Frappé

A frappé is a barre exercise built around a small striking action of the foot, used to train the speed and precision a dancer needs in the legs and feet. The word means “struck,” and the strike is the defining feature: the working foot brushes out and lightly hits, or grazes, the floor as it extends and points.

Setting Up the Movement

To begin, the working leg is flexed and turned out, lifted off the floor with the heel placed just above the ankle bone of the standing leg, in a position close to cou-de-pied. From there the dancer extends the leg sharply, pointing the foot toward the floor and creating a strike as it brushes out. The leg then returns to the flexed starting position, ready to repeat. The action is crisp and quick, with the energy shooting outward and the foot snapping to a point.

Why Dancers Train Frappé

Frappé develops the fast, accurate footwork that jumps and beaten steps depend on. The sharp extension strengthens the ankle and the muscles of the lower leg, while the strike teaches the foot to move with attack instead of drifting. Because it demands both control at the start and speed in the extension, it bridges slower barre work and the quickness of allegro.

Frappé is usually taken to the front, side, and back, often en croix, and it can be done with a single or double preparation where the foot wraps front and back before striking out. Teachers often pair it with pétit battement and dégagé to build a fast, articulate lower leg.