Changement

/ʃɑːnʒˈmɑː/ noun

Definition

In ballet, a jump where the dancer changes the positions of their feet mid-air before landing.

Etymology

From French 'changement' (change), from Latin 'cambiare'. The term was borrowed directly into English ballet vocabulary from French, the language in which most classical ballet terminology originated.

Kelly Says

Classical ballet terms are almost all French because ballet developed as an art form in the French court of Louis XIV—so even American and Russian dancers speak French when they train, a 400-year-old linguistic inheritance from one man's love of dance.

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