Miro's Study Journal Page 6

"I subjected myself to the Cubist discipline in order to train my muscles.  To me, painting is like the dance before executing  'entrechats,'(*) one must have good leg muscles.  It was in this senses that Cubism could be useful to me....Since at that time I had the impression that I could not see form.  I thought Cubism would help me learn to see."
Some believe that the roots of cubism are to be found in the two distinct tendencies of Paul Cézanne's later work: firstly to break the painted surface into small multifaceted areas of paint, thereby emphasizing the plural viewpoint given by binocular vision, and secondly his interest in the simplification of natural forms into cylinders, spheres, and cones.



(*) Entrechat
Interweaving or braiding. A step of beating in which the dancer jumps into the air and rapidly crosses the legs before and behind each other, usually jumping from the fifth position and landing back in the fifth position. Entrechats are counted from two to ten according to the number of crossings required and counting each crossing as two movements, one by each leg; that is, in an entrechat quatre each leg makes two distinct movements. Entrechats are divided into two general classes: the even-numbered entrechats, or those which land on two feet -- deux, quatre, six, huit and dix -- and the odd-numbered entrechats, or those which land on one foot -- trois, cinq, sept and neuf.
For example: in an entrechat-quatre starting from fifth position, right foot front, the dancer will jump crossing his/her legs and beating first the right heel on the back of the left heel, then at the front of the left heel, landing in the same position he/she started.