Dame Alicia Markova - ‘Gargouillades’ (Single and Double)

I have seen discussion in a number of documentaries of whether Alicia Markova properly executed gargouillades.

As I understand it, a dancer performs a gargouillade by degageing one leg to the side, then doing a small rond de jambe with that leg while pushing off the floor with the other leg and then doing a rond de jambe with that leg.

In the first section of this footage, Dame Alicia coaches Emilie Cozette of the Paris Opera Ballet in a Sugar Plum Fairy solo from ‘The Nutcracker’, with the assistance of ballerina Elizabeth Platel.

Dame Alicia discusses, in the course of this coaching, the position of the body for the gargouillade in the Italian training she had, and then what she learned from Nicholas Sergeyev - beginning with the single gargouillade, followed by the double.

In the second section of this footage, Dame Alicia is seen executing gargouillades in the context of a solo from ‘The Nutcracker’ filmed in 1942.

Is this how everyone understands the gargouillade?

Enjoy!