Translating "Entre Chat"
 

OK, have a line in a play where the ballet master says to the ballerina "Entre Chat". What does that mean other than "between the cat" which is what the translation sites say?

The term "entre chat" is a ballet move, where the dancer jumps straight up and flaps his/her feet in the air.

Patrick,
it is entrechat and means to jump straight up in the air doing little things with your feet .

entre chat - in ballet, a leap straight upward in which the dancer crosses his legs and strikes his heels together, usually several times.

Too funny. You'd think the ballet teacher who worked with the actress would have known that. He seemed to think it meant "begin again" or something.

Thanks. I can always count on good information when I'm directing by coming here!

Maybe the ballet teacher was telling the dancer to begin again at the entrechat, the way a conductor would say "bar 17" to mean start again at that bar.

Actually, though, entrechat means "just between us cats" and is a phrase often used by gossiping Burmeses.

I used to do those, although never more than an entrechat trois. YOu don't beat your heels together, your legs are beating like scissors, your thighs and calves are beating or cross. No ballet master would not know that term, that just isn't possible. Even students know that term in a couple years.

It doesn't really mean between the cat, and is only one word--I think the word really came from another origin and just looks like that's what it means. There is a "pas de chat", however, which is a little cat's jump and a lot of fun to do.

All this talk about cats caused me to look the word up to see where it came from. As is so often the case with music-related words, it's from Italian, derived from "intrecciata", which means "intertwined". That's pronounced roughly een-tray-cha-ta, since a soft c in Italian is pronounced like the ch in "chat" (think of "ciao").

In old French, the ch of the French word "chat" was pronounced like that too. Later it softened to what we in English would call an "sh" sound. That's how the French word "chef" came into English twice: first as "chief", and then later, after the sound change, as "chef" (from "chef de cuisine", chief of the kitchen).

- Larry

In russian "entrechat" means both a ballet move and a steak.

entre chat - in ballet, a leap straight upward in which the dancer crosses his legs and strikes his heels together, usually several times.

I want to hear more about the steak! Mmmmm . . . steak.

I've heard of "entrecote" rib steak. Is the "entrechat" similar?

Jolie, actually I misspelled, but only because in russian the spelling would be the same.

If one took ballet and ones ballet master smacked them on the legs with a stick, one would remember the word and the definition :D

WHEW!! La belle is one tough lady :)

I asked my chat and he told me it means: ENTER THE CAT, usually done with tail in air, head held high, and eyes closed while toute la monde sucks in their breath in awe. (Mon chat is a flame point siamese so of course this was his response as he has presence).

Hey, I'm playing Kolenkhov in my high school's production of You Can't Take it With You. I was wondering what "Entre Chat" was as well. My friend said, "Between the cat?" And I went to the internet. Thanks for doing the work. heh.

It's actually a contraction of "entre deux chats", derives from the time when cats were larger and more vicious that the common domestic feline, something like an American catamount, and describes the move that a particularly athletic shepherd might describe in such a situation.

A catamite is a type of tick that preys on catamounts.

And an innuendo is of course an Italian suppository.

Neil: "And an innuendo is of course an Italian suppository." ROFLMAO :)

Oh Neil, it took me a moment there to get that!!! LOL :-o
That was good (or bad, depending on ones point of view)! Take care.

OMG -- I just laughed so loudly that I scared my chat!