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






2. Shouldering. The placing of the shoulders.






3. Small - little






4. Sating ballet slippers dancers use when dancing in sur le point.






5. 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.






6. 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.






7. 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.






8. To lean






9. Over. Indicates that the working foot passes in front of the supporting foot.






10. Small - half bend of the knees.






11. Small jeta - from a demi plia.






12. (Movements) in the air

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13. Chains - links. A series of rapid turns on the points or demi-pointes done in a straight line or circle.






14. The ability to jump easily and lightly into the air. Springy - usually men.






15. To stretch out - make longer






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






17. Small rise on the ball of the foot - usually in pointe shoes.






18. Slow - sustained movement






19. Raised






20. Line. The outline of a dancer as she executes certain steps.






21. Big - large. (movements)






22. This term is used for a fault in which the dancer turns his or her foot in from the ankle - thereby breaking the straight line of the leg.






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






24. Arms






25. Section that brings you to the end of a dance - its big and important.






26. To turn in the air. A complete sing - double - or triple turn in the air; usually landing in 5th position.






27. This means 'moving' the leg.






28. Turning fouetta.






29. Body.






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






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






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






33. 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.






34. 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.






35. Like a bell. Refers to grand battements to the front and back sliding through first position.






36. 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






37. Dance for four






38. Change of the feet in the air.






39. Dance for two.






40. To face hips square. Not particularly to the front.






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






42. 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.






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






44. To the second. Applies to legs or arms. Second position.






45. 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.






46. Outward. Leg moves clockwise in a circular motion






47. To rock - or to swing.






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






49. Borken/breaking






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