Advanced Dance Vocabulary

when applied to dance, this word refers to choreography that does not have a narrative character. In other words, an abstract dance does not tell a story, nor is related to symbolic contents or any kind of associations with feelings, ideas or other elements than movement itself. A dance can be considered as abstract if it is seen through the frame of pure movement and/or its components (like space, time, body and so forth).

placement of bones in such a way that increases physiological effectiveness and health. Depending on the dance genre, the alignment can vary according to its specific aesthetic goals. Read the definitions for 'Correct alignment', 'Body placement' or 'Stance' below to expand.

the basic unit used to measure time in both the choreographic and musical language. It is the pulse that occurs repeatedly with a certain frequency. When dancing, beats are what we count… like five, six, seven, eight! (bet you know this…). Five, six, seven, eight are the last four beats of a choreographic phrase of eight beats. Visit our page for contemporary dance music to listen to some examples and expand your understanding.

this is an expression that we use in dance to talk about the way in which we carry our body (our selves), including the positioning and alignment of big bones (like the pelvis or spine), limbs and head as well as the micro organizations of muscles that are responsible for their positioning. Usually, every dance genre or style has its own body placement, which facilitates its technical execution and makes up the particular style.

dancers use this word with the same meaning as musicians. It defines a compositional structure in which one same choreographic fragment is executed by several dancers who space it out in time (usually with regular intervals). Rudolph Laban identified four main types of canon used in dance: the regular canon (dancers start and end one after another), the starting canon (only the beginning of the fragment is stepped), the ending canon (only the end of the fragment is stepped), the simultaneous canon (dancers start at the same time but each one starts the fragment at a different point).

artist who creates with the movement of humans as material. In dance terms though, a contemporary dance choreographer is usually considered as a general director of scenic art pieces that include several aesthetic languages (music, visual fine arts, architecture…), all under his creative judgment.

term introduced by the modern dancer and choreographer Martha Graham as one of the key elements of her own dance technique. It refers to the forward curving of the spine, starting from the pelvic zone.

this word is used to classify and differentiate types of dance in the broader way. For example, contemporary dance, classical western dance (ballet), and folk dances are three genres of dance.

it is said of a dancer that has a good sense of gravity, i.e. efficient use of her/his body’s weight.

: this is the action of dancing without defining movement previously; the dancer does not know what s/he will execute but moves spontaneously and freely, in opposition to composed dance, where the dancer memorizes choreography.