2 3 Fun Friday Fléchir | Ballet Webb

Friday, June 22, 2018

Fun Friday Fléchir



Fun Friday Fléchir

A word you have probably never heard used instead of plié is fléchir (flay-SHEER). Yet both words mean “to bend” in French. It makes me wonder why plié came into such common use in ballet, and not fléchir. Hmmm. Things that make you ponder.

Is it because plié is easier to say? This doesn’t seem likely. Both words have two syllables. Perhaps plié was used first and therefore became more familiar. Or, is it because fléchir has a different connotation in French? One source https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/french-english/fl%C3%A9chir
 lists other definitions besides “to bend”, such as “to sag”, “to weaken” and “to sway”. Well! That would explain it. But then, the word plié can be defined as “warped”, “crooked” or “bent”. I guess it is just another mystery of ballet.

But if you hear a teacher use the word fléchir, it simply means the same as plié: to bend. I doubt she would be telling you to sag.

From the Big Blue Book of Ballet Secrets
Secret #2ee:
“Another word that means to bend in French is fléchir.”

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“Judge a man by his questions rather than by his answers.”
― Voltaire

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