Glossary
198 dance words explained in plain language: steps and technique, rhythm, formations, the people of the dance world, dress and props.
Presented by ClearTrust Free for dancers, travellers and the curious.
3
- 3/4 time
- Music with three beats in each bar, counted one-two-three, as in a waltz.
6
- 6/8 time
- Music with six quick pulses in a bar, felt as two beats that each divide into three.
A
- Abhinaya
- The art of expression in Indian dance: carrying meaning and feeling to the audience.
- Adavu
- The basic step units of Bharatanatyam, each joining a foot pattern, a hand gesture and a body line.
- Adumu
- The jumping dance of Maasai warriors in Kenya and Tanzania.
- Aksak
- A rhythm built of unequal long and short beats, typical of dance music in the Balkans and Turkey.
- Alarippu
- The short opening piece of a Bharatanatyam recital, a pure dance offered as an invocation.
- Ankle bells
- Bells or rattles tied to the legs so that every step makes a sound.
- Arabesque
- A ballet pose on one leg with the other leg stretched straight out behind.
- Aramandi
- The basic half-sitting stance of Bharatanatyam, with knees bent outward and heels together.
- Arangetram
- A Bharatanatyam student's first full solo public performance, marking the end of basic training.
- Azonto
- A Ghanaian popular dance of the early 2010s, built on hand movements that mime everyday actions.
B
- Ballet master
- The person in a dance company who takes daily class and rehearses the dancers in the repertory.
- Ballroom
- Partner dances done in a hall, socially or in competition, such as the waltz, foxtrot and tango.
- Bar
- One complete group of beats in the music, such as the one-two-three of a waltz.
- Bata de cola
- A flamenco dress with a long, heavy, ruffled train that the dancer swings and kicks into place.
- Bateria
- The percussion band of a Brazilian samba school, often several hundred players strong.
- Battle
- A contest in which street dancers or crews take turns to outdance each other.
- Beat
- The steady pulse of the music, the thing you tap your foot to.
- Bedhaya
- A sacred, very slow court dance of central Java, performed by nine women.
- Benesh notation
- A dance notation system written on a five-line stave, read from left to right like music.
- Bhava
- The emotion or state of mind that the dancer portrays.
- Bol
- Spoken syllables that stand for drum strokes and dance steps, such as ta, dha, tin, thei.
- Braceo
- The carriage and movement of the arms in flamenco and Spanish dance.
C
- Call and response
- A pattern in which a leader sings, plays or dances a phrase and the group answers.
- Caller
- The person who tells the dancers which figure comes next at a square, contra or ceilidh dance.
- Castanets
- Pairs of small shell-shaped wooden clappers held in the hands and clicked together.
- Ceilidh
- A Scottish or Irish social gathering with traditional music and group dancing.
- Chain dance
- A dance in which a line of people, linked by hands or arms, follows a leader in a winding path.
- Chakkar
- The fast spins of Kathak, turned on the heel or flat foot, often in long unbroken series.
- Chassé
- A sliding step in which one foot seems to chase the other: step, close, step.
- Chauka
- The square stance of Odissi: feet apart, knees bent outward, weight equal on both legs.
- Choreographer
- The person who creates a dance, deciding the steps, patterns and how they fit the music.
- Choreography
- The art of composing dances, and the fixed sequence of steps that results.
- Circle dance
- A dance in which people form a ring, usually holding hands, and move round together.
- Classical dance
- A dance tradition with a fixed technique, a body of theory, long formal training and a recognised repertoire.
- Clave
- A five-stroke rhythm pattern that organises Cuban music, and the pair of wooden sticks that play it.
- Clogging
- Percussive folk dancing in which the feet strike the floor to keep time with the music.
- Clogs
- Shoes with wooden soles, or carved entirely from wood, whose clatter is used in percussive dancing.
- Closed and open hold
- The two basic ways partners connect: facing and embracing, or apart and joined only by the hands.
- Compás
- The rhythmic cycle of flamenco, and a performer's sense of staying inside it.
- Concert dance
- Dance made to be watched by an audience, usually on a stage and set by a choreographer.
- Contra dance
- A social dance from New England in which long lines of couples dance figures called out by a caller.
- Contraction and release
- A pulling in and letting go of the torso, the core idea of Martha Graham's modern dance technique.
- Corps de ballet
- The group of dancers in a ballet company who dance together as a body, not as soloists.
- Couple dance
- Any dance done by two people together as a unit.
- Court dance
- Dance developed in royal palaces for rulers and their guests, usually formal and highly refined.
- Courtship dance
- A dance that acts out the pursuit and wooing of one partner by another.
- Crew
- A team of street dancers who practise, perform and battle together under one name.
- Cumbia step
- The short, shuffling step of Colombia's cumbia, danced by couples moving in a circle.
- Cypher
- A circle of people at a hip-hop gathering, in which dancers take turns in the middle.
D
- Dabke
- A line dance of the Levant, danced shoulder to shoulder with stamps, kicks and jumps.
- Dance notation
- A system of symbols for writing down dance on paper, as sheet music does for music.
- Dance-drama
- A stage form that tells a story through dance, usually with music, costume and sometimes speech or song.
- Dancesport
- Competitive ballroom and Latin dancing treated as a sport, with judges, rounds and rankings.
- Dandiya
- A pair of short decorated sticks, and the Gujarati dance in which partners strike them in rhythm.
- Dhol
- A large two-headed barrel drum hung from the shoulder and beaten with sticks, the sound of bhangra.
- Divertissement
- A set of short dances inside a ballet that entertains without moving the story forward.
- Djembe
- A goblet-shaped West African drum played with bare hands, widely used to accompany dance.
- Downbeat and upbeat
- The downbeat is the first, strongest beat of a bar. The upbeat is the lighter beat that leads into it.
- Duende
- In flamenco, the rare moment of raw, deep feeling that seems to take hold of a performer.
E
F
- Fan
- A hand-held fan used as a dance prop to extend the arm and to suggest objects or moods.
- Floorwork
- Movement done lying, sitting, kneeling or rolling on the floor.
- Floreo
- The circling of the wrists and unfolding of the fingers in flamenco.
- Folk dance
- A dance that belongs to a community and is passed on by taking part, not by formal training.
- Footwork
- The patterns the feet make on the floor: their placing, rhythm, weight and sound.
- Frame
- The steady shape that partners make with their arms and upper bodies so they can move as one.
- Freeze
- A sudden held pose in breaking, often balanced on the hands, head or shoulder.
G
- Gharana
- A school or lineage of north Indian music or dance with its own style, handed down through teachers.
- Ghillies
- Soft, thin-soled leather shoes that lace across the top of the foot, worn for Scottish and Irish dancing.
- Ghungroo
- Strings of small metal bells tied round a dancer's ankles, heard in almost every Indian classical dance.
- Ginga
- The swaying, rocking basic step of capoeira, from which every kick and dodge begins.
- Grand jeté
- A big leap from one foot to the other with the legs stretched wide apart in the air.
- Griot
- A hereditary musician, storyteller and keeper of history in West African societies.
- Gumboot dance
- A South African dance of stamps and slaps on rubber boots, created by mine workers.
- Guru-shishya parampara
- The teacher-to-student tradition through which Indian classical arts are passed on.
H
- Hālau
- A school of hula, led by a master teacher called the kumu hula.
- Handkerchief
- A cloth held in the hand and waved, twirled or passed between dancers.
- Harvest dance
- A dance tied to the farming year, performed to mark sowing, reaping or the gathering in of crops.
- Headdress
- Any worn covering or ornament for the head that forms part of a dance costume.
- Hora
- A circle dance of Romania, the Balkans and Israel, with dancers linked by hands or shoulders.
- Hornpipe
- A dance from the British Isles in a steady, bouncing rhythm, long linked with sailors.
- Hula kahiko and hula 'auana
- The two branches of Hawaiian hula: the old style danced to chant and drum, and the newer style danced to song and strings.
I
- Improvisation
- Making up the dance in the moment instead of performing set steps.
- Isicathamiya
- A Zulu style of unaccompanied male choral singing with soft, tiptoe dance steps.
- Isolation
- Moving one part of the body, such as the head, ribs or hips, while the rest stays still.
J
- Jatiswaram
- The second item in a Bharatanatyam recital: pure dance set to a melody of sung note names.
- Jig
- A lively dance and tune type with a skipping rhythm, strongly linked with Ireland and Scotland.
K
- Kalasam
- A passage of pure dance in Kathakali that punctuates the end of a sung verse or section.
- Kata and kamae
- In Japanese dance and theatre, kata are the set movement patterns and kamae is the basic stance.
- Kecak
- A Balinese performance in which a large circle of men chant interlocking cak sounds in place of an orchestra.
- Kimono sleeves
- The long hanging sleeves of the kimono, used as an expressive tool in Japanese classical dance.
- Kpanlogo
- A drum, dance and music style created by the Ga people of Accra, Ghana, around 1960.
L
- Labanotation
- A dance notation system that uses shaped blocks on a vertical staff, read from the bottom up.
- Lasya and tandava
- The two contrasting qualities of Indian dance: soft and graceful, and strong and forceful.
- Latin
- In competition, the five dances cha-cha-cha, samba, rumba, paso doble and jive. More widely, the dances of Latin America.
- Lawweeh
- The leader at the head of a dabke line, who directs the group and improvises.
- Laya
- The tempo of Indian music and dance, and a dancer's inner sense of steady time.
- Lead and follow
- The system in partner dancing where one dancer suggests each movement and the other responds.
- Legong
- A refined Balinese dance for young women, known for quick eye movements, fluttering fingers and sharp accents.
- Lei
- A Hawaiian garland of flowers, leaves, shells or feathers, worn by hula dancers on the head, neck, wrists and ankles.
- Lift
- A movement in which one dancer is raised off the floor by another or by several others.
- Line dance
- A dance done by people standing in rows, all facing the same way and doing the same steps without partners.
- Lion head
- The large painted head worn and worked by the front performer in a Chinese lion dance.
- Locking
- A funk street dance of fast arm and hand movements that stop suddenly in held positions.
- Longways set
- A formation of two facing lines of dancers, partners opposite each other.
M
- Mai and odori
- The two broad kinds of Japanese dance: restrained, gliding mai, and livelier, stepping odori.
- Margam
- The traditional order of items in a Bharatanatyam solo recital, from alarippu to tillana.
- Mask dance
- A dance in which the performers wear masks and take on the characters of gods, spirits, animals or people.
- Master drummer
- The lead drummer of an African drum ensemble, who directs both the music and the dancers.
- Mazurka
- A Polish dance in triple time, with the accent on the second or third beat instead of the first.
- Metre
- The way beats are grouped into repeating sets of two, three, four or more.
- Milonga
- A social event where people dance Argentine tango. Also a faster dance and music style related to tango.
- Mohiniyattam sway
- The gentle side-to-side and circular swaying of the torso that marks Kerala's Mohiniyattam.
- Mridangam
- The two-headed barrel drum of south Indian classical music, the main drum of Bharatanatyam.
- Mudra
- A codified hand gesture in Indian dance that can stand for an object, action, idea or feeling.
N
- Nattuvangam
- The art of conducting a Bharatanatyam recital with small hand cymbals and spoken rhythm.
- Natya
- Drama: dance used together with speech, song and character to tell a story on stage.
- Natya Shastra
- The ancient Sanskrit treatise on drama, dance and music that underlies India's classical arts.
- Navarasa
- The nine basic emotional flavours of Indian performing arts.
- Nritta
- Pure dance: abstract movement and rhythm with no story or meaning to convey.
- Nritya
- Expressive dance: movement joined to meaning, where the dancer interprets a poem or song.
O
- Ostinato
- A short musical pattern repeated over and over, often the foundation of dance music.
P
- Pā'ū skirt
- The gathered wrap skirt worn for hula.
- Padam
- A slow, expressive piece in Bharatanatyam where the dancer interprets a love poem through acting.
- Pakhawaj
- A north Indian two-headed barrel drum with a deep, grave sound, older than the tabla.
- Palmas
- The rhythmic hand-clapping that accompanies flamenco song and dance.
- Partnering
- The skills two dancers use to support, balance, turn and lift each other.
- Pas de deux
- A dance for two. In classical ballet, a set-piece duet for the leading couple.
- Pencak
- The Indonesian martial art whose stances and strikes are also performed as dance to drums.
- Pirouette
- A full turn of the body on one leg, done on the ball of the foot or on pointe.
- Plié
- A bend of the knees with the back held straight, the first movement taught in ballet.
- Poi
- A light ball on a cord, swung in rhythmic circles in Māori performing arts.
- Pointe shoe
- The satin ballet shoe with a stiff toe box and sole that lets a dancer stand on the tips of the toes.
- Polka step
- A quick hop followed by three small steps, in lively two-beat time.
- Polyrhythm
- Two or more different rhythms played at the same time, such as three beats against two.
- Popping
- A street dance style built on quickly tensing and relaxing muscles to make a jerk, or hit, in the body.
- Port de bras
- The way a ballet dancer carries and moves the arms through set positions.
- Power move
- A spinning, acrobatic breaking move driven by momentum, such as the windmill or headspin.
- Principal
- A dancer of the highest rank in a ballet company, who performs the leading roles.
- Processional dance
- A dance that travels along a route, through streets or to a sacred place, instead of staying on one spot.
- Promenade
- A figure in which partners travel side by side in the same direction.
- Pūkana
- The wide-eyed, fierce facial expression used in haka and other Māori performing arts.
Q
- Quadrille
- A nineteenth-century ballroom dance for four couples in a square, made up of several set figures.
R
- Rasa
- The feeling or flavour that a performance awakens in the audience.
- Reel
- A fast dance tune in even time from Scotland and Ireland, and the dances done to it.
- Relevé
- A rise onto the balls of the feet or the tips of the toes.
- Repertory
- The stock of dances that a company or dancer knows and is ready to perform.
- Roda
- The circle of people inside which capoeira is played and samba de roda is danced.
- Round dance
- A term with two meanings: a dance done in a ring, or a couple dance that travels round the room.
S
- Sabar
- The drum, the dance and the dance party of the Wolof people of Senegal.
- Samba no pé
- The solo samba step of Brazilian carnival: very fast small steps with a rolling action of the hips.
- Sattra
- A Vaishnavite monastery of Assam, the home of the Sattriya dance tradition.
- Set dance
- In Ireland, a social dance for four couples in a square, or a solo step dance to a particular tune.
- Shuffle
- A basic tap step: the ball of the foot brushes forward and back, making two quick sounds.
- Social dance
- Dancing done for enjoyment and company, not for an audience.
- Soloist
- A dancer who performs alone, and a rank in a ballet company between the corps and the principals.
- Spotting
- Fixing the eyes on one point and whipping the head round during turns to prevent dizziness.
- Square set
- Four couples standing on the four sides of a square, all facing the centre.
- Standard and Smooth
- The two competition styles for the travelling ballroom dances such as waltz, tango and foxtrot.
- Step dance
- A dance in which the feet beat out fast rhythms while the upper body stays fairly still.
- Stick dance
- A dance in which the dancers carry sticks and strike them together in time with the music.
- Stilts
- Tall poles strapped to the legs, on which dancers walk, jump and spin high above the crowd.
- Street dance
- A family of styles that grew up outside dance studios, in streets, clubs and block parties.
- Sword dance
- A dance performed with, over or around swords, found in many cultures.
- Syncopation
- Placing accents where the listener does not expect them, between or against the main beats.
T
- Tabla
- A pair of small hand drums, the main rhythm instrument of north Indian music and of Kathak.
- Tablao
- A venue with a small wooden stage where flamenco is performed for a seated audience.
- Tala
- The rhythmic cycle of Indian music and dance: a fixed number of beats that repeats.
- Tap shoe
- A shoe with metal plates fixed under the toe and heel, which ring when they strike the floor.
- Tatkar
- The basic footwork of Kathak: flat-footed stamps that sound the rhythm through the ankle bells.
- Tempo
- The speed of the music, usually measured in beats per minute.
- Tihai
- A rhythmic phrase repeated three times so that its last stroke lands on the first beat of the cycle.
- Tillana
- A fast, joyful pure dance piece that usually closes a Bharatanatyam recital.
- Time step
- A set rhythmic pattern in tap dance, traditionally used to show the band the tempo.
- Toprock and downrock
- The two basic layers of breaking: steps done standing up, and steps done close to the floor.
- Toyi-toyi
- A high-stepping march with chanting, used in protests in South Africa and Zimbabwe.
- Trance dance
- A dance in which repeated movement and music lead the dancer into an altered state of mind.
- Tribhangi
- The three-bend stance of Odissi, with the body curving at the neck, waist and knee.
- Troupe
- A group of dancers who train and perform together.
- Tukra
- A short, fixed rhythmic composition in Kathak, usually ending in a tihai.
- Turnout
- The outward rotation of the legs from the hips that is the basis of ballet technique.
- Tutu
- The ballet skirt made of layers of stiff net, either long and bell-shaped or short and flat.
U
- Unison and canon
- Two ways for a group to share a movement: all at the same time, or one after another.
V
- Variation
- A solo dance in a ballet, usually short and designed to show a dancer's skill.
- Varnam
- The long central piece of a Bharatanatyam recital, alternating pure dance with expressive storytelling.
- Veil
- A large piece of light fabric that a dancer swirls, wraps and floats through the air.
- Vernacular dance
- Dance that grows naturally in everyday community life, outside studios and schools.
W
- Waacking
- A style of fast, whipping arm movements around the head, born in 1970s Los Angeles gay clubs.
- Waltz step
- Three steps to a bar of three beats, with a strong first step and a rise and fall of the body.
- War dance
- A dance that prepares for, imitates or remembers battle.
- Wayang wong
- A Javanese dance-drama in which human performers act out stories from the Ramayana and Mahabharata.
- Wiri
- The rapid trembling of the hands seen throughout Māori haka, action songs and poi.