Effacé

Effacé is a body direction in which the dancer stands at an angle to the audience so the working leg appears open, or “shaded away,” from the front. The name suggests something softened or hidden, and it is the opposite of croisé, where the legs appear crossed from the audience’s view.

What the Audience Sees

In effacé, the dancer turns the body on a slight diagonal to the front corner. Because of that angle, the working leg is on the open side and nothing crosses in front of the body’s centerline. The pose looks airy and unobstructed, with a clear line running from the supporting leg through the extended one. This openness is why choreographers use effacé to show off extension and long, uninterrupted lines.

Effacé and Croisé

Effacé and croisé are a matched pair that together describe most angled poses in classical ballet. Croisé crosses the legs from the audience’s point of view, creating a more closed, layered shape. Effacé opens them out. The same step, such as an arabesque or a tendu, can be presented either way simply by changing which corner the dancer faces, and the two produce very different feelings on stage.

Understanding effacé helps dancers place themselves correctly in space, especially in the center where there is no barre to orient them. It is part of the larger idea of épaulement, the play of the shoulders and body angles that gives classical poses their depth and dimension.