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(probably from Italian
intrecciare: “to weave,” or “to braid”), jump in ballet, beginning in the fifth position, during which the dancer crosses his straight legs at the lower calf. Numerous rapid crossings make the entrechat a spectacular jump. Numbers (
trois, “three”;
quatre, “four”; and so on) are affixed to the term to designate the amount of leg movement (
entrechat-quatre has two crossings;
entrechat-dix has five). The dancer lands on both feet for even-numbered and on one foot for odd-numbered entrechats. Vaslav Nijinsky's (Nijinsky, Vaslav) famous jumps reputedly included the
entrechat-dix, and an
entrechat-douze (six crossings) was performed more recently on English television as danced by Wayne Sleep.