fouetté

[fwe-tey]

noun

Ballet.

plural

fouettés 

1. a whipping movement of the free leg, often executed during a turn.

fouetté

/ fwete /

noun

1. a step in ballet in which the dancer stands on one foot and makes a whiplike movement with the other

Word History and Origins

Origin of fouetté¹

1820–30; < French, past participle of fouetter to whip

Word History and Origins

Origin of fouetté¹

C19: French, past participle of fouetter to whip, from fouet a whip

Example Sentences

At her audition for the School of American Ballet at 15, she kept tossing off fouetté turns despite a burst blister that was bleeding through her toe shoe.

From New York Times

At the other extreme, more traditional displays of virtuosity ring out like alarms, as when Preston Chamblee whips through a series of fouetté turns, or when Ruby Lister, a striking new corps member, commands the stage alone with alert, springing jumps.

From New York Times

They have mastered the virtuoso sequence of 32 fouetté turns on pointe that bedevils even experienced ballerinas — and they like to add a bravura male step called a double tour to the knee at the end for good measure.

From New York Times

Boylston matched him with fouetté turns so fast you could almost feel the breeze.

From Washington Post

Whirling through her whipping fouetté turns as the predatory Odile in the third act, could she have kept spinning till spring?

From Washington Post