|
Dictionary of Ballet & Dance Terms
- Manèges
- term applied to steps or enchaînements executed in a
circle.
- Mazurka (mazurek)
- a Polish folk dance in 3/4 time which has been introduced
into a number of ballets as a character dance.
- Methods
- academic ballet as we know it today came into being in
the year 1661, when King Louis XIV of France founded the
Académie Royale de Musique et de Danse
- Mime
- art of using the face and body to express emotion and
dramatic action
- Neuf
- nine
- Notation
- there are two systems of notation in general use, Labanotation
and Benesh notation.
- Ouvert, ouverte
- Open, opened - refers to positions (the second and fourth
positions of the feet are positions ouvertes), limbs, directions,
or certain exercises or steps
- Pas
- simple step or a compound movement which involves a transfer
of weight
- Pas de bourrée
- Bourrée steps done on the point or demi-pointe
- Pas de bourrée couru
- running steps - a progression on the points or demi-pointes
by a series of small, even steps with the feet close together
- Pas de chat
- cat's-step - owes its name to the likeness of the movement
to a cat's leap
- Pas de deux
- dance for two
- Pas de deux, grand
- grand dance for two
- Pas de quatre
- dance for four
- Pas de trois
- dance for three
- Pas de valse
- waltz step- with a graceful swaying of the body with
various arm movements, step is like a balancé, but
the feet do not cross
- Pas marché
- marching step - the dignified, classical walk of the
ballerina and the premier danseur
- Penché, penchée
- leaning, inclining, for example, in arabesque penchée
- Petit, petite
- small
- Pieds, cinq postions des (Five postions of the feet)
- five basic positions of the feet in classical ballet,
and every step or movement is begun and ended in one or
another of these positions
- Piqué
- pricked, pricking - executed by stepping directly on
the point or demi-pointe of the working foot in any desired
direction or position with the other foot raised in the
air
- Pirouette
- whirl or spin - a complete turn of the body on one foot,
on point or demi-pointe
- Pirouette à la second, grande
- large pirouette in the second position usually performed
by male dancers. It is a series of turns on one foot with
the free leg raised to the second position en l'air at
90 degrees
- Plié
- bent, bending - of the knee or knees. This is an exercise
to render the joints and muscles soft and pliable and the
tendons flexible and elastic, and to develop a sense of
balance
- Pointes, sur les
- raising of the body on the tips of the toes. Also used
in the singular, "sur la pointe." First introduced
in the late 1820s or early 1830s at the time of Taglioni.
There are three ways of reaching the points, by piqué,
relevé or sauté.
- Pointe shoes
- The satin ballet shoes used by dancers when dancing sur
les pointes. shoes reinforced with a box constructed of
several layers of strong glue in between layers of material.
- Poisson
- fish - a position of the body in which the legs are crossed
in the fifth position and held tightly together with the
back arched
- Polonaise
- processional dance in 3/4 time with which the court ballets
of the seventeenth century were opened
- Port de bras
- movement or series of smooth movements made by passing
the arm or arms through various positions. The passage
of the arms from one position to another constitutes a
port de bras. Also term for a group of exercises designed
to make the arms move gracefully and harmoniously
- Porté, portée
- Refers either to a step which is traveled in the air
from one spot to another or to the carrying of a danseuse
by a danseur.
- Premier, première
- first
- Promenade, tour de
- in a pas de deux, the ballerina on point holds her pose
and is slowly turned by her partner who walks around her
holding her hand.
|
