en Croix

En croix means “in the shape of a cross” and is a direction cue rather than a step. When a teacher calls a combination en croix, dancers know to perform the same movement first to the front, then to the side, and then to the back, tracing the arms of a cross with the working leg. Many barre exercises, such as tendus, dégagés, and ronds de jambe, are done en croix so both sides of the leg are trained evenly.

For example, a tendu en croix would be one tendu devant, one to the side, and one derrière, sometimes repeated back to the side to complete the pattern. Learning the phrase early helps young dancers follow class quickly, since a single word tells them the full sequence of directions to cover.