What is a battement degage?

Answer 1

If you know what a degage is, then you know that it is a move where you brush your foot against the floor and then let it come of the floor. Picture it as an airplane on a runway. The air plane takes of by driving on the ground (in this case brushing your foot on the floor) and then the plane lifts off (the foot leaves the floor and goes into the air). This is almost the same thing as a battement degage, except when your leg lifts off the ground in a degage, it normally stays at most a half foot off the ground. In a battement degage, however, the legs is thrown into the air, many feet of the ground. Many well-trained ballerinas can kick their head with their leg in a battement degage. Ballet dancers usually just call a battement degage a battement for short.