Test your basic knowledge |

Dance History

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. Comedy - has sport movements - about a train taken to the beach where a plane flies over - spoof about Frenchman who wants to be very shallow American






2. Choreographed by Filippino Taglioni and performed by one of the greatest ballerinas of the 19th century Marie Taglioni. One of the most famous Romantic Ballets. - First true romantic ballet






3. Hungarian choreographer who developed Labanotation (1879-1958); Established the Choreographic Institute in Zurich - Founded branches across Europe - Kinetographie Laban=labanotation - primary movement - notation stilled used today in dance - Conte






4. Writer of Giselle - Dance Critic - Wrote against male dancers - Praised ballerinas for their sensuality and beauty - in love with Carlotta Grisi






5. Gentlemen's club which indulged in fencing - horses - and mistresses; often took ballerinas with low incomes as mistresses






6. Music by Stravinsky - ancient Greek contest debate between forces.






7. A ballet company established in 1909 by the Russian impresario Serge Diaghilev. It created a sensation in Western Europe because of the great vitality of Russian ballet compared to French dance. The Ballets Russes became one of the most influential b






8. Robert Joffrey - 59 - Alvin Ailey - 58 - Christopher Gillis - 42 - Rudolph Nureyev - 54 - Ulysses Dove - 49






9. Amendment to the U.S. Constitution (1920) extended the right to vote to women in federal or state elections.






10. Was inspired by a cigarette poster featuring the Egyptian goddess Isis to begin investigation Asian art and dance - Founded the Denishawn School of dancing and Related Arts with her husband Ted Shawn in 1915 in Los Angeles - California - Believed tha






11. Interrupted first flush of success of Coppelia and the included the siege of Paris - which also led to the early death of Giuseppina Bozzacchi - on her 17th birthday - but eventually it became the most-performed ballet at the Opera Garnier.






12. In Moscow - very flamboyant & expressive (opposite of Kirov Theater)






13. Capitals of Russia during various times of political influence; Leningrad during Bolsheviks and USSR - return to St. Petersburg pax-USSR






14. Choreographer of Coppelia - died the year of the ballet from exhaustion - discovered Bozzacchi






15. Choreographer of Robert le Diable (1831) father of marie - Marie was a dancer and always looked like She was floating when dancing






16. One of the major figures in the development of modern dance - an American dancer - choreographer and teacher who created more than 150 works on a wide range of subjects from ancient Greek to modern American; contraction and release






17. Different styles: 1. hoofers: Gregory Hines - Savion Glover - intricate footwork 2. class acts: Fred Astaire - Ginger Rodgers - refined and elegant 3. flash acts: tap with acrobatics 4. soft shoe: skimming floor - producing soft & muted steps






18. Dances have no linear development; no central focus on stage; a field of dancers where you can watch any dancer from any direction and decide for yourself where the focus of the dance is






19. In charge of new Paris Opera; under his direction - Paris Opera made a profit for the only time in its existence; slashed salaries of ballerinas to force them into mistresshood for fellow Jockey's






20. Confirmed that Balanchine was an experimentalist - Africanist principles in his rhythmic scores - turns not resolved as in ballet - they just stop - take 'one' counts rather than 'and' counts






21. Choreographed 'Lion King'; worked with untrained dancers and combined AFrican and Caribbean with ballet and modern






22. Reform Russian Ballet - choreographed Dying Swan 1905 for Anna Povlova (2 minutes long) - accused of being influenced by Isadora Duncan - teacher & choreographer rather than a refined dancer






23. Were top musical stars of the '30s; appeared in musicals that were considered old-fashioned when they were made; displaced their characters' sexual desire into fighting with each other






24. Considered one of the greatest of African American choreographers - and also bears the titles dancer - educator - and dance company director. After studying under Katherine Dunham and Martha Graham - went on to do solo work and choreograph his own wo






25. High energy act of two African american brothers - Fayard and Harold - had a 'flash act' consisting of an acrobatic tap style - were in movies - only African Americans encouraged to mingle with audience (by audeince demand)






26. Actress - singer and tap dancer successful in early musicals...... '42nd Street'






27. Allowed people to dim lights; allowed for lighting changes; used for special effects in background of plays and dance such as ghosts






28. (1931-1989) A New York City dancer who created an American Dance Theater which trains dancers and performs worldwide; most famous work was Revelations and piece named Cry - in honor of his mother; lost battle to AIDS in 1989






29. Any of several psychotic disorders characterized by distortions of reality and disturbances of thought and language and withdrawal from social contact; Nijinsky had this illness






30. 1896-1976 - American - Choreographer - Developed 1930's film fantasy with his daredevil and genius dance design - developed the stage style musical film into a more involved multi-shot fantasy film style with overhead shots - use of tiered set desig






31. Dance class at Dartmouth taught by Alison Chase - stunts - contortions - balance and leverage - men signed up for the class on a dare






32. Workers who earned enough money to be able to become consumer of art and material goods following the Industrial Revolution; escapism became a huge hit when the Depression hit to escape harsh reality






33. Fokine - commoner wanted to have sex with Cleopatre - she said yes as long as He was put to dead the next day - she did






34. Concerts organized by Dunn continued here until 1968; concert in 1962 considered to have begun the postmodernist movement






35. A pioneer of modern dance - established importance of the male dancer - created masculine movement style - founded own company in 1947; died of prostate cancer






36. Inspired by Gautier's novel The Story of the Mummy - very complicated - spectacular - successful ballet - Aspica is the daughter - English Lord in sand storm goes into tomb & gets put into an opium dream where he becomes Tahor and saves Aspico from a






37. Choreographed by Fokine - star was Pavlova - composer was Camille Saint Saenz - two minutes long






38. American leader of the movement to legalize birth control during the early 1900's. As a nurse in the poor sections of New York City - she had seen the suffering caused by unwanted pregnancy. Founded the first birth control clinic in the U.S. and the






39. Nijinsky's sister - choreographer - dancer - became leading dancer and choreographer in diaghliev's company






40. Arthur Mitchell founder and artistic director -1st black dancer to break color barrier for classical ballet -America's 1st outstanding ballet company of black dancers -started school with Karel Shook -shaped by Balanchine -Dancers known for warmth an






41. 1957 TV show (similar to the Corny Collins show from Hairspray) - Lindy Hop dance; segregated; eventually shut down due to refusal to fully integrate; presented black music and dance on TV






42. Different names but same theater under different political influences






43. Created the role of Swanilda at age 16 - she died from a fever @ age 17






44. The revolution that overthrew Russian Czar Nicholas I in 1917. Later established the Bolshevik government under Vladimir Lenin.






45. The protection granted by a nation to someone who has left his native country as a political refugee.






46. Music that combines spoken street dialect with cuts (samples) from older records and bears the influences of social politics - male boasting - and comic lyrics carried forward from blues - R&b - soul and rock and roll






47. Innovative United States dancer and choreographer (born in 1941)






48. French composer; uses harmony to reinforce stasis; Prelude to Afternoon of a Fawn (half man - half goat - simulated masturbation); concert work that became a ballet






49. Pilobolus - human jousting horses






50. Predominately black - but whites attended - social dances were done - had to change the floor every three years because of the intense dancing - many whites went to go watch Black People Dance