Dance Vocabulary

Ballet: A dance form that originated in the Renaissance courts of Europe. Ballet features specific steps and positions which are described in French terms.

Choreographer: A person who creates the dance pieces, including the exact steps and movements of each dancer.

Principal Dancer: The dancer who is featured as a soloist.

Corps de ballet: The dancers in a ballet who appear as a group.

Dance Captain: The person who rehearses or teaches the routines to the other dancers.

Jazz Dance: Dance marked by movement isolations and complex, propulsive rhythms. Jazz dance is an outgrowth of African-American ragtime, jazz, spirituals, blues and work songs, and is considered an American dance style.

Hip Hop: A popular, rhythmic contemporary form of dance that began as street dancing and uses body isolations and held poses, and features tricky balances, spins and gymnastics.

Modern Dance: A 20th century dance form that began as a rebellion against the steps and positions of ballet and encompasses a wide range of movement, approaches and themes.