Modern Dance Vocabulary

Dancers use of inhalation and exhalation to initiate, develop, or suspend movement

• Breath

• Fall & Recovery

• Release

• Contraction

The element of one's body mass that affects movement.

• Hinge

• Weight

• Release

• Contraction

Letting go of a contraction.

• Improvisation

• Tilt

• Fall & Recovery

• Release

Creating movement on the spot without premeditation of what to do next.

• Tilt

• Improvisation

• Contraction

• Hinge

A transfer of weight (usually with elevation) from two legs to two legs.

• Jump

• Tilt

• Weight

• Hinge

The ability of a dancer to move responsibly to music.

• Breath

• Fall & Recovery

• Musicality

• Improvisation

A movement similar to an arabesque except that the trunk leans away from the extended leg toward the floor; can occur with a pitch.

• Jump

• Contraction

• Hinge

• Tlit

Bending of the knees, maintaining a plank from shoulders to knees.

• Jump

• Hinge

• Contraction

• Fall & Recovery

Drawing together two ends of a muscle to make smaller.

• Fall & Recovery

• Contraction

• Weight

• Release

Pull of gravity between, that makes the body fall and then return enact position.

• Jump

• Tilt

• Jump

• Fall & Recovery