Unlike the rest of ballet terms, which are named after verbs, this step is named for its originator.
What is sissonne?
100
This ballet features the vengeful spirits of girls who died before they married.
What is Giselle?
100
One of the eight directions of the body, in this position the dancer stands facing either one of the two front corners of the room with the leg closer to the audience in front.
What is croisé?
100
This thick length of connective tissue is also known as the iliotibial tract.
What is the IT band?
200
This term indicates that an exercise is to be executed to the front, to the side and to the back.
What is en croix?
200
In this ballet, a magic scarf spells doom for the title character.
What is La Sylphide?
200
One of the eight directions of the body, in this position the dancer stands facing either one of the two front corners of the room with the leg farther from the audience in front.
What is effacé?
200
This muscle connects your lower spine to the lesser trochanter of your femur. It's the prime mover for hip flexion.
What is the psoas?
300
Facing the audience.
What is en face?
300
A doll appears to come to life in this ballet based on a story by the same author as The Nutcracker.
What is Coppélia?
300
When this term is used with a step it indicates that the step is to be done in a darting manner.
What is élancé?
300
This pear-shaped muscle connects your greater trochanter to your sacrum and rotates your femur.
What is the piriformis?
400
These two ballet terms are false friends, they are spelled the same as English words, but their definitions are not the same as the English words.
What are balancé and retiré?
400
This ballet features the death of the eponymous character by snake bite.
What is La Bayadère?
400
One of the eight directions of the body, in this position the dancer faces either one of the two front corners of the room with the either leg pointed in the second position à terre or raised to the second position en l’air.
What is écarté?
400
The abdominal muscle transverse abdominus and the multifidus muscles of the spine comprise the major muscles of this central muscle group used in dance.
What is your core?
500
These five terms all incorporate the French word for time. Time joined, time raised, thigh time, stop time and against time.
What are temps lié, temps levé, temps de cuissé, temps d'arret and contretemps?
500
These three ballets share the same composer, Tschaikovsky, and the same choreographer, Petipa.
What are The Nutcracker, Swan Lake and Sleeping Beauty?
500
Extended, outstretched, elongated.
What is allongé?
500
The group of muscles on the lateral side of the lower leg.