Ballet Dictionary
Illustrated Ballet Dictionary
Classical Ballet Terms and Definitions.
Completely revised and updated dictionary of Classical Ballet
Glossary of Dance Terminology
Ballet technique
Pronunciation
Ballet technique
There are three distinct schools of ballet technique: the classic Italian (Cecchetti method), the graceful French and the strong Russian.
The fundamental principles of classical technique are the same in all three. Certain steps, exercises, poses and movements are performed in different ways and different names are given to similar steps and positions by these three schools.
Pronunciation
Since most of the terms used in classical ballet are French and a few are Italian, we have provided a phonetic aid to pronunciation immediately following each foreign-language key word. Naturally, these simplified pronunciations are only approximate, but you will not go far wrong if you remember the rules of French language.
