In a humorous video, Miami City Ballet dancers drummed up excitement for their July trip to perform in Paris

They can tendu, but can they parlez-vous? As Miami City Ballet prepares to leave for its debut season in Paris July 6 to 23, company members Rebecca King and Callie Manning put down their toe shoes and picked up a video camera to survey their fellow dancers’ efforts to learn le francais.

The tongue-in-cheek results, posted in a video on the troupe’s website, should captivate all but the kind of snooty cultural purists who gave French fries a bad name. Handsome lead dancer Yann Trividic (who actually is French), beret tilted almost down to his dangling cigarette, hoisting a glass of wine, grades their efforts with the kind of effortlessly loutish élan that has captivated generations of American girls on semesters abroad...