Related Words

Avant: (ah vong) Forwards, Front. A step travelling en avant moves forwards, towards the audience, e.g. sissonne en avant.

Idiot Savant: A person with gross mental retardation who nonetheless is capable of performing certain remarkable feats in sharply circumscribed intellectual areas, such as calendar calculation or puzzle solving.

Tombe: Typically a beginning movement. For a tombe en avant, the dancer begins with a coupe front and then, after extending the leg from the coupe in fourth position front (or second or fifth back, . . . View Full Definition

Modernism: A vague, amorphous term referring to the art, poetry, literature, architecture, and philosophy of Europe and America in the early twentieth-century. Scholars do not agree exactly when Modern . . . View Full Definition

Stichomythy: Dialogue consisting of one-line speeches designed for rapid delivery and snappy exchanges. Usually, the verbal parrying is accompanied by the rhetorical device of antithesis (see under schem . . . View Full Definition

Grand Jete: A long horizontal jump, starting from one leg and landing on the other. It is most often done forward and usually involves doing full leg splits in mid-air. The front leg brushes straight in . . . View Full Definition

Glissade: Literally, to slide. This is a traveling step starting in fifth position with demi-plie: the front foot moves out to a point, both legs briefly straighten as weight is shifted onto the point . . . View Full Definition

Battement: It is a kicking movement of the working leg (i.e. the leg that is performing a technique). Battements are usually executed in front (en avant or a la quatrieme devant), to the side (a la sec . . . View Full Definition

Bras Croise: Literally 'crossed arms'. Arms are placed so that, when the dancer is facing one of the stage corners, one is extended the second position away from the audience and the other is curved in f . . . View Full Definition

Developpe: A common abbreviation for battement developpe. A movement in which the leg is first lifted to retire position, then fully extended passing through attitude position. It can be done in front . . . View Full Definition