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






2. Running.






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






4. Connected movements on the points






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






6. Leg.






7. To get bigger/ big fast movements






8. Male dance partner to the ballerina






9. 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.






10. Bourrae step - done on pointe of demi-point.






11. Separated or thrown apart. Body position.






12. To prick






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






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






15. Round of the leg. Circular movement of the leg.






16. Change of the feet in the air.






17. A step traveling in a diagonal direction.






18. 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.






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






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






21. Dance for four






22. Outward. Leg moves clockwise in a circular motion






23. Whirl - or spin






24. Step






25. 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.






26. Arms






27. Turning fouetta.






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






29. 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.






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






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






32. Dance for three






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






34. Backwards - reverse.






35. Raised






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






37. Open - opened.






38. 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.






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






40. Step in which the fotot goes in back coupa and you turn ¾ of a circle then do a grand jeta to complete the turn. Usually done in a circle or diagonal.






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






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






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






44. Borken/breaking






45. To glide. A traveling step executed by gliding the working foot from the fifth position in the required direction - the other foot closing to it.






46. 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.






47. Big - large. (movements)






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






49. 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






50. To stretch out - make longer