About Sondra!
Terms Defined
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 Just in case you are wondering what we mean...
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- AGVA
- The American Guild of Musical Artists, the union for variety
performers. See my May column for more details.
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- balletomane
- A person Crazy for ballet! Includes both fans and dancers.
- choreologist
- This word was coined not long ago to refer to a growing cadre
of people who literally "write dance" for a living. They know Labanotation, and
in some cases Benesh notation, and their job is to create dance "scores," like
musical scores, in order to preserve choreography more precisely than on video or in the
memories of dancers and choreographers.
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- Misha
- "Misha" is the Russian diminutive for
"Mikhail." That's what Baryshnikov's pals call him.
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- pantheon
- A collection of all the celebrities.
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- pyrotechnics
- This word means 'fireworks' but it also has a use in dance. A
dazzling display of virtuosity. Explosive leaps and cool tricks, often said of male
routines.
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- scion
- Offspring, a descendant.
- super
- Super is short for "supernumerary," meaning
"extra number." The term refers to dancers who fill in for such parts as pages,
townspeople, ladies and gentlemen of the court and royal guards. Ballet companies on tour
find it cheaper to hire local dancers than to bring a full company along. If a ballet
company is scheduled to come to a city near you, call the theatre for audition schedules
for supers. When I was a young ballet student in the Detroit area, I supered with the
Royal during the time that Fonteyn and Nureyev were the stars. I was one of the four mice
who pull Carabosse's carriage in "Sleeping Beauty," and we had a real dance to
do. I was also a page standing on a little pedestal, watching Fonteyn do the Rose Adagio
right under my nose. The thrill is with me still! So don't miss a chance to make memories
that will last a lifetime.
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- terpsichorean
- The Muse of dancing, having to do with dance.
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- Terpsichorean pyrotechnics
- Sondra writes: Here I'm making a joke about dance
(Terpsichorean) fireworks, the ones on the stage as opposed to the ones over the East
River supplied by Macy's which I could have been watching instead.
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