En cloche

Most commonly used with a tendu, dégagé, or grand battement, en cloche refers to the movement of the leg swinging from front to back (or back to front) without complimentary involvement in the upper body.  (En balançoire represents a similar movement but includes complimentary movement in the upper body)

The concept of en cloche is used frequently in barre work, but knowing the origins can provide a great teaching tool for you since the movement mimics so closely imagery of the object.

Cloche is the French word for bell.  Imagine a hand bell sitting in place on the floor.  The dancer's head and torso make up the handle of the bell, and an imaginary bell envelops the body of the dancer from the waist down.  The dancer's working leg serves as the bell's clapper, swinging front and back to ring the bell.

En cloche - pronounced [klɔʃ] "en" sounds like the English word on but trying not to pronounce the final n, "cl" sounds like the cl in "clap," "o" sound like the o of the word long in English except that it is pronounced with an open mouth instead of rounded lips, and "che" sounds like the shhhh used to shush someone.

In an interesting side note, à cloche-pied is a French expression meaning "on one foot."  Sauter à cloche-pied would be to jump up and down on the same foot.  The expression has existed since as early as the 14th century and could certainly be related to the origins of en cloche as well.

En manège

Most dancers and teachers understand the concept of performing a step en manège, or in a circle, but do you know where this term comes from and how it's related to its origins?

Take note that many teachers and choreographers mistakenly use en ménage.  It's a simple vowel swap and rolls off the tongue more easily for English speakers, but there is a difference.  Ménage is the French word for "household, " while manège refers to the ring used in equestrian training and competition.  

En manège - pronounced[manɛʒ] "en" sounds almost like the English word on, except that vowel sound comes form both the nose and mouth simultaneously and the "n" is not pronounced,  "ma" is pronounced similarly to the ma in mama in English with the mouth wide open, "nè" is pronounced like the Ne in the name Ned, and "ge" is pronounced similarly to the S in the English word measure.

Ballet was only one of Louis XIV's interests.  He also kept a large stable of horses and horsemen.  Since all young noblemen were expected to learn skills such as music, dance, and horsemanship as part of their education, there was certainly some overlap between the horsemen and the dancers in Louis XIV's court.  We know for a fact that the count credited with inventing the step sissonne was listed as one of the Louis XIV's Cinquante pages de la grande écurie (50 Pages of the Great Stable).  It is logical that this overlap would occur with terminology as well. 

Imagine a dancer doing tour piqués en manège.  The dancer performs a series of piqué turns while traveling in a circular path.  Now transfer this image to the equestrian arena: imagine the rider galloping the horse around the ring or even guiding the horse through specific footwork in a circular path.

Another good image is the carousel (in modern French manège can also mean carousel) with which even the youngest dancers are familiar.  Help your dancers to maintain their circular motion and to keep their circle wide in group work by imagining that they are on a carousel horse. 

Grand Jeté and Saut de chat

Leaping language!  Grand jeté and saut de chat are the two major ballet leaps, and each movement is directly tied to the meaning of the term representing it.  In a nutshell, the grand jeté is performed with a straight take-off leg, and in the saut de chat, the front leg performs a développé.

First things first:  What's a leap? Outside of the dance world, a leap can be any wide or long jump, often traveling over or across something, but within the dance world, there is a consensus that a leap transitions from one foot to the other.

Grand jeté - [gʀɑ̃ ʒ(ə)te] pronounced "gr" as in the first two letters of great, "and" combines to make only the sound of an open-mouthed ahhh with the sound coming out of both the mouth and nose at the same time.  Avoid pronouncing the "nd" because jeté is masculine.  (Note:  For feminine terms, the adjective would be changed to grande and the "d" would be pronounced). "je" sounds like the S in measure, (the "e" can be pronounced or swallowed), "té" sound like tay, trying not to pronounce the final Y

The verb jeter means to throw or toss and grand, meaning large, indicates the expansive size of the movement.  Jeté, as a step that changes from one foot to the other, exists in even the earliest dance dictionaries, but the use of the term grand jeté becomes much more frequent in the first half of the 20th century.  A grand jeté is a large throw from one leg to the other, specifically with the legs straight in the air.  The movement begins with a plié of the supporting leg and a grand battement of the working leg.  As the back leg leaves the floor, it straightens as well.  The legs are straight at all times in the air and only bend when in contact with the floor.

Saut de chat - [so dә ʃa] pronounced "saut" like the English word so, "de" as if you were practicing the sound the letter D makes, and "chat" like the English word shah.

Saut de chat translated literally means the jump or leap (think of a bound) of the cat.  The ballet movement mimics almost exactly the motion of the cat's leap.  (Check out the video below).  The cat moves from a deep bend of the legs, lifts the front paws bending them at the "knee," springs off the back legs, and stretches long in the air.  The ballet movement comes from a deep plié with the front leg leaving the floor in a pathway that extends through a développé to a straight position, and pushing off the back leg, which will straighten as it does in a grand jeté.

Cou-de-pied versus Coupé

Cou-de-pied and Coupé are two terms that I often hear used interchangeably by teachers, but there is a difference.  The long and the short of it is that cou-de-pied is a position and coupé is an action.

Cou-de-pied - [kud(ә)pje] pronounced "cou" as in barracuda, "de" as if you were the sound that the letter D makes, "pied" sounding like p+yay (always trying to avoid that final y sound that is prominent in English).

Literally meaning neck of the foot, cou-de-pied is the part of the body located on the front of the body at the articulation of the leg and foot. The cou-de-pied would be under the spot where you tie your sneaker.

Depending on your preferred school of ballet, you may consider cou-de-pied to be a stretched foot position with the working toes touching near the ankle bone of the supporting foot.  Today this position can be performed devant or derrière, wrapped or not wrapped.  You might also consider cou-de-pied as a position in which the heel of the working foot touches near the ankle of the supporting foot and the working foot in a semi-flexed position so that the toes touch the ground.  Many teachers call this position coupé.  I won't say this is in error because it is incredibly widespread and is more of a linguistic evolution than a mistake, but some teachers find great value in making a distinction between the two. In either case, cou-de-pied designates a position of the foot rather than an action.

Coupé - [kupe] pronounced "cou" as in barracuda, "pé" sounding like the English word pay without the final y.

The verb couper means "to cut," and coupé was originally adjective describing the noun pas meaning "step," but with time and frequent usage, the word coupé became a noun in its own right. 

One leg or one foot cuts under the body to replace the original standing foot.  The foot that is replaced can be picked up in an extended position devant, derrière, or à la seconde or can be picked up in cou-de-pied or a number of other positions. 

The frequent execution of coupé picking the replaced foot up into cou-de-pied may be one of the reasons that cou-de-pied is in many cases overshadowed by coupé.

Ballonné and Ballotté

Ballonné and Ballotté are similar, both in name and structure, but there are marked differences. How do we designate the differences and pass those ideas on to our students?

To make it short and simple:  BalloNNé is a BouNce and BalloTTé is a Throw.  Ballonné bouncing on one foot and ballotté throwing energy from one foot to the other, front to back.  N's and T's are a quick memory device to help you (and your students) keep these terms straight, but let's dig a little deeper and explore the origins and the imagery that can bring the vocabulary to life in your classroom.

First, it's important to know that neither ballonné (sometimes spelled balloné) or ballotté were included in the 1787 Dictionnaire de Danse.  Why?  They were rather late additions in the grand scheme of physical ballet vocabulary, as most of the earlier work was focused on terre à terre (floor to floor) movement and not on the strong jumps and leaps that we idealize today.

Ballonné came to be before ballotté:  ballonné showing up in the 1895 Dictionnaire de la Danse and ballotté coming into more common usage in the 20th century.  If you think about the structure of the movement, this evolution makes sense.  Ballonné connecting to the beginning of pointe work and advancing to a jumping movement.  Ballotté being a more advanced jumping movement, which would have been more highly valued in the the 20th century.

Ballonné - Pronounced [balɔne] "bal" pronounced like beginning of the word "balance," "o" pronounced like the o in "on," "nné" pronounced like "nay" but trying to avoid pronouncing the final Y as we do in English.

Ballonné has the quality of bouncing like a ball.  It comes from the word ballon in French, which is simply an air-filled ball.  The bouncing movement is repeated on a single supporting leg and the working leg progresses from a cou-de-pied in plié to an extended leg at the height of the jump.
Much like a bouncing ball, this movement can stay in place or travel by advancing the supporting foot.  (Note:  You'll find the word ballonné elsewhere in French but with a different meaning.  Outside of dance, ballonné means air-filled or swollen like a balloon.)

Ballotté - Pronounced [balɔte] "bal" pronounced like beginning of the word "balance," "o" pronounced like the o in "on," "tté" pronounced like "tay" but again trying to avoid pronouncing the final Y.

Ballotté has the quality of being tossed from side to side (or more commonly front to back in this case).  "Pas de danse qui combine un sauté dessous avec un développement effacé."*  [Dance step that combines a jump underneath one's self with a lengthening/dévloppé in effacé]. The word ballotté is most often used to describe a boat or piece of debris that is tossed by the harsh waves of the sea.  You can visualize both the tossing action and the shape of the boat in the step itself.  The dancer jumps bring the feet underneath him/herself at the height of the jump landing on one foot and extending the other through a développé to the front (or back) as the dancer comes into plié on the supporting foot.  The step is generally repeated with a second jump where the feet are pulled underneath and the opposite leg is extended through développé to the back.   Imagine a boat being thrown by the waves during a storm.  Or picture the boat itself:  the extension of the leg in front creates the front of the boat with the toes being the tip of the boat and the extension of the leg in the back creating the back of the boat.  As the movement is repeat and the energy is tossed from front to back, you can almost see the body of the boat in the dancers legs in feet.

*Trésor de la langue française - http://atilf.atilf.fr