Learn the changement: a jump from fifth position with a foot change in the air. With build-up, landing, typical mistakes and safety rules for your joints.
The honest answer to “What is a changement?”: you jump straight up from fifth position, switch feet in the air (the back foot comes forward, the front foot goes back) and land in fifth position again. It is a sauté variation with leg work, and the step where many realise the sauté was used up faster than expected.
Why? Because the landing is clearly harder than in the gliding steps. In a pilot study of eleven adolescents the impact of the changement averaged 4.10 g, while the glissade was 2.08 g and the entrechat quatre 4.32 g [1]. Anchor: g is Earth’s gravitational acceleration; four g means your pelvis is briefly braked at four times that acceleration when you land. This value is a pilot measurement, not a limit, but it says: changements are a jump, not a hop. They deserve a warm-up, a build-up and fresh legs.
How hard is it really? The foot change is quickly understood in slow motion; tempo and landing make it hard. Expect several weeks until changements feel clean in a series, and months until they run in a combination without thinking (rules of thumb, no study evidence). Quality counts more than quantity.
Stand in fifth position (right foot in front). First only a demi-plié with a calm upper body, heels down. Milestone: you can hold fifth position without hollow back and without wobbling.
Jump straight up from fifth and land in the same fifth. That is your foundation. If the landing makes noise, it is still too hard. Milestone: eight sautés in fifth, almost silent.
In the air the legs open minimally, just far enough for the front foot to glide past the back one. Front and back leg swap, both legs are stretched. You land with the other foot in front. Milestone: four changements without a pause, feet passing each other only narrowly.
The landing is the most important part. You land through the toes and ball onto the heels and bend into plié at once. In a study of 28 pre-professional dancers jumping an assemblé (also from fifth), the outward rotation of the ankle peaked on landing [4], so the ankle works hard. Milestone: you land eight times in a row in plié without the heels bouncing up.
Increase only one thing: either the number (eight, twelve, sixteen) or the tempo, never both at the same time. Breathe evenly and keep the arms calm.
With roughly 4 g of impact [1], the changement is one of the harder landings in the beginner repertoire. So: warm up thoroughly (calves, ankles, hips), build series slowly, take tiredness seriously and pause at once if ankle, knee or shin hurt. After an ankle injury, range of motion should be restored before you jump in fourth or fifth position [2]. The meta-analysis on strength training in dancers speaks for a supplementary strength programme [3]; discuss that with your teacher. This guide explains and motivates but does not replace supervised training.
Practise the switch first on the floor, seated, with eyes closed: sit with your legs in front of you as if in fifth and swap the feet in slow motion with pointed feet. That teaches the brain where “front” and “back” are in the air before you risk the landing. (Practical experience, no study evidence.)
Mini practice plan (rule of thumb): Twice a week, depending on strength level: three series of four changements with a rest in between, then a round of slow pliés. If the third series looks worse than the first, fatigue is too great; end the jump part and do stretching or technique instead. Film the first and the last series and compare the landings.
High enough to do the switch cleanly in the air, no more. Height earns no points, only impact: a changement averaged around 4 g in the pilot study [1]. Low and quick beats high and hard.
In a sauté you land in the same position, in a changement with swapped feet. The sauté is the preliminary step; the changement adds the foot change in the air.
Warm up, land deep into the plié, knees over the toes, practise on both sides and stop when tired. After an injury, regain ankle range of motion first [2]. Persistent pain belongs in medical hands.
Yes, but with feedback: film yourself from the front and the side. Watch the landing: audibly loud means too hard. Skip series when you are tired.
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