Fokine dropped the "port de bras" (position of the arms) of classical ballet in designing the dances for Nijinsky. He used instead curving, tendril-like movements of the arms and fingers. Nijinsky became an androgynous character in this ballet, one showing masculine power in his legs and a feminine delicacy in his arms. Some of his gestures, Ostwalt writes in "Nijinsky: A Leap into Madness", "lent a feminine aura (an invisible force)" to the character.