Tag Archives: Ballet

Good Luck in Ballet

Age: 21

Context:

My informant is in his twenties and has done ballet since he was young both professionally and competitively.

Text:

“So before going on stage, you say “Merde” to the other people, which means shit in French, and it’s kind of like… break a leg is like negative so you imply a positive. It’s the same thing. It’s meant to be good luck so that everyone has a great performance. 

And even though I don’t speak French, the word merde has a special place in my heart.”

Analysis:

This is an example of performative superstition within a specific folk group, in this case ballet stage performers. It functions like the phrase “break a leg” in theatre among actors, where a negative phrase is used to produce a positive outcome. This reflects a broader belief in the power of language to influence events. While participants may not literally believe that it guarantees success, as my informant seems aware of the fact it is a “superstition,” it also creates a shared understanding of the correct thing to do before a performance and creates a ritual.

This is a sort of verbal folklore where a customary phrase takes on new meaning depending on the specific context. Saying merde to someone on the street will illicit a much different reaction and hold different weight. This phrase is socially reinforced through repetition and performance. This demonstrates how folklore also relies on shared context and specific people rather than “textbook definition.”

It reinforces group identity and belonging as well, I know as a theatre student how I do feel better when someone tells me “break a leg” before a performance. It becomes more of a common courtesy and when someone outside of theatre says it I know that they are somewhat in the group as well. Saying the phrase correctly like “merde” signals membership within the ballet community and years of experience. Additionally it helps create the performance space, it may be the last thing and only thing heard before going onstage and helps signal the start of something more serious that just a rehearsal.

Biscuits – Dance

Phrase: calling sickling your feet “biscuits”

Alternate Phrase: Huckleberry Fin

Context: The informant, 21, white, grew up in Southern California, is a dancer, they explained that in dance: “there’s this thing that you can do with your feet, it’s called sickling your feet where like it’s basically like the opposite of pointing them, you know you point your feet and if you sickle them you like turn them like in toward like the inside of your feet and it’s really bad for you and it’s like a big no no in dance, like really big no no in dance. And it’s like it used to be a problem in like one of the dance teams I was on where like people would like get up from the floor and would like sickle their feet like as they were doing it, um my dance teacher used to call, she’d be like would be like telling us not to do it and she’d be like correcting us or whatever and she would call them “biscuits”? She was like don’t have biscuit feet.

Laughter

And to this day I don’t know what it means (laughter) or why they’re called biscuit feet but she was always like, I don’t want to see little biscuits out there don’t be doing that.”

Interviewer: “Have you heard anyone else use it?”

Informant: “Ummm I don’t know if I’ve heard anyone else use it. The other thing she used to call it was huckleberry fin. Like she would be like don’t be like little like huckleberry fin like when you’re gettin’ up and I did hear others dance teachers call it like, be like don’t be like huckleberry fin which I have no F*cking clue why that’s what that is. Isn’t that hilarious?

So now I say it to my dance students and like don’t be a huckleberry fin.”

Analysis: This is an example of specialized folk speech used to teach children about a specific part of dance. Ballet is a dance form that is difficult and requires dancers to start early, so it makes sense that phrases would evolve to help children remember certain elements. Sickling your feet is easy to do and requires training to learn to point your feet in the right way, the phrase “biscuits” naturally evocates a sense memory of taste, sight, and smell, making it easy to remember for children. It’s also cute and a little funny, potentially making the frustrating experience of learning a new skill easier for the young ones. 

The phrase Huckleberry fin is a little bit more up in the air. It may be a reference to the sickle sometimes used in farming, but according to the internet (I unfortunately have never read Huckleberry fin) a sickle is not a prominent tool in the story, I don’t even know if it is mentioned. But either way it is a fun way to teach an important concept to young children.

Ole and Lena Joke

Transcribed Text from Informant

So…Ole and Lena go to the ballet…and after a little bit Ole leans over to Lena and whispers ‘why are they dancing on their toes? Couldn’t they have just gotten taller dancers?’”

Context

Ole and Lena jokes represent a canon of humor found in the Upper Midwest region of the United States (Including North Dakota, the birthplace of my informant). All of these jokes generally center around a married couple – Ole and Lena – and can vary dramatically in length. While not true of every single “Ole and Lena” joke, many of these jokes feature sexual innuendos or blue humour.

My informant heard many of these Ole and Lena jokes growing up, both on the playground from other kids, and from her parents and parents’ friends joking around with each other at night. My informant says that she’s particularly fond of this joke, in large part due to how silly Ole’s observation is.

My Analysis

I agree with my informant that this joke is very funny. The sort of silly, “brain-dead” humor is emblematic of a lot of the German-Russian North Dakotan humor. While nothing in the joke itself references the specific cultural practices of German-Russians, the humor itself serves as a beacon of the folk humor popular within these North Dakotan communities.

Saying “Merde” Instead of “Break A Leg” for Ballet

Nationality: United States of America
Age: 16
Occupation: Student
Residence: Kansas City, MO
Performance Date: 3/10/20
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish

Main Piece:

Saying “Merde” to ballet dancers in place of “Good luck” or “Break a leg”

Background:

This saying was told to me by my informant who has participated in various dance groups for close to 13 years. She is most formally trained in ballet through a local performing arts center known as KCYA. She learned this saying growing up through this system and hearing it said by those with more experience as well as through her mother who used to perform ballet as well. The idea is that traditionally, ballet dancers would perform in large operas visited by upper class individuals and nobility. Due to their primary method of transport being horse-drawn carriage, the ideal situation was to see a lot of horse droppings outside as it meant a lot of people were coming to see the performance and merde means shit in French, where a lot of ballet originated. While obviously this does not apply now, it stuck around as a method of saying good luck for ballet specifically.

Context:

Having known my informant for several years, I knew of the phrase but did not know the context or the literal translation for several years until she told me after a performance. I asked her to tell me even more during a recent phone call conversation which is how I got most of my information above.

Thoughts:

I feel this piece examplarizes the use of folklore as a means of determining who is in or outside of a community. While ballet could be as easily grouped in with other performing arts, those within the community use this a way of identifying themselves as unique. This identity is also supported by the phrase’s history with ballet as it goes as far back as the perceived glory days of ballet where it was performed for nobility. In this regard, saying merde to other dancers is a method of keeping the tradition of ballet alive. Finally, my informant believes that the use of this phrase over the traditional “break a leg” is also in part a result of avoiding any superstition concerning any bodily harm coming to the dancer. Ballet dancers must endure severe physical exercise to perform their dances and while “break a leg” does not mean to literally break a leg, the superstition is that by even saying that it might cause one to suffer an injury and be unable to dance ballet again. In this regard, the phrase also shows the elitism sometimes displayed with ballet wherein they require those with the most skill and physical ability to be able to perform.

Occupational Folklore: “Merde”

Nationality: European American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Chicago
Performance Date: 04/24/2016
Primary Language: English
Language: French

Main Piece: “So I did ballet for many years and usually when someone has a performance, at least where I grew up, you would say ‘break a leg!’ to wish them luck. It’s a weird thing. I don’t know where it came from. But…um… in dance we were never allowed to say ‘break a leg’ because that was an actual concern when dancing. So instead we said ‘merde’ which literally means ‘shit’ in French. So…um…before every show we would always whisper ‘merde’ to each other to wish everyone luck”

Background: The informant did ballet for many years in her hometown, Chicago. Whether the expression is specific to Chicago or to the lore of ballet is unclear. The informant is fluent in French but most of her friends in ballet did not speak any French. However, the majority of ballet terminology (i.e. different positions and movements) is French.

Performance Context: The informant sat across from me at a table.

My Thoughts: I understand the expression as occupational folklore. Knowing and using ‘merde’ is a rite of passage within the context of ballet and performance. Perhaps “merde” is ballet’s adaptation of “break a leg” used in theatre. I also grew up taking lessons in ballet and performing, but have not heard this term, which leads me to believe it is a term specific to the informant’s studio. Because most of the language in ballet is French, it is fitting that the dancer’s lore would be French as well. Even though “merde” has little relevance to ballet, it is consistent with the linguistics of the ballet studio. According to the informant, “merde” was whispered before each performance, so not only is this folklore occupational, it is ritualistic as well.