Most often they are spoken in French.
Chat with our AI personalities
The brunt of ballet terminology is French. When using Russian technique there are also additional terms in that language.
Even though ballet oringinated in Italy, it quickly traveled to France. There, it developed more and became more structured before it spread to other countries. Since it was developed by the French court, the terms are in their language...French.
The American Ballet Theatre has an online ballet dictionary, which has listings and definitions for 170 ballet terms. The website includes pictures, and lumps definitions into similar groups.
French
French