Cabriole

Cabriole in modern French means simple an agile jump, however this could apply to most jumps in ballet.  The origin of the cabriole creates a great mental image for your dancers and may even elicit a few giggles.

Cabriole is pronounced [kabʀijɔl].  Cab- is pronounced similarly to "cab" in English except that the A sound is slightly softened by opening the mouth wider.  -bri- sounds like the bree of "breeze." And -iolesounds like "yull."

A cabriole is performed when a dancer jumps off the supporting leg, bringing it up to beat against the lifted leg.  It is very commonly performed when the dancer executes a temps levé en arabesque and the supporting leg does a sauté, lifting to beat against the leg that is already lifted in arabesque.

While cabriole is an agile jump and is often translated by the word caper, few teachers know its origins.  Cabriole is borrowed from Italian and related to the word capra, which means goat.  Imagine goats bounding into the air.  Their legs often seem to tuck up underneath them or even to touch each other.  Encourage your dancers to have fun with cabriole as it is associated with the joyous bounds of goats and in modern French and Italian is considered a playful movement.