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Ballet Vocabulary

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[tab title=”Positions of the Feet”] [raw]

premiere first
seconde second
troisième third
quatrième fourth
quatrième ouvertfourth open
quatrième ferméfourth closed
cinquième fifth

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[tab title=”Placement of the Foot”] [raw]
pointe tendue a terrestretch point on the ground
point tendue en l’airstretch point in the air
point tendue demi-en l’airstretch point half-way in the air
relevésraised movements

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[tab title=”Positions of the Arms”] [raw]
premiere first
secondesecond
troisième third
quatrième en avantfourth front
quatrième en hautfourth high
cinquième en basfifth low
cinquième en avantfifth front
cinquième en hautfifth high

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[tab title=”Directions of the Body”] [raw]
croisée devantcrossed in front
a la quatrieme devantto the fourth front
ecarteseparated, thrown apart
effacée shaded
a la secondeto the second
epaulé shouldered
a la quatrieme derriereto the fourth back
croisee derrierecrossed in back

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[tab title=”Movements”] [raw]
assembler to assemble
couperto cut
élancer to dart
étendreto stretch
glisserto glide
plier to bend
relever to rise
sautér to jump
tourner to turn

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[tab title=”Basic Words”] [raw]
un one
deuxtwo
troisthree
quatrefour
cinqfive
demihalf
petitsmall
grandlarge/big
pointepoint
tenduestretch
etand
tourturn
enin
baslow
suron
battementbeatings
devantfront
derrière back
en avantto the front
en arrière to the back
en croixin the pattern of a cross
poseposing step
jetéthrowing step
dégagedisengage
coupneck
piedfoot
jambeleg
rondaround
terreground
dehorsoutwards
dedansinwards
frappesstrike
retiréswithdrawn movements
développésdeveloping movements
echappésescaping movements
relevésraised movements
changementchanges of the feet
croisséecrossed position
chasséchasing step
dessousunder
dessusover
adageslower, graceful movements
allegrofaster, light, brisk movements
arabesquea particular position in ballet
enchaînement chain of steps
glissadegliding step
soussusunder-over step
bourrée"stuffed" step
balancérocking step

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[tab title=”Phrases”] [raw]
a la quatrième derrièreto the fourth back
a la quatrième devantto the fourth front
a la secondto the second
battements frappésbeatings struck
grand battementslarge beatings
grand révérenceformal bow
pas de chatstep of the cat
port de brascarriage of the arms
rond de jamberound the leg
sur le cou de piedon the neck of the ankle of the foot/ankle joint
sur la terreon the ground
temps levésraised movements
temps liésconnecting movements

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Credits and Resources

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Our gratitude goes to the following persons from whom extracts of this paper were gleamed.
 
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  • Cecchetti Council of America, Musical Form Teachers Grades I, II, III
  • A Concise History of Ballet, Ferdinando Reyna
  • Ballet for All, Peter Brinson and Clement Crisp
  • The Dancer’s Heritage, Ivor Guest

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