ballet blanc

[ba-le blahn]

noun

plural

ballets blancs 

1. a ballet in which the ballerinas' skirts are white.

Word History and Origins

Origin of ballet blanc¹

1945–50; < French: literally, white ballet

Example Sentences

For the choreographer Christopher Williams, growing up in Syracuse, it was at a performance of “Les Sylphides,” recognized as the first ballet blanc, or plotless ballet.

From New York Times

A curious framing device — which sees these same three characters adopting different personae — gives “Ballet Blanc” a dreamlike quality.

From Los Angeles Times

Then there are movies such as writer-director Anne-Sophie Dutoit’s “Ballet Blanc,” which aim to upset viewers with unrelenting oddity.

From Los Angeles Times

For “Period” is pure, a kind of contemporary dance equivalent of a ballet blanc, that genre in which white costumes signify a shift toward abstract form.

From New York Times

All else disappears, and a battalion of whipped-creamlets, I guess you could call them, come in and do a ballet blanc, like the swans in “Swan Lake.”

From The New Yorker