This thread spins off a post on the Adult Students forum where a poster named "cou-de-pied" as "coup-de-pied", which I commented sounded like a ballet pun for battements serrés, or a really good relevé, as in "coup de théatre"! What about it? Can anybody think of some really apropos plays on words for steps or ballet-related terms? As a starter, and realize that it is rather early in the morning, I'll contribute "cou de théatre" = lobby.;)

Sort of a plie on words, right?

This is a difficult one! Although..shame shame it t'was I who said the coup de pied.you gotta laugh though. But I can't think of any deliberately....:confused:

Oh boy my brain hurt thinking about this..but theres this one..

My pointe shoes need to be serioulsy re-vamped..groan
oh and now I'm on a rôle....

I brought salt and pepper to the SFB box office as i wanted to buy a season ticket....oh that one really hurt to write it out....

I'll go now before the tomatoes start flying....

Hmmm! OK, we seem to be entering into the spirit of the thing, which should keep us happily occupied through the Christmas/New Year's letdown, when lots of us could use a joke!

For example:

grand pas = extremely senior male dancer.

saut de chat = time to go to the vet!

temps lié = your watch is slow.

quatrième derrière = the result of gene-splicing, doubtless!

Fractured French may be impolite to a beautiful and graceful language, but it is fun!;)

oh, fractured French hey?

Ok, how about
Cabriole - The new 2003 car by Ford
Pas marché-what you do through the stores at christmas time.

Wrong de jambe - self-explanatory

Pirou-wet - fast turns by a perspiring dancer--usually occur during the coda

Gargouillade = should have eaten a little something before class.

passé developpé = wet-plate negative.

pas de biche = actually, she's very nice.

Merry Christmas!

Here are some more presents for you.

fondu = really cheesy ballet.

Shchelkunchik. Gesundheit!

Fée-dragée = Trock.

Frappé = French knock-knock joke.

Example:

Q: Frappe-frappe!

A: Qui est là?

Q: Alençon.

A: Alençon qui?

Q: "Alençonfants de la patrie...."

Turnout = attendance

Rotation = first cast, second cast, first cast, etc.

Corps de ballet = 1. Giselle at act I curtain.
2. Marines rarely go.

Balletptomaine: Disease which causes one rob florists to shower boquests on one's favorite ballerina.

Edward Gorey once made a hilarious set of illustrations (you could get them at the NYCB guild table back when) illustrating a number of dance scenarious based on "pas" something-or-there. My favorite one, as I mentioned elsewhere here recently, is "Pas devant les domestiques," which showed an upper-crust couple dancing a very unhappy looking tango in front of an audience of also-unhappy looking servants of various ilks.

"Paddy Boray" -- special Riverdance number only performed on St. Patrick's Day.

barre = saloon

This is awful, rather like eating salted peanuts. And the horrible thing is that I realize that I have two former students who are professional cartoonists and aren't working on anything in particular right now. Gorey redux?

tour de basque = vacation in Navarre

pas de chat = You didn't tell me she had Yorkshire Terriers!

port de bras = making a gel-augmented foundation garment.

Saut de chat = what the vet does after Fluffy's surgery

And I thought

port de bras = time to buy new undergarments

pas de poisson = have the chicken instead

sous-sus (also sus-sous) = that really preppie girl in high school

Those are good, too!

And then there's:

pas de douze = Old School Mormon

tour de rein = Royal Progress

mazurka = you do, and you clean it up!

Pirouette = we're tourists; where do we catch the boat? (Okay, this is REALLY fractured!)

csardaš = Quick, everybody run to Mickey D's. Dad wants to cook supper!

well...mine was 'pas de chats' = what usually happens when i have visitors...

but i see Mel has done far better than that, already. i think you guys are too clever for me. ;)

oh! here's a better one:

entrechats = how i sleep!

Oh, thank you, grace!

saut de basque = costume department

sissone ouverte = opening night gala tonight

failli = phooey, as in "oh, failli upon thee!"

aplomb = fruit of the genus Prunus

temps de poisson = the time I caught The Big One that Got Away!

Temps de fleche = Mel running one step ahead of the vengeance of those in charge of preventing the mangling of both English AND French.

precipite -- The reason why Mel is snowed in and has so much time for this.

Boy have you ever got that right!!!

enchaînement = unfair, low ballet pay

coming from the other side of the globe:

'jota' = what it is in australia at christmas

36+ degrees celsius, day after day - and no cooler than 24º at night...

stil, i'd rather this, than what you've got.

at least a sea 'brisé' is just picking up...

'changement' = the scene that MUST be appropriately handled in mel's 'nutcracker'... (and i agree with you, mel).

Excellent, Grace!

Rake of the stage = Stage-door Johnny

Grace, that heat sounds kind of nice ... but you guys sure have your "sissones" mixed up down under!

In my house, it's an "entrechat trois" at bedtime. (I really loved that one, Grace! )

Good ones, Treefrog!

grand défilè = whole beef tenderloin

pas de chaconne = first dance number in Ashton's La Fille Mal Gardée

entrechats = kitty kitty kitty!

pas de boo, Ray= Just sit quietly if you don't like it, dear

pas de quatres= I've gotta get some change for the bus

My all time favorite of these is actually Spanish and has nothing to do with ballet, but here it is anyway:
Feliz Navidad= my cat can swim

Oh, very good, Giannina and Nanatchka both!

Tour en l'air = nonstop round-the-world flight.

I hope anyone who does that tour en l'air takes a jeté ...

ah, the four 'sissones'! i should have thought of that, treefrog.

batterie = what parents of young children need a good stock of, at christmas



thinking of agon, this one's for mel:

'bransle' = what can happen if people drink too much on new year's eve

Treefrog, good idea! My mental image for the tour en l'air is a Cessna 150 getting an IFRF (In-Flight Refueling) from a KC-10 tanker.

Grace, excellent! (For those who don't know about how to say this dance, Elizabeth I once wrote that she enjoyed dancing the Spanish Panic and the Saracen Brawl!) I wonder what that first one looked like.;)

ballon = mode of travel in the Joffrey Nutcracker.

(mental image - Clara and Drosselmeyer being blown past Konfitüremburg International Airport by prevailing winds)

so, what is the Spanish Panic?

God only knows, grace! At least we know Liz I liked to dance it, and it made its way into the Off-Broadway/Broadway show Once Upon a Mattress in name only.

Rivoltade = Workers of the World, Unite!

Oh, I like these! At least the ones I understand... unfortunately, I only speak "ballet french" and so I don't get the ones that play off of other meanings that the words, or combos, might have. But the ones I get are a lot of fun! If only I could think of any.

Dolphingirl

P.S. Mr. Johnson, I'm quite fond of the Joffrey's "Ballon"!

Broken wrists = what dancers who fall down hard get.

oh mel, that's awful.

Remember, the pun is the lowest form of humor unless you think of it first.

Ballotté = characteristic of elections in Florida.

And I suppose sickled feet = what happens when you cut your oats by hand ...and forget to wear shoes ... (OUCH!)

Oats? They still farm oats in midstate Illinois? When I was at Rantoul at the late, great Chanute Air Force Base, they raised that and hemp! Very relaxed place, Chanute!;) (Also popcorn for the munchies)

à terre = what you get if you stretch the costume too far.

Just a reminder as to where this little enterprise got its inspiration.

http://www.coupland.com/coupland/drool/00_06_21b.html

Gargouillade: Lemon-flavoured drink to assist gargling.

Coupé = Danilova's green Citroën roadster.

Tutu = OK, who brought the dog backstage?

Pas de hooray=happy dance done after getting a difficult step down for the first time