battement

American  

[bat-muhnt, bat^uh-mahn] / ˈbæt mənt, batəˈmɑ̃ /

noun

Ballet.

• battements
  plural

1. a movement in which the dancer lifts one leg to the front, side, or back, and returns it to the supporting leg.

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battement British  

/ batmɑ̃ /

noun

1. ballet extension of one leg forwards, sideways, or backwards, either once or repeatedly

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• battements
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of battement

1820–30; < French, equivalent to batt ( re ) to beat ( see bate ²) + -ment -ment

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

battement battements

When Violet topples over while stretching her leg high in a grand battement, Weary tells her, “It is better to try our hardest and fall down than to not try at all.”

From New York Times ● Dec. 30, 2020

During the 90-minute class, instructor Jessica Jaye Mackinson taught us to chassé, sauté, ronde de jambe and grand battement, a fancy French word for a three-sided kick.

From Washington Post ● Nov. 8, 2017

But now look at how the dancers do the battement tendu, the single step most famously associated with Balanchine.

From New York Times ● Jun. 15, 2012

She fills the space with an array of battements and bourrées, chaîné turns and arabesques; at one point she skips up a spiral staircase like a happy child.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 20, 2026

I have a small studio space in my house, a postage stamp, I think of it, and here every day I try to speak with my body: crunches, push-ups, tendus, a few battements.

From New York Times ● Sep. 15, 2015

In “Electricity,” the Times Square number, there are only four kicks, knitted together by dévelopées instead of battements.

From New York Times ● Mar. 14, 2014

The Marginalized, Front and Center Peter Baryshnikov is following in the footsteps of his father, Mikhail — but not with jetés and battements.

From New York Times ● Jul. 31, 2013

While other children were having their parents or their dentists pull out their baby teeth, I was knocking mine out with my feet when I did grands battements.

From "Taking Flight: From War Orphan to Star Ballerina" by Michaela DePrince

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