dance

I

(New American Roget's College Thesaurus)

Motion to music

Nouns

1. dance, dancing; ball, formal, tea dance, thé dansant, cotillion, promenade, dinner-dance; masquerade, masked ball, bal masqué, fancy-dress ball. Informal, drag, hop, prom, mixer. Slang, trucking. See agitation, amusement, leap, oscillation.

2.

a. modern dance, interpretive dance, modern ballet; percussive movement.

b. (world dances) clog; fandango, malaguena, zapateado, paso doble, flamenco, alegrias, folklorico, bolero, bossa nova, samba, carioca, habanera; ballo, cachucha; belly dance; bergamasca, tarantella; bugaku, nihon buyo; cancan, caramagnole, farandole, tambourin; czardas; djanger, haka; hora; hula; kathak[ali], Bharat Natya; kebiyar, legong, manipuri; limbo; khon.

c. court dance, basse danse, bourrée, canary, cotillion, courante, galliard, galop, gavotte, minuet, passacaglia, pavane, polonaise, saltarello, saraband.

d. folk or popular dance; slam dancing, dirty dancing, disco dancing, break dancing, hip-hop; barn dance, breakdown, chica, contredanse, country dance, écossaise, [highland] fling, gopak, hoedown, square dance, do-si-do, sashay, set, hornpipe, jota, juba, kazatsky, kolo, ländler, mazurka, Mexican hat dance, morris dance, morisco, ox dance, polka, quadrille, reel, rigadoon, round dance, salsa, schottische, seguidilla, siciliano, Sir Roger de Coverley, skirt dance, slow dance, step dancing, strathspey, tarantella, trepak, villanella, Virginia reel.

e. ballroom dance, social dancing; begine, bocane, cha-cha, Charleston, conga, fox trot, gigue, jig, joropo, lambada, Lambeth walk, mambo, maxixe, merengue, one-step, peabody, rumba, samba, tango, [Texas] two-step, waltz, Washington Post.

f. jazz dance, jazz tap, ball-change, bamboula, black bottom, [black] boogaloo, bombershay, bop, [buck-and-]wing, bunny hug, buzzard lope, cakewalk, camel walk, circus [love], cootie crawl, eagle rock, flapping eagle, grizzly bear, hand jive, huckabuck, jam back, jitterbug, jive, lambada, lindy, locomotion, mashed potatoes, mooch, pasmala, possum-la, pull-back, sand, sconch, shag [and stomp], shimmy, shuffle, soft shoe, stomp, Susie-Q, swing, tap dance, toddle, turkey trot, walking the dog. Slang, electric boogie, uprock.

g. rock dance, achybreaky, acid house, alligator, bedrock, bird, birdland, boogaloo, break dancing, bump, cabbage patch, camel walk, continental walk, dirty dancing, disco, dive, dog, Egyptian, electric slide, file dance, fly, freak, freddie, frug, funky chicken or pigeon, guess, handjive, hitchhike, hop, hully gully, hustle, jerk, line dance, locomotion, macarena, mashed potato, monkey, moonwalk, moshing, nasty, night fever, pogo, pony, popcorn, rocking chair, roller coaster, running man, salsa, shake, shuffle, skate, slam dance, slauson, slog, smurf, snake, stroll, sway, swim, tush push, twine, twist, vogue, walk, watermelon crawl, watusi.

h. erotic or exotic dance, striptease, fan dance, cooch, hootchy-kootchy, nautch dance, table or lap dance.

i. ritual dance, ghost dance, rain dance, snake dance, sword dance, war dance.

j. Dancercize.

3.

a. ballet, classical dance.

b. ballet d'action, divertissement, entr'acte; adagio, allegro, [grand] pas de deux, entrée, coda, toe dance, character dance, solo [dance], pas seul, variation.

c. choreography, terpsichore; Labanotation; French or Russian school, Cecchetti method.

d. elevation, extension, partnering, placement.

e. allongé, arabesque, assemblé, attitude, balance, ballon[né], [grand or petit] battement, batterie, cabriole, bourrée, brisé, cambré, chaîné, changement de pied, chassé, ciseaux, combination, enchaînement, figure, contretemps, coupé, croisé, dégagé, [grand] plié, demi-plié, pointe, demi-pointe, developpé, échappé, emboîtés, entrechat, épaulement, failli, fish dive, fondu, fouetté, frappé, glissade, grand jeté, pas [de basque, bourrée, chat, or cheval], passé, petit tour, piqué, pirouette, port de bras, posé tour, promenade, relevé, révérence, rond de jamb, royalement, saut de basque or de chat, sisonne, soubresant, soursour, stulchak, temps, temps de flèche, temps levé or lié, tour [en l'air or jeté], turnout, vole.

f. [first, second, etc. ] position, closed or open position, écarté, effacé, sur le coup de pied.

g. dance studio, barre; pointe shoes, tutu.

4. dancer, terpsichorean, ballet dancer, danceur [noble], premier danseur, [première] danceuse, [prima] ballerina, coryphée, principal, figurant[e]; corps de ballet; chorus girl, boy or man, chorine; geisha, nautch girl; hula dancer; choreographer, régisseur, répétiteur; balletomane; Terpsichore;

go-go dancer, exotic [dancer], topless dancer, burlesque dancer, variety dancer. Slang, hoofer, taxi dancer; stripper, coffee-grinder; jitterdoll or -jane, rugcutter.

5. dance hall, ballroom; discotheque. Slang, glad pads.

Verbs — dance, glide, jug, flutter; jazz dance, tap dance, etc.; choreograph. Informal, trip the light fantastic, cut the rug, hoof.

Adjectives

1. terpsichorean, balletic; choreographic.

2. en arrière, en avant, en dedans, en dehors, en face, en l'air, en seconde, par terre, penché, tendu.

Quotations — A perpendicular expression of a horizontal desire (G. B. Shaw), Dance is the hidden language of the soul (Martha Graham).

Related categories, see music.

II

(Roget's IV) n.

1. [Rhythmic movement]

Syn. dancing, choreography, hop, jig, skip, prance, shuffle, fling, swing, caper, hoedown, hoofing*.

Dances include --- Social: waltz, fox trot, shimmy, polka, conga, rumba, tango, samba, paso doble, cha-cha, mambo, bolero, disco, hustle, line dance, shag, lambada, merengue, vogue, freak, jerk, frug, jitterbug, one-step, two-step, box-step, Charleston, Peabody, bunny hug, twist, monkey, mashed potato; break dancing, slam dancing; theatrical: ballet, adagio, tap dance, soft-shoe, toe dance; traditional: cotillion, quadrille, pavane, loure, galliard, branle, sarabande, courante, bourr?e, passepied , contredanse ( all French), mazurka, polonaise, beguine, fandango, round dance, square dance, minuet, gavotte, schottische, rigadoon, shuffle, gallopade, galop; folk and primitive: sun dance, ghost dance, sword dance, snake dance, fertility dance, morris dance, Virginia reel, belly dance, Highland fling, flamenco, paso doble, Irish jig, buck and wing, clog, tarantella, hora, hornpipe, czardas, hula; see also waltz .

2. [A dancing party]

Syn. ball, pRomenade, grand ball, dress ball, masked ball, prom, cotillion, reception, masquerade, masque, tea dance, th? dansant (French), hoedown, mixer, hop*, shindig*, brawl*; see also party 1 .

v.

1. [To move rhythmically]

Syn. step, trip, tread, glide, whirl, jig, perform the steps of, execute the figures of, shuffle the feet, pirouette, trip the light fantastic, hoof it*, hop*, cut a rug*, rock*, foot it*, boogie*, vogue*; see also dance n.

2. [To move in a gay and sprightly manner]

Syn. hop, skip, jump, leap, bob, bobble, scamper, skitter, jiggle, jigger, caper, gambol, bounce, cavort, sway, swirl, sweep, swing, careen, curvet, cut capers; see also jump 1 , 4 , play 2 .

Ant. sit*, perch, stand.

III

(Roget's 3 Superthesaurus)

I

n.

ballroom dance, capering, ballet, waltz, polka, square dance, *shindig, hop, prom. ''Poetry of the foot.''—John Dryden.

WORD FIND

• bend backwards under pole: limbo

• Bohemian, lively: polka

• Brazilian, dips, leaps: samba

• Brazilian, like samba: bossa nova

• Brazilian, sensual coupling: lambada

• Caribbean, like rhumba: beguine

• classical ballroom: waltz

• country and western swinging two-step: Texas two-step

• Cuban: rhumba, conga, mambo

• death dance: danse macrabre

• French, high-kicking, skirt-lifting: cancan

• glissade backwards: moonwalk

• group single file procession, three steps and kick: conga

• Hawaiian: hula

• Italian, whirling folk dance: tarantella

• Latin American quickstep and shuffle: chacha

• Latin American, with stylized posturing: tango

• legs scissoring in opposite directions: split

• lively folk dance: jig

• lively French dance, eighteenth century: cotillion

• Middle Eastern female solo, stomach undulations: belly dance

• modern jazz: jazz dance

• Negro, nineteenth century: Juba

• 1920s: Charleston

• 1930s-1940s, hopping: shag

• 1930s, jitterbuglike: Lindy hop

• 1940s, acrobatic somersaults, splits: jitterbug

• 1960s, Chubby Checker: twist

• 1970s, hip-touching: bump

• 1980s, prostrate movements: breakdance

• 1990s, running in position: running man

• Oriental head motions: sundari

• Polish: polonaise

• Russian dance, squatting, arms folded: cossack

• sailor’s: hornpipe

• Scottish, lively folk dance: reel

• secret, all-night dance party: *rave

• sexually explicit: 1. freak dancing, booty dancing, dirty dancing, grinding, jacking, freaking, the nasty. 2. sexually explicit dance moves, line of dancers performing: freak train see rap

• shaking of body part: shimmy

• solo male dance around Sombrero: Mexican hat dance

• Spanish: flamenco, fandango, bolero, tango

• spin: pirouette

• square dance: quadrille, hoedown

• square dance steps: California twirl, cloverleaf, Dixie chain, do-si-do, promenade, sashay.

• stately eighteenth-century dance: minuet

• steps: choreography

• tap steps: soft shoe, falling off the log, dig, brush, chug, coffee grinder

• two-step, ballroom: fox-trot

• wooden shoes dance: clog

see ballet

II

v.

caper, step, *trip the light fantastic, *boogie, *cut a rug, swing, step, prance, *disco, *beat feet, twist, shimmy, strut, prance, sway, hop, *get down, *shake your booty, rock, wiggle one's hips, jig, skip, leap, gambol, romp, *slink, contort, flex, undulate, careen, shuffle, *hoof, clomp, *jockey, *pose, *posture, thrust, quiver, dip, gyrate, convulse, glissade.

IV

(Roget's Thesaurus II) I verb 1. To move rhythmically to music, using patterns of steps or gestures: foot, step. Slang: hoof. Idioms: cut a rug, foot it, trip the light fantastic. See REPETITION, WORK. 2. To leap and skip about playfully: caper, cavort, frisk, frolic, gambol, rollick, romp. See WORK. II noun A party or gathering for dancing: ball. Informal: hop. See WORK.