de côté

De côté is a French term meaning “to the side.” In ballet it tells you the direction of a step, indicating that a movement should travel sideways rather than forward or backward. A step can go de côté to the left or de côté to the right. You will hear it attached to other steps, such as a glissade or a chassé, to say which way the movement goes. For example, a teacher might call for a glissade de côté, meaning a glissade traveling directly to the side.