battement

battement, (French: “beating”), in ballet, an extension of the leg to the front, side, or back, either repeatedly or as a single movement. Among representative types are battement tendu (“stretched beating”), in which one leg is extended until the point of the stretched foot barely touches the ground; grand battement (“large beating”), in which the leg is lifted to hip level or higher and held straight; battement frappé (“struck beating”), in which the ball of the foot brushes the floor as the working foot is briskly extended from a flexed position against the lower calf of the supporting leg; and petit battement sur le cou-de-pied (“small beatings on the instep”), in which the working foot touches the front and back of the instep of the supporting leg.