Editor: Susan Macpherson
around the world (u ROUND thu wuhrld) Tap Dance. noun phrase. A popular 1920’s movement in which the dancer puts both hands down on the floor in an open position while squatting down, using one foot to balance, then swings the free leg out over the stationary leg and hands, lifting first the hands and then the supporting foot as the leg goes around.
break a leg (brayk uh leg) expression, vernacular. Used by performers to wish each other good luck. Though its origin is not exactly clear, one possible explanation dates from the period of the Restoration, circa 1680, in England. It became the custom for performers to curtsy at the end of the performance by placing one foot crossed behind the other and bending the knee of the supporting leg. The greater the applause, the lower the curtsy. The hope was that the applause would be so great that the performer would "break a leg" from having to curtsy so deeply.
contraction and release (kun TRAK shun and ree LEES) Modern Dance. noun phrase. The basis of the Martha Graham technique; contraction as an exhalation and release as the inhalation of breath; emotion and drama are evoked as the body alternately retreats into itself and extends into space. (See contraction, release.)
dig under (dig UN duhr) Caribbean Folk Dance. verb phrase. To use the pelvis in a U-shaped movement from left to right and vice versa while sliding the feet along the floor.
Drops of Brandy (drops uv BRAN dee) French-Canadian, Métis and Native Dance. noun phrase. 1. (also called Le Brandy in French Canadian areas). In northern and western Canada, a dance in line formation, with men and women facing each other, and performed to a specific fiddle tune. 2. In music, an irregular G major reel used for this dance.
expressionist dance (eks PRE shuhn ist dans) noun phrase. Associated with the expressionist art movement, which also encompassed theatre, film and the visual arts, and was seen in Europe particularly in the early 20th century. Expressionism was typically non-naturalistic, and could be satirical, visionary, grotesque, or otherwise distorted in some manner. In dance, the term is associated with the work of German dancer and choreographer Mary Wigman (1886-1973).
fouetté relevé (fwe TAY ruhl VAY) Ballet. noun phrase. A relevé on the supporting leg with a simultaneous turn of the body away from the extended leg which strives to maintain its position en l’air in space; may be performed either de côté or en tournant. [from French, whipped; pulled up.]
grid (grid) noun. a. A criss-crossed set of metal pipes above the stage or above the audience on which lighting instruments can be hung. b. In a theatre with a fly system, the structural metal grid that is above the stage area on which pulleys and lines are attached, or from which single hemp lines may be dropped or "spotted".
high-cut (hie KUT) Highland Dance. noun. Used in Sword Dance, Seann Triubhas, Strathspey and Reels. Beginning with a spring or hop, the dancer brings the working foot to beat lightly twice on the back (calf level) of the supporting leg (first beat is in conjunction with landing). The working foot is aligned along the lower support leg; heel just below knee level, arched foot extended toward the ankle. High-cuts are usually done in a series and are counted: 1& 2& 3& 4& or 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & depending which dance is being performed. The working leg may be extended during the change of feet (to the side) prior to the two beats. Arms: both are raised overhead rounded to frame the face, palms facing in.
jazz square (jaz skwer) Jazz Dance. noun phrase. (also called box step). A sequence of four steps taken in a pathway outlining a square shape; alternate steps travel across, back, side and forward, with a transfer of weight from front to back, rocking off the heel and using counterbalance in the hips and torso.
ladies’ chain (LAY deez chayn) Square Dance/Contra Dance. noun phrase. A figure in which two women across from each other take hands and move to each others’ partners, dance around with them, then return the same way to their own partners and turn around with them; in the half ladies’ chain, only half the exchange is completed.
layout (LAY out) Jazz Dance. noun. A movement using spinal extension and oppositional extension of the arms and legs; the upper body extends backward and supine, counterbalanced by the extension of one leg forward in opposition.
lemba (LEM bah) Congolese Dance. noun. A raffia skirt that is used in many dances of the Congo-Zaire region by men, women and children. Also very common in many other regions of South, East and West Africa.
Marena (mah RE nah) Ukrainian Dance. noun. 1. A Ukrainian stage dance composition originally choreographed by P. Hryhoriev, depicting women at a kupalo ritual. 2. The melody or song associated with this dance. 3. A girl, doll, or puppet decorated during kupalo festivities in Ukrainian villages. [Ukrainian, a Slavic goddess associated with the seasonal death and rebirth in nature.]
Mercury skip position (MUHR kyuh ree skip puh ZI shun) Revived Greek Dance. noun phrase. 1. A pose taken from the sixteenth-century statue of the Roman god Mercury sculpted by Giovanni Bologna and located in Florence, Italy. 2. A position in which the dancer stands on one foot with the other leg raised to the back, the foot pointing upward, and with the same arm as the raised back leg lifted in front in a curved shape; can be performed as a progression from a step to a balance, into a hop or a turn.
Natya Sastra (na tya sas tra) Indian Classical Dance. noun phrase. The original Sanskrit text from which all classical dance styles of India have evolved; composed by Bharata no later than second century A.D.; consists of about 6,000 verses in 36 chapters. The first thirteen chapters are on the techniques of dance, and the rest on various literary, musical and dramatic aspects of stage production. Each chapter deals with one aspect of dance in extraordinary detail: the eighth chapter, for example, gives complete instructions on the movements of the head, eyebrows, eyelids, pupils, nose, cheeks, lips, mouth and neck. [= Science of Dancing.]
palma/s (PAL ma/s) Spanish Dance. noun, feminine/plural. Rhythmic hand clapping.; dar palmas = to give rhythmic accompaniment by hand clapping; palmas claras = clear, sharp clapping; palmas sordas = muffled, muted clapping. [Spanish, palm/s of the hand/s.]
physical culture (FIZ i kuhl KUL chuhr) noun phrase. A fitness movement begun in the late 19th century to encourage people to engage in physical activity; remained popular into the 1920’s. Interest in physical fitness became fashionable again in North America in the 1980’s.
polca (POHL kah) Mexican Dance. noun, feminine. 1. A dance originally from Bohemia, adopted and modified by Mexicans in the northern region of the country; performed forming cuadrillas; steps are called pespunteados or galope. (See polka.) 2. The music for this dance, performed with accordion, saxophone, six-string bass, and double bass.
rond de jambe en l’air (ronh duh zhamhb anh ler) Ballet. noun phrase. A circling action of the lower leg in which the foot begins and ends in 2nd at 45 degrees and traces a path in the air consisting of a line and an arc; may be done with the working leg beginning and ending 90 degrees and the circling action taken at the height of the knee; may be performed en dehors or en dedans. [from French, circle of the leg; in the air.]
shamaddan (SHA ma dan) Middle-Eastern Dance. noun. Formerly a professional exhibition dance of strength, with the dancer holding on the head a heavy candelabra with lit candles, and performing movements such as rolling on the floor; still seen in Egyptian cabarets, now done with a light-weight candelabra; said to have Turkish origins. [derived from Arabic, candlestick.]
shuffle (SHU fuhl) Tap Dance. noun. A step consisting of a brush forward and a brush back with the ball of the foot, performed in one count or less. See also off-to-buffalo.
shumka (SHOOM kah) Ukrainian Dance. noun. 1. One of a number of Ukrainian dance melodies or songs, characterized by a rhythmic structure of 16 consecutive 8th notes in 4 measure phrases. 2. A dance performed to this melody. [from Ukrainian, shumity = to murmur, to roar distantly.]
stage door johnny (stayj dor JO nee) noun phrase. An audience member, often shy and normally unadventurous, who is infatuated with a performer, and who hangs around the performers’ entrance of a theatre in the hope of getting an autograph and striking up a conversation with the performer. (See also groupie.)
suspension (sus PEN shun) Modern Dance. noun. 1. A movement quality which resists the pull of gravity and allows the body to float at the end of an inhalation of breath. 2. Delaying the pull of gravity by continuing a movement; occurs at the high point or peak of the movement; a significant element in Humphrey-Weidman-Limon technique. 3. A vertical body-pull which resists gravity and induces a feeling of buoyancy. (Alwin Nikolais technique).
tira nokku (ti ra no koo) Indian Classical Dance. noun. In Kathakali, a brief appearance of a character’s head above the tira-sila (ritualistic curtain) when appearing for the first time. [= curtain look.]
Towei (TOH kway) Traditional Ghanaian Dance. noun. 1. A young woman’s coming of age. 2. Puberty dance originally from the Ewe people in the southern part of the Volta region of West Africa.
Walley jump (WO lee jump) Figure Skating. noun phrase. A jump rotating counter to the curve of the backward inside take-off edge, landing on the backward outside edge of the same foot and forming an S-shaped ice pattern. (See also Salchow.)
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