temps de cuisse: literally, "movement of the thighs" -- I think that pretty much says it all. Also one of the most flirtatious of all ballet steps, in which the back foot steps coyly over the front, touches down lightly in fifth, then springs up with its partner into an open jump, landing in fifth. It's like "I'm going this way, nope! faked you! that way!"
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| Is that a glimpse of thigh? |
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| but not with him! |
entrechat: Invented especially to describe beaten jumps, a French word derived from the Italian intrecciata, which means plaited, braided or woven in its adjectival form, but which as a verb (intrecciare) can also mean "to begin a love affair"
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| Soubrette |
soubresault: Has an Old-French tang to it -- describes a simple enough move, to spring up (sauter... in French as in in English "to jump" with someone can have sexual connotations, as in "I want to jump your bones"), combined with that cute little soubre, which is probably innocent of meaning (originally) anything except "up" but which sounds so much like soubrette, which refers to a coquette or a pert young lady, often a sort minx in a classical French play or Italian opera.
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| mmmm! |
brisé volé: I know it means "flying broken" step, referring to the movement that combines a 
fouetté
movement with a jeté
battu and makes your brain ache just to contemplate it, but for some reason it also sounds to me like a particularly delicious, light, and buttery croissant that one has stolen from the patisserie. So much nicer to contemplate purloined pastries than to attempt the actual movement, which has more than once resulted in my landing on my butt.
