tour en l'air

[ French toor ahn ler ]

noun

, Ballet.

, plural tours en l'air [too, r, zah, n, , ler].

1. a turn executed in the air.

Word History and Origins

Origin of tour en l'air¹

< French: turn in the air

Example Sentences

In ballet, a tour en l’air is a jump with a turn in the air; the more turns there are, the more demanding it becomes.

From New York Times

Gene said that Holmes could perform many complicated turns better than a man, including a double tour en l’air, and that she instructed him to dance with great strength, particularly in his arms.

From Slate

In just 30 minutes, 13 dancers glide in and out of flashing lights, leap into one another’s arms or slice through space to nail a tour en l’air on a scallop-shape stage that juts out like a ledge on a Miami hotel.

From New York Times

When he does execute a jump turn called “tour en l’air,” he lands with a luxurious bend in perfect fifth position, bang on the music.

From New York Times

A shaman of Nigeria's Yoruba tribe summoning ancestral spirits to the beat of throbbing drums and Mikhail Baryshnikov executing a triple tour en l'air are both paradigms of poetry in action.

From Time Magazine Archive