What does brise mean?
A brise is a classical ballet step — a small jump in which the dancer strikes or 'beats' the legs together in mid-air before landing on one foot, travelling either forward or backward depending on the direction of the movement. The name comes from the French verb briser, meaning 'to break', a reference to the sharp, broken quality of the beat. Because it demands precise coordination, strength, and timing, the brise is considered a hallmark of technical polish, and audiences often read a clean, silent beat as evidence of rigorous training. The term appears almost entirely within ballet contexts — class exercises, choreography notes, reviews, and dance instruction — and is generally left untranslated from French, like most of ballet's working vocabulary. Its plural typically follows French convention. For anyone following ballet closely, recognising a brise helps distinguish this beaten jump from related steps such as the plain jeté.
nounIn ballet, a small jumping step in which the dancer beats the legs together in the air before landing on one foot; it is performed either travelling forward or backward.
- A ballet step involving a jump with a beat of the legs before landing.
"Her brise cut cleanly across the stage, the beat of her legs barely visible it was so fast."
"The corps de ballet drilled the brise until each dancer landed in perfect unison."
"In the variation's final eight counts, he threw in a crisp brise that drew audible gasps from the audience."
Both spellings appear; the accented French form is preferred in ballet literature.
"The male principal's brisés were so light they seemed to skim the floor."
Every brise in ballet carries a hidden meaning: the word comes from the French briser — 'to break' — because the step appears to break sharply in the air.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of brise
The word entered English from French, where brisé functions both as the past participle of briser ('to break') and as the noun naming the ballet step. Briser itself derives from Vulgar Latin *brisiare, of Germanic origin, giving modern French the family of words that also yields brisance, the term for the shattering power of an explosive. Like most ballet terminology, the step's name travelled into English during the nineteenth-century flowering of classical dance in France and Russia, and it remains conventionally italicised or accented by careful writers.
How brise is actually used
Almost exclusively used within ballet contexts and dance criticism; rarely encountered outside them. The accented form "brisé" is common in printed ballet vocabulary, and the plural is usually given in French style.
Easily confused with brise
"Breeze" is a light wind or something done effortlessly, while "brise" is a ballet term derived from the French verb briser (to break), despite the similar spelling.
A jeté is a simple leap from one leg to the other without an intervening beat, whereas a brise includes a beating action of the legs in mid-air.