When Espen Giljane teaches rond de jambe en dehors, the accent is always in second position, not to the front—and it’s the same for en dedans.

For the double rond de jambe on count 4, he describes the movement as two half-size circles around second position. “It’s like whisking an egg with your leg,” he says. When moving from passé to développé in second, remember to relax the hip flexor and keep the hip in the socket.

Born in Oslo, Norway, Espen Giljane attended the School of American Ballet on scholarship and danced with New York City Ballet, 1981–95. He was artistic director of the Norwegian National Ballet, 2002–12. He has been a guest teacher at NYCB since 1994 and has taught at the Royal Swedish Ballet, Royal Danish Ballet, Finnish National Ballet, Metropolitan Opera Ballet, The Washington Ballet and the David Howard Dance Center. He joined the Juilliard faculty in 2015 and also teaches at Steps on Broadway.

Mykal Stromile is a fourth-year dance student at Juilliard.