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Ballet Basics Vocab

Subjects : performing-arts, dance
Instructions:
  • Answer 50 questions in 15 minutes.
  • If you are not ready to take this test, you can study here.
  • Match each statement with the correct term.
  • Don't refresh. All questions and answers are randomly picked and ordered every time you load a test.

This is a study tool. The 3 wrong answers for each question are randomly chosen from answers to other questions. So, you might find at times the answers obvious, but you will see it re-enforces your understanding as you take the test each time.
1. To face hips square. Not particularly to the front.






2. Whipped. A term applied to a whipping movement.






3. A march in which two steps are taken forward on the demi-pointes and then the third step is taken flat with the supporting knee bent in fondu and the other leg raised in front.






4. (Movements) in the air

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5. 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.






6. Carriage of the arm. The changing of arm positions.






7. Fish. A position of the body in which the legs are crossed in the fifth position and held tightly together with the back arched. This pose is taken while jumping into the air.






8. To prick






9. Basque jump. A traveling step in which the dancer turns in the air with one foot drawn up to the knee of the other leg. Fifth position are foot front.






10. Backwards - reverse.






11. Carried. Refers either to a step which is traveled in the air from one spot to another.






12. Small jeta - from a demi plia.






13. The crossing of the legs with the body placed at an oblique angle to the audience.






14. Developing movement. A daveloppa is a movement in which the working leg is drawn up to the knee of the supporting leg and slowly extended to an open position en l'air and held there with perfect control.






15. Step in which legs/thighs beat in the air






16. Slow - sustained movement






17. To stretch out - make longer






18. Dance for two.






19. To escape. From 5th to second. Feet slide and don't leave floor.






20. On the points. Rising to the tips of the toes.






21. Jumped - jumping. When this name is added to a step - that step is done in the air.






22. A jump from both feet onto one foot






23. Shaded. Position in which the dancer stands at an oblique angle to the audience so that a part of the body is taken back - almost hidden from view.






24. To throw about. This is a jump from either one foot or both feet. Jump up to double passe and extend out.






25. A ballet fan or enthusiast. The word was invented in Russia in the early nineteenth century.






26. Ground to ground. Feet never leave the floor.






27. Round of the leg. Circular movement of the leg.






28. Waltz step. Done with a graceful swaying body. Like a balanca but feet do not cross.






29. Two






30. Sinking down. A term used to describe a lowering of the body made by bending the knee of the supporting leg.






31. To rock - or to swing.






32. Whirl - or spin






33. At the neck of the foot. Wrapped around.






34. Turning fouetta.






35. Chased. A step in which one foot literally chases the other foot out of its position; done in a series.






36. To throw. A jump from one foot to the other in which the working leg is brushed into the air and appears to have been thrown.






37. Royal. A changement in which the calves are beaten together before the feet change position.






38. A






39. Male dance partner to the ballerina






40. Enrico Cecchetti was a ballet teacher. He had a system of passing the tradition of ballet down to the next generation. The method has a definite program of strict routine and includes a table of principal set daily exercises for each day of the week.






41. In the shape of a cross. (Front - side - back - side)






42. Arms low or down. This is the dancer's 'attention.' The arms form a circle with the palms facing each other and the back edge of the hands resting on the thighs. The arms should hang quite loosely but not allowing the elbows to touch the sides.






43. Pas de bourra - running. This is a progression on the points or demi-pointes by a series of small - even steps with the feet close together. It may be done in all directions or in a circle.






44. Bent or bending. Bending of the knee or knees






45. Closed sissone. Low elevation and a quick tempo - this sissonne finishes on two feet with the working foot gliding along the floor into the demi-plia in the fifth position.






46. Running.






47. To the front.






48. To turn in a walk. The dancer turns slowly in place on one foot by a series of slight movements of the heel to the required side while maintaining a definite pose.






49. Foot rises about four inches from the floor with a well-pointed toe - then slides back into the the first or fifth position.






50. This is a term used in double (supported) work for various lifts in which the danseuse is supported by the danseur in a poisson position. He may hold her above his head in a horizontal fish dive or she may fall from a sitting position on his shoulder