laboratory where you refine the technique that makes center work possible. At the intermediate level, combinations become longer and more intricate, demanding greater focus.
1. The Plié Combination: For Depth & Control
The Goal: To connect port de bras seamlessly with deep, controlled pliés and develop épaulement.
The Combination:
- Grand plié in 1st, rising to relevé with arms through first to fifth en haut.
- Lower heels with a port de bras forward, bending deeply over the legs.
- Slowly roll up through the spine, ending in preparatory position.
- Repeat grand plié in 2nd, with a port de bras to second and a cambré side to side.
- Finish with a smooth transition to 5th position for the next exercise.
Why it Works: This builds the core and back strength for beautiful port de bras and teaches you to maintain turnout and alignment even in deep bends.
2. The Développé Combination: For Height & Stability
The Goal: To achieve a high, controlled développé without sacrificing hip alignment or balance.
The Combination:
- From fifth, passé (retiré) slowly, focusing on a turned-out, high knee.
- Unfold the leg to à la seconde (to the side), front, or arabesque, aiming for 90 degrees.
- Hold for 4 counts, engaging your standing leg and core.
- Return the leg to passé, then place it back into a tight fifth position.
- Add a promenade (turn on the standing leg) in arabesque for an advanced challenge.
Why it Works: This is the ultimate test of strength and flexibility. Holding the position builds the muscular endurance needed for adagio work in the center.
Intermediate Tip: Your eyes (head and focus) are part of the movement. Practice spotting your hand during port de bras or a fixed point in the room during balances. This is the beginning of true artistry.
The Center: Where Technique Becomes Art
Taking it away from the barre is the true test. Here, your core is your barre. Combinations focus on weight transfer, coordination, and ultimately, dancing.
1. The Adagio Combination: For Lyrical Strength
The Goal: To move with control, grace, and balance through a series of sustained poses.
The Combination:
- Start in fifth, right foot back.
- Tendu back to arabesque, then développé to a high arabesque balance (hold for 4).
- Step through to a low lunge (fourth position), bringing the arms down.
- Passé and développé to attitude derrière, with a slight cambré back.
- Close to fifth and repeat on the left side.
Why it Works: This combination links positions fluidly, teaching you how to use momentum and core strength to create the illusion of effortless movement.
2. The Pirouette Combination: For Turning Power
The Goal: To prepare, turn, and finish with precision and confidence.
The Combination:
- From fifth, a single pirouette en dehors (turning toward the front foot).
- Land and immediately tendu to second.
- Step to second position plié, and push into a single pirouette en dedans (turning toward the back foot) from second.
- Finish in fifth position.
- Progress to doubles as you become more consistent.
Why it Works: Practicing both en dehors and en dedans turns from different preparations builds versatile turning technique and quick footwork.
3. The Petit Allegro Combination: For Speed & Precision
The Goal: To move quickly and lightly with clear footwork and sharp beats.
The Combination:
- Glissade → Jeté → Assemblé (Sissonne) → Soubresaut.
- Repeat to the other side.
- Focus on brushing the floor and pushing off powerfully from the plié.
- Keep the upper body calm and the arms held in a gentle first position (bras bas) or second.
Why it Works: This classic enchainement trains your feet to work quickly and your brain to sequence steps. The key is even rhythm and light landings.
Intermediate Tip: Record yourself practicing. It’s one of the most powerful tools for self-correction. You’ll see what your teacher sees—the slight sickle, the drooping elbow, the unfinished port de bras—and can correct it in real-time.
Putting It All Together
Unlocking the intermediate level is a process of layering. You’re no longer just doing a tendu; you’re thinking about the energy in your foot as it brushes out, the rotation of your hip, the opposition in your port de bras, and the timing of the music—all at once.
Be patient and consistent. Practice these combinations slowly until the pathways are ingrained in your muscle memory, then add speed and musicality. Don't just go through the motions—dance them. Find the joy in the challenge, and soon, you'll not only be unlocking the intermediate level, you'll be soaring through it.
