As we have seen thus far, the Vaganova port de bras exercises get more and more complicated with each higher number! The 5th Port de Bras describes a circular pattern involving the entire upper body, requiring a great deal of control through the dancer’s core as well as coordinated movements of the arms and head and complete upper body, while the legs remain anchored and solid in 3rd or 5th position.

This Port de Bras begins in the same manner as 2nd and 4th Port de Bras – standing in 3rd or 5th position croisé, the arms breathe and then move from preparatory through 1st position; then the upstage arm rises to 3rd position as the downstage arm opens to 2nd position, the focus following the downstage hand. From here, the dancer turns the focus up and out towards the corner his/her body is facing with an inhale and slight lifting of the sternum. Then the dancer bends forward by engaging the abdominals and then folding at the hips. Both arms move down with the body until they meet in preparatory at the bottom of the forward bend.

Arms Preparatory

Breath of Arms

Arms to 1st Position

Arms split, opening to 3rd and 2nd

Focus changes to look up and out

Bending forward, arms moving down with the body

Arms meet at the bottom in Preparatory

Now the dancer begins to bring her/his body upward, but with a twist towards the upstage side. As the dancer’s body arises, the arms pass through 1st position, then open such that the upstage arm is in 2nd while the downstage arm is in 3rd position. Meanwhile, the body is arched at the waist over the upstage arm. The dancer must be careful not to allow the shoulder of the downstage arm to crowd the neck; it should feel spacious and open with the shoulders wrapped down and around the back.

Arms pass through 1st as dancer brings body over upstage side

Dancer bends at the waist over the upstage shoulder

Focus is upstage at the beginning of the cambre back

Training form: hands meet in 3rd as the focus turns up to the ceiling

Head turns downstage as downstage arm opens to 2nd position

Back recovers to vertical

While lifting in the waist, the dancer then begins to arc around the back, changing the arms simultaneously with a change in direction of the head from upstage to downstage shoulder. In the training form when the dancer is first learning this port de bras, the arms arrive together in 3rd position during the cambré back while the dancer’s focus turns straight upward, then the downstage arm opens side while the focus turns downstage. In the final form, the arms switch places (upstage arm going from 2nd to 3rd position; downstage arm going from 3rd to 2nd position) as the focus changes and they do not meet in 3rd position. Once the upstage arm has arrived in 3rd and the downstage arm in 2nd with the focus downstage, the dancer returns to a vertical alignment, radiating upward from the base of the cambré back, with the head remaining inclined slightly back.