Dances {dance} are ballet, folk/traditional, and modern.
Ballets have moves and poses {choreography}.
Ballets have plots or ideas {libretto, ballet}.
Ballet classes have round bars {barré} 3.5 feet above floor.
Above-the-knee ballet skirts {tutu}| have ruffles.
Stay on floor and perform no leaps {à terre} {à par terre}.
Take short leap, straighten both legs, and land in fifth position {assemblé}.
Ascend, hold position in air, and land {ballon}.
Move one leg only {battement}.
Beat one foot against the other or beat both feet together {batterie}. Action can use large high steps {grande batterie} or small low steps {petite batterie}.
Leap from fifth position, beat one leg against the other, and return to fifth position {brisé}.
Beat legs together, keeping both legs at 90-degree or 45-degree angle to floor {cabriolé}.
Step from fifth position, make small jump, change foot from front to back, and land in fifth position {changement de pieds}.
Jump low, land on one foot, land on second foot, and slide first foot forward {chasée}.
Stand on one leg and raise other foot straight up and then out to fully extend leg high in air {developpé}.
Move feet rapidly, from closed to open position, during jumps {echappé}.
leap height {elevation, dance}.
Move backward {en arriere}.
Move forward {en avant}.
Move inward {en dedans}.
Move outward {en dehors}.
Jump straight up from plié and cross straight legs several times {entrechat}.
Extend and shift free leg to spin around {fouette}.
Glide from fifth position to open position to fifth position {glissade}.
Move one leg up during leap {jeté}, which can include a pose {grande jeté}.
Step with formal, whole-body movement {pas, dance}.
Turn {pirouette, ballet}| en pointe, for women, or demi-pointe, for men.
Bend knees with feet turned outward and knees open {plié, ballet}|, which can be small {demi-plié} or deep {grand plié}.
Move or position arms {port de bras}.
Raise body using toes {relevé, ballet}.
Bow deeply {revérence}.
Rotate one leg {rond de jambe en l'air} {rond de jambe}, with pointed toe or with toe above floor.
Jump and step {sauté, ballet}.
Dance on toe bottoms {sur la demi-pointe}.
Dance on toe tips {sur les pointes}.
Start in demi-plié fifth position, do one to three complete turns in air, and return to fifth position {tour en l'air}.
Ballet has five positions {ballet position} {ballet pose}.
general
Legs turn from hip 90 degrees, so feet are parallel to torso. Feet, feet balls, or toes can be on floor.
positions
First position places heels together and feet in straight line.
Second position places heels one foot apart and feet in straight line.
Third position has both legs turned out, with one foot in front and with heel touching other foot.
Fourth position has both legs turned out, with one foot in front, feet one foot apart. In fourth position, front-leg toe can extend on line passing through back heel and front toe {fourth position croisé}. Alternatively, front-leg toe can extend with back foot half-foot more in toe direction {fourth position effacé}.
Fifth position has both legs turned out, with one foot in front, with heel touching toe.
Dancers can stand on one leg with other leg raised and extended behind {arabesque}|. Arabesques {arabesque penché} can hold body parallel to floor.
Dancers can stand on one leg with other thigh perpendicular to standing leg {attitude, pose}.
Feet can be parallel to torso {turned out leg}.
Dancers can open knees to front, with leg turned out from hip {turnout}.
Slow, controlled, graceful dance {adagio, dance} by ballerina and partner has no elevation.
Fast dances {allegro, dance} can have elevation.
Ballets can use white gossamer gowns {ballet blanc}.
Ballets {ballet d'action} can have drama and story.
In the 17th century, nobles invented court dances {ballet de cour}.
In the 17th century, court dances evolved more steps and patterns and became ballroom dances {balleti}.
A 17th-century court dance {bassé} was a minuet ancestor.
Dances can be national or folk dances {carâctere}.
In ballets {choredrame}, emotion can be more important than plot.
Ballet {classic ballet} can use ballet tradition and principles.
Dances can have many dancers {corps de ballet}.
Dances {danse d'école} can display classic ballet techniques.
Dances {divertissement}| can be excerpts from longer works.
Dances {pas d'action} can combine dancing, mime, and plot.
Two-person dances {pas de deux, ballet}| can have five parts: entrée, adagio, ballerina solo, danseur solo, and coda.
Ballets {romantic ballet} can be about romantic themes. Romantic ballet introduced toe dancing, ballet blanc, and expression to ballet, from 1820 to 1870.
solo dance {variation, dance} {pas seul}.
Japanese dance {bugaku-gigaku}.
Trinidad folk dance {calypso}|.
traditional Jewish dance {hora, dance}|.
traditional Hawaiian dance {hula}|.
Japanese dance {kagura}.
1920s American dances {Charleston, dance}| can be in 4/4 time.
American dances {fantan} can use a fan.
American dances {foxtrot}| can be for two people in 4/4 time.
19th-century American party dance {hoedown}|.
1940s American dances {jitterbug}| can be for two people.
20th-century American dance {lindy}|.
American dances {snake dance} can have lines.
20th-century American dances {soft-shoe}| can be for one person, using shoes with no taps.
19th-century American folk dances {square dance}| can be for four people.
20th-century American dances {tap dance}| can be for one person, using shoes with taps.
origins
Fast-step dances {clog, dance} in Ireland [400] can use hard shoes and no arm movements. Ireland and England clogs include Lancashire Clog. Irish jig came from clogging. English hornpipes and USA reels are other tap-dance bases. Barney Williams came to USA from Ireland [1840], as did the Irish Clog dancers.
levee dancer
Slaves {levee dancer} danced in rhythm on riverboats or on shore. Minstrel shows used white men with black faces {blackface} as levee dancers [1830]. The Black Bottom was minstrel dance.
musical
In 1866, Black Crook, the first musical, had burlesque, minstrel, and clog dancers. Dancing and singing shows {Shout} {Ring-Shout} depended on camp-meeting hymns and work hollers.
founders
Master Juba or William Henry Lane was clogger. "Daddy" Thomas Rice danced. Zip Coon did the dances Jump Jim Crow and Zip Coon. Barney Fagan was Father of Tap. In 1902, Ned Wayburn used dances {Tap and Step dance} in his Minstrel Misses show. Henry E. Dixey, and other dancers {pedestal dancer}, looking like statues, danced on pedestals.
steps
Steps {wing step} can be like minstrel Pigeon-Wing steps [1900]. One leg {winging leg} is off the floor while the other taps. Winging leg goes up and down {pump, tap dance} {double back} {pendulum, tap dance}. One tap is on way up, and two are on way down {three-tap wing}. It can have more taps {five-tap wing}.
Buck and Wing used clogs, jigs, and sand dance. Time step evolved from Buck and Wing style, as well as other steps {falling off a log} {shuffling off to Buffalo}. George H. Primrose of Cotton Coons Minstrel Company clogged without wooden soles {soft-shoe dance} {sand dance} [1910 to 1920]. Toots Davis in Darktown Follies [1913] invented extra routines {over the top} {through the trenches} {flash step}. Shim Sham {Shim-Sham Shimmy} began [1910 to 1920].
20th-century American dance {turkey trot} [1910].
1960s American dances {twist, dance}| can be for one person.
20th-century American dance {two-step}|.
19th-century American folk dances {Virginia reel}| can have people facing each other in two rows.
Spanish dance {bolero, dance}.
17th-century European court dance {branles}.
French dances {cancan}| in musical revues can have high kicks.
19th-century French dance {chaconne, dance}.
Hungarian folk dance {czardas}.
Spanish folk dance {fandango, dance}|.
Spanish gypsy dance {flamenco}|.
17th-century European court dance {gaillard}.
French court dances {gavotte, dance}| can be in 3/4 time.
Scottish folk dance {highland fling}|.
English and American sailor dance {hornpipe, dance}|.
Fast Irish folk dances {jig, dance}| can be in 3/4 time.
English folk dances {maypole dance} can use decorated pole with streamers for dancers to hold.
Polish folk dances {mazurka, dance}| can be in 3/4 or 3/8 time.
French court dances {minuet, dance}| can be in 3/4 time.
English folk dance {morris dance}|.
French court dance {pavan}.
Upbeat Bohemian folk dances {polka}| can be for two people in 3/4 time.
Slow Polish dance {polonaise, dance}.
French square dances {quadrille, dance}| can be for four people.
European dances {rondeau, dance}| in circles include rondelet, rondo, and roundelay.
17th-century French court dance {saraband}.
Italian traditional dance [1400 to 1600] {tarantella}|.
Smooth 19th-century Austrian dances {waltz, dance}| {valse} can be for two people in 3/4 time.
Latin-American dance {cha-cha, dance}|.
Latin-American dances {conga, dance}| can have lines.
Latin-American dance {mambo, dance}|.
Cuban dance {rumba, dance}|.
Latin-American dances {salsa, dance}| can have jazz and rock-and-roll influences.
Brazilian dances {samba}| can derive from African dance.
dramatic Argentinian ballroom dance {tango}|.
Dance includes ballet, modern dance, and traditional dances.
Roman entertainments had comical dances and acrobatics.
Greek drama used choral dances related to story. Meaningful movements developed to show story action without words {pantomime, Greece}.
Court members wore disguises {disguising} and danced {mumming}.
Villagers, then court, performed Moorish dance {morisco dance}.
First ballet was for Catherine de Medici. Dances combined ballet de cour and Italian opera and had music, dance, plot, and choreography.
He lived 1519 to 1596 and outlined the ballet positions.
Antimasques preceded masques in Stuart England.
He lived 1572 to 1637. At European courts, pageants and dances used masked actors in masques.
He lived 1632 to 1687 and included ballet in French opera.
Lully lived 1632 to 1687. Molière lived 1622 to 1673.
Louis XIV founded the ballet school.
He lived 1639 to 1705 and established the five ballet foot positions.
He lived 1628 to 1677.
She lived 1665 to 1738 and was first woman to appear professionally in ballet as solo female dancer {prima ballerina} {premiere danseuse}.
He lived 1655 to 1729 and was solo dancer {premier danseur} and balletmaster [1700].
He lived 1697 to 1774 and was principal dancer [1715 to 1751].
He lived 1674 to 1748 and recorded the five ballet foot positions. He invented first ballet leaps and turns in air {elevation, Rameau}.
She lived 1710 to 1770.
She lived 1707 to 1756 and first used ballet gestures.
He lived 1727 to 1810. He choreographed ballet d'action. Emotion became more important than plot in choredrame ballets.
He lived 1729 to 1808 and was first great classical ballet dancer.
He lived 1742 to 1806. Frederick Ashton updated the dance [1950].
She lived 1743 to 1802.
He lived 1733 to 1816. From 1775 to 1816, he directed Royal Danish Ballet.
She lived 1767 to 1837.
He lived 1767 to 1837 and founded Russian Imperial Ballet [1801].
He lived 1769 to 1821 and unified music, ballet, and mime.
He lived 1803 to 1878, was Dauberval's student, codified the dance at La Scala opera house, and first used poses.
Toe-dancing and new leaps began.
He lived 1779 to 1854.
He lived 1777 to 1871.
She lived 1817 to 1909.
She lived 1804 to 1884.
She lived 1810 to 1884.
She lived 1819 to 1907. The Danish ballet dismissed her [1841].
He lived 1805 to 1879.
He lived 1810 to 1882 and choreographed and danced at Imperial Theater.
She lived 1819 to 1899.
He lived 1815 to 1870.
He lived 1797 to 1868.
He lived 1818 to 1910 and choreographed at the Imperial Theater.
He lived 1841 to 1903.
He lived 1850 to 1928 and was balletmaster of Diaghilev's Ballet Russes.
He lived 1828 to 1887.
He lived 1834 to 1901.
She lived 1862 to 1928.
He lived 1866 to 1896 and developed ballet notation.
She lived 1666 to 1736.
She lived 1881 to 1931.
He lived 1871 to 1924.
She lived 1885 to 1978.
He lived 1890 to 1942.
She lived 1879 to 1968 and combined theater and dance.
He lived 1890 to 1950. Afternoon of a Faun uses Greek-frieze setting as a tableau.
She lived 1891 to 1972.
He lived 1872 to 1929 and founded Ballets Russes. Ballets Russes included Anna Pavlova, Tamara Karsavina, Nijinska, Vaslav Nijinsky, Serge Lifan, Ninette de Valois, Leonid Massine, and George Balanchine.
She lived 1895 to 1991.
She lived 1898 to 2001 and founded Royal Ballet [1928].
He lived 1905 to 1986.
She lived 1910 to 2004.
He lived 1901 to 1979.
He lived 1908 to 1987.
He lived 1909 to 1962.
He lived 1886 to 1979.
She lived 1919 to 1991.
He lived 1904 to 1988.
He lived 1879 to 1958. He developed a system {ballet notation} {Kinetographic Laban} {Labanotation} to record ballets and human motions.
She lived 1921 to ? and founded Havana Ballet.
She lived 1942 to ?.
He lived 1936 to ?.
He lived 1938 to 1993.
He lived 1948 to ?.
She performed at Chicago World's Fair.
She lived 1878 to 1927 and choreographed modern expressive dances.
Dances {modern dance} began to express ideas and emotions in free form. Isadora Duncan began modern dance, followed by Mary Wigman, Martha Graham, Hanya Holm, Doris Humphrey, and Charles Weidman.
He lived 1887 to 1918. She lived 1893 to 1969.
She lived 1886 to 1973 and used angular style and strong emotion in modern dances.
She lived 1894 to 1991 and choreographed modern dances with inner tension.
He lived 1878 to 1949.
She lived 1905 to 1993.
She lived 1895 to 1958 and choreographed modern dances based on a method {fall and recovery}.
He lived 1908 to 1972.
He lived 1901 to 1975 and choreographed modern dances.
She lived 1893 to 1992 and choreographed modern dances.
He lived 1899 to 1987.
He lived 1904 to 1966.
He lived 1918 to 1998.
He lived 1934 to ?.
He lived 1918 to 2001.
He lived 1920 to 1980.
He lived 1912 to 1992 and used fancy costumes.
He lived 1942 to ?.
He lived 1931 to 1989 and started Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater [1958].
She lived 1941 to ?.
Outline of Knowledge Database Home Page
Description of Outline of Knowledge Database
Date Modified: 2022.0225