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Key Terms
Click the headings below to explore key terms in each area.
Dance
- Axial movement Any movement that is anchored to one spot by a body part using only the available space in any direction without losing the initial body contact. This movement is organized around the axis of the body rather than designed for travel from one location to another. Spinning in place is an example. Axial movement is also called "nonlocomotor" movement.
- Chinese Zodiac animals Animal symbols representing a 12-year cycle of time according to Chinese folklore. The 12 animals in order of start of the cycle are: Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Sheep Monkey, Rooster, Dog, and Boar or Pig. Horoscopes have developed around the animal signs, predicting that a person born in the Year of the Horse, for example, would have certain qualities (cheerful, popular, and loves to compliment others). Each animal has certain special qualities that would apply to a person born in their year.
- Choreographic Describing a dance sequence in which the movements in the sequence were arranged by a person or persons.
- Choreography The work or skill of planning dance movement to accompany music.
- Constructive feedback Giving students or peers opinions of their work that is carefully considered, positive, and helpful.
- Critique A review or assessment of a creative work, with comments on its good and bad qualities.
- Dance notation A system for writing or drawing dance movements.
- Direction The way in which somebody or something goes, points, or faces; forward, backward, sideways, diagonal, turning; an instruction as to how to do something.
- Energy moves Sudden movements; movements with action; exaggerated movements.
- Improvisation The spontaneous use of sound, movement, or speech in drama, dance, or music; in theatre, acting that is not scripted, but made up as you go.
- Kinesthetic The sensation of movement; going from still to moving.
- Level The height of the dancer in relation to the floor: low, medium, high.
- Locomotor movement Movement that travels from place to place usually by the transfer of weight from foot to foot. Basic locomotor steps are walking, running, leaping, hopping, and jumping; and the irregular rhythmic combinations of the skip (walk and hop), slide (walk and leap), and gallop (walk and leap). Contrasts with axial movement.
- Peer review Sharing work with another student or peer to ask his or her opinion of or suggestions for the work in progress.
- Personal space The "space bubble" that one occupies; it includes all levels, planes, and directions both near and far from the body's center.
- Repetition Doing something more than once.
- Sequence A number of actions or events that happen one after another; the order in which things are arranged, actions are carried out, or events happen.
- Song map The pattern and sequence of words, music, or movement that is part of dancing, developing music, or songs.
Music
- Bass Multiple meanings, including the African drum tone produced by striking the drum near the center of the skin with the palm of the hand.
- Constructive feedback Giving students or peers opinions of their work that is carefully considered, positive, and helpful.
- Corridos A Latin-American song tradition used to celebrate folk heroes, tales of true love, and other themes.
- Critique A review or assessment of a creative work, with comments on its good and bad qualities.
- Cultural traditions The customary beliefs, social forms, and material traits of a certain group passed down through the generations.
- Djembe A traditional West African "waisted" drum played with bare hands.
- Dynamics How loud or soft a sound is.
- Improvisation The spontaneous use of sound, movement, or speech in drama, dance, or music; in theatre, acting that is not scripted, but made up as you go.
- Key Scale of the music. Affects overall tone of the music; a major key generally feels "happy"; a minor key generally feels "sad."
- Peer review Sharing work with another student or peer to ask his or her opinion of or suggestions for the work in progress.
- Pitch How "high" or "low" a sound is.
- Rhythm A particular pattern of beats in a piece or kind of music.
- Siku A type of Andean musical instrument made from bamboo pipes, cut to different lengths and bound together.
- Slap African drum tone produced by striking a drum close to the rim with the fingers open and the hand relaxed (producing a high, sharp sound).
- Soundtrack The musical score that accompanies a film or story.
- Syncopation A type of rhythm in music that involves stressing the "off" beat.
- Tempo Refers to how fast or slow the sound is.
- Tone African drum tone produced by striking the a drum close to the rim with the fingers together and the hand flat (producing a round, full sound).
Theatre
- Alliteration Words that start with the same letter, such as "lucky Lucy lost her letter" or "deep down in the dirt dump."
- Anthropology The study of humanity in all its aspects, especially human culture or human development.
- Blocking A plan that describes where an actor stands and moves onstage.
- Character motivation When actors often consider the reasons their character might do something, and use that to guide how they perform the action.
- Characterization Creating a character through elements such as voice, facial expression, and mannerisms; the way in which a character is portrayed in a book, play, or movie.
- Combinations A mixture of different things or factors; two or more things or people that are combined to form a set.
- Connotation Something associated with or suggested by an image, word, or phrase.
- Constructive feedback Giving students or peers opinions of their work that is carefully considered, positive, and helpful.
- Critical analysis A component of a theater review that involves providing a context for the critical description.
- Critical description A component of a theater review that involves summarizing the events of a performance.
- Critical interpretation A component of a theater review that involves building on description and analysis, and sharing personal opinions about the performance.
- Critique A review or assessment of a creative work, with comments on its good and bad qualities.
- Dialogue A conversation between two or more characters in a play.
- Direct and indirect references Where the speaker talks about a person or object directly (clearly about it) or indirectly (in a way that is not obvious or straightforward).
- Dramatic monologue A poem or speech spoken by a specific character, often in a special situation, either directly to the audience, to themselves, or another actor.
- Dramatic pacing The way a sense of one event leads to another; for instance, urgency, sharpness, or building to a climax is shaped by a creator and/or a performer in a literary or musical composition or a dramatic performance.
- Exaggeration Making something bigger, better, worse, more common, or more important than is true or usual.
- Figurative language Using animal or human figures in speech to represent an idea or quality.
- Genre A category or type of artistic work based on form, style, or subject matter. For example, detective novels are a genre of fiction. Landscape paintings are a genre of art, and Westerns are a genre of film.
- Goods Items; property.
- Griot Storyteller in West African tradition; Griots pass along information about a village or family through generations.
- Idiom Refers to a colorful or informal expression whose meaning goes beyond the combined meanings of its individual words, for example, "to have somebody in stitches."
- Improvisation The spontaneous use of sound, movement, or speech in drama, dance, or music; in theatre, acting that is not scripted, but made up in the moment.
- Inference Something that's implied, rather than stated explicitly.
- Metaphor A figure of speech where one thing is used to represent another; for instance, saying somebody is a snake.
- Monologue A part of a play where a single actor speaks alone, often as a way to express his or her thoughts to the audience.
- Motivation The reasoning behind a fictional character's actions; the biological, emotional, cognitive, or social forces that provide a reason or incentive to do something.
- Onomatopoeia The imitation of natural sounds by words, such as "the humming bee," "the cackling hen," or the "whizzing arrow."
- Peer review Sharing work with another student or peer to ask his or her opinion of or suggestions for the work in progress.
- Persuasion To successfully urge somebody to perform a particular action, especially by reasoning, pleading, or coaxing.
- Scene A short section of a play, movie, opera, or work of literature.
- Self-reflection Thinking about oneself in a way that examines events or actions in the past.
- Sequence A number of actions or events that happen one after another; the order in which things are arranged, actions are carried out, or events happen.
- Services Things people do; labor.
- Stage directions Instruction on how to move or interact onstage.
- Tableau A "freeze frame"; a stop-action combination of facial expression and gesture.
Visual Arts
- Abstract Non-realistic and non-representational; disassociated from anything specific; expressing a quality apart from depicting an object.
- Asymmetry Lopsidedness; irregularity; one side is larger or smaller than the other when divided in the center.
- Balance Various elements form a satisfying and harmonious whole; stability.
- Color One of six basic elements of visual art. Primary colors are red, yellow, blue; secondary colors are orange, green, and purple. The color palette can affect the overall feel of artwork (for instance, reds and oranges denote "warmth"; blues denote "cold").
- Constructive feedback Giving students or peers opinions of their work that is carefully considered, positive, and helpful.
- Contours The lines representing the outline of a form or shape; lines that show the curve of a structure.
- Critique A review or assessment of a creative work, with comments on its good and bad qualities.
- Curator A person who takes care of the collections at a museum. Also often responsible for exhibition selection and design.
- Form The shape of something (can refer to two- or three-dimensional art).
- Genre A category or type of artistic work based on form, style, or subject matter. For example, detective novels are a genre of fiction, self-portraits are a genre of painting.
- Line One of six basic elements of visual art. Can vary in length, width, or direction.
- Negative space The space around an object or form.
- Peer review Sharing work with another student or peer to ask his or her opinion of or suggestions for the work in progress.
- Positive space The space an object takes up.
- Representation A visual depiction of somebody or something.
- Representational An image that is identifiable as something; realistic.
- Sculpture To form an image or representation from solid materials in three dimensions; a three-dimensional work of art.
- Self-portrait A portrait of oneself done by oneself.
- Shape A geometric form such as a square, triangle, cone, or cube; the outline of something.
- Symbolism The use of a single image or symbol to represent several different events or meanings.
- Symmetry Being the same on both sides of a central dividing line.
- Three-dimensional A form in the round, not flat; the three dimensions of height, width, and depth.
- Two-dimensional An image or form that is flat; the two dimensions of height and width.