entrechat

American  

[ahn-truh-sha] / ɑ̃ trəˈʃa /

noun

Ballet.

plural

entrechats

1. a jump in which the dancer crosses the feet a number of times while in the air.

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entrechat British  

/ ɑ̃trəʃa /

noun

1. a leap in ballet during which the dancer repeatedly crosses his feet or beats them together

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Etymology

Origin of entrechat

1765–75; < French, alteration of Italian ( capriola ) intrecciata intwined (caper), equivalent to in- in- ² + trecci- tress + -ata -ate ¹

Example Sentences

“But I still look at a ballet like ‘Swan Lake’ or ‘Giselle,’ and I’m like, I have to do 24 entrechat sixes,” he said, referring to a virtuosic jump with rapid, crisscrossing feet.

From New York Times • Oct. 30, 2022

In Paris, balletomanes were treated to an unprogrammed novelty when Dancer Michel Rayne leaped up in an entrechat, came gracefully down, kept right on down through a prematurely opened trap door.

From Time Magazine Archive

The latest step in Japan's Westernization is an entrechat.

From Time Magazine Archive

Bea is an earthbound Nijinsky who can entrechat her way across a stage in half-inch leaps.

From Time Magazine Archive

She was past-mistress of the entrechat and other mysteries of the ballet academy.

From Interpreters by Van Vechten, Carl