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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. Dance for four






2. Small - little






3. This means to pose on one leg whilst extending the other leg to the back.






4. Small jeta - from a demi plia.






5. Backwards - reverse.






6. Shouldering. The placing of the shoulders.






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






8. A






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






10. Turning. Indicates that the body is to turn while executing a given step.






11. Open - opened.






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






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






14. Dance for three






15. To put together - to make a jump from one foot then landing on both feet.






16. Running.






17. 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






18. Dance for two.






19. A stationary handrail that is used during ballet warm up exercises. The term also refers to the exercises that are performed at the barre - as well as that part of a ballet class that incorporates barre exercises. Much of a ballet dancer's training t






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






21. 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.






22. Inward. Indicates that the leg moves in a circular direction - counterclockewise - from the back to the front.






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






24. This means 'moving' the leg.






25. Change of the feet in the air.






26. 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.






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






28. 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.






29. 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.






30. To the front.






31. 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.






32. 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.






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






34. Step of the cat. Jump where legs come up to double passa.






35. Borken/breaking






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






37. To pose - balanced on one leg while the other leg is slightly bent at the knee - extended to either the front - side or back.






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






39. Small - half bend of the knees.






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






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






42. Turning fouetta.






43. Round of the leg. Circular movement of the leg.






44. To rock - or to swing.






45. To stretch out - make longer






46. Whirl - or spin






47. Slow - sustained movement






48. Male dance partner to the ballerina






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






50. To strike powerfully. An exercise in which the dancer forcefully extends the working leg from a cou-de-pied position to the front - side or back.