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THAD 115 – Spring ’25 Mid-Term Quiz Study Guide
Body
Patterns of Total Body Connectivity - Definitions and Details
Listed here in order from top to bottom from most fundamental to most complex!
Breath: Includes lung and cellular respiration, is the primary foundational life force, can calm nervous energy, and is
the baseline for free flow. Ex: We start class w/breathe into our directions: Lengthening/Shortening,
Widening/Narrowing, and Bulging/Hollowing.
Core-Distal: Develops strength in one’s center and its connection outward into the limbs and beyond. Conversely, it
also encourages the limbs to connect into one’s center. Ex: Core-Distal Rolling X
Head-Tail: Is about the movement of the spine in the sagittal, vertical, and horizontal planes, while encouraging a
sense of one’s verticality. Ex: The movement of the spine in the three planes from Bartenieff Stand
Upper-Lower: Divides the body in half horizontally at the pelvis. Can be organized feet-to-head or arms-to-tail, and
considers the proximal joints (the shoulders and hips) as primary areas where energy must be clearly
transferred through. Ex: Femoral Flexion & Extension, Float-Stomps, Push Backs on Belly.
Body-Half: Divides the body vertically at the midline (between the eyes, along the sternum and the two sides of the
pelvis). Coordinates sidedness and an either-or approach, organizing the body to be able wot work
with one side stable while the other side is mobile. Ex: Body Half X in Small, Medium, Large, Extra-
Large
Cross-Lateral: Trains for 3-D, complex actions, dividing the body into diagonals, often resulting in the opposite arm
and leg moving similarly, or toward and away from each other. Develops gradatied rotation in the
proximal joints (the hips and shoulders. Ex: Cross Lateral X”
Body Part Initiation and Phrasing: Definitions
Simultaneous: All moving parts initiate at the same time.
Successive: Adjacent body parts initiate one after the other.
Sequential: Non-adjacent body parts initiate one after the other.
Effort
Effort factor definitions and descriptions.
Space: Is Direct on the condensing side and Indirect on the indulging side. Is about how you attend to the area
around you, from channeled and pin-pointed to multiplicitous and meandering.
Time: Is Sudden on the condensing side and Sustained on the indulging side. Is about the inner-attitude you have
toward duration, moving as though you “only have 5 seconds” or you have a “whole 5 seconds” to
complete a task.

Weight: Gradates from Strong on the condensing side to Light on the indulging side. As though imagining you’re a
helium-filled animal balloon or an elephant stomping in the mud, is about galvanizing your own mass
either rarifying against or aligned with gravity.
Flow: Is Bound on the condensing side and Free on the indulging side. From Ice-like to water-like, is about the
resistance and containment or ease and outpouring of energy.
Shape
The 5 shape forms are: Wall, Ball, Pin, Screw, and Tetrahedron
Modes of Shape Change - definitions:
Arc-ing: Slices through the environment
Spoking: Penetrates into or retracts from the environment
Carving: Has a volume-changing, co-creative relationship with the environment.
Space
Size of Kinesphere - be able to identify things that occur in our lives as humans in these various sizes of kinesphere:
Very Small Size of Kinesphere
Small Size of Kinesphere
Medium Size of Kinesphere
Large Size of Kinesphere
Very Large Size of Kinesphere
Zone of Kinesphere: be able to identify things that occur in our lives as humans in these various zones of
kinesphere.
Low Zone of Kinesphere
Middle Zone of Kinesphere
High Zone of Kinesphere
Space concept terms - Definitions:
Dimensions: Rope-like directions up-down, side-side, or forward-back.
Spatial Tension: When you reach from one body part outward into space and it takes you into motion.
Spatial Countertension: When two opposing reaches into space from two different body parts create balance in your
body.

Unit 2: Origins and Aesthetics:
From the Pre-Assignment based on the pdf “Dance as an Art Form” from Nora Ambrosio’s Learning About Dance:
Dance as an Art Form and Entertainment.
The locations where evidence was found that reveals that dance existed in the Paleolithic Age include France,
Bulgaria, Giza, and Sicily. At this time, dance was used as a means of communication and a way of life, using
movements and gestures in service of expression and ritual worship.
The Amoamo, by the Yanomami people was done by persons in Venezuela, Brazil, Guyana, and Columbia. Performed
by men, this ritual was done to ensure good luck in capturing and killing animals for food in anticipation of a feast.
The dancing included bursting into the village, screaming, wheeling and spinning, stopping, dancing in place,
throwing one’s weapons down, and prancing around the village.
Bharata Natyam was developed in India around 500-300 B.C.E. It is known for is flowing arm movements, exact head
and eye gestures, and complex rhythms stamped out quickly by the feet.
The 8 recognized classical Indian Dance Forms are: Bharata Natyam, Kathak, Kathakali, Kuchipudi, Manipuri,
Mohinattyam, Odissi, and Sattriya.
The Dance of Death or Danse Macabre was a dancing mania associated with The Black Plague. Although there are
many theories as to why this occurred – from an acutal physical or mental disorder, famine, or due to an intense
feeling of dread - those succumbed by this phenomenon danced in wild delirium, seemingly possessed and without
any will of their own.
The Rite of Spring, Choreographed by Vaslav Nikinsky with music by Igor Stravinsky, caused a near riot in the theatre
at it’s premiere in Paris in 1913. The music and dance were far different than anything anyone had ever seen before.
Unit 3: Religion
Pre-Assignment - From the pdf - Dance and Religion - from “Appreciating Dance: A Guide to the World’s Liveliest Art”
1. Name, briefly define, and give an example for each of the four categories of religious dance under the
heading "Types of Religious Dance".
Dances of Imitation: Honors the qualities of a particular animal or depicts an event with the belief that
the depiction will make the desired outcome of that event more desirable. The Native American
Buffalo and Eagle Dances are examples of dances of this category.
Medicine Dances: Performed to restore the health of an individual by warding off evil spirits or by
pleasing a specific god or goddess. May also be preventative, designed to protect an individual,

family, or entire community from danger or disease. The elaborate serpent rituals found in India -
that are intended to prevent blindness, skin diseases and bad fortune - fall into this category.
Commemorative Dances: Involves an entire community and often surround important events on the
calendar, such as summer and winter solstices. Can also celebrate milestones in the lives of
individuals. The Apache perform a dance that is believed to purify girls reaching puberty. The
maypole dance, originally a Christian fertility dance performed by whole communities on the first day
of May, is an example of this type of dance.
Dances for Spiritual Connection: Used as a means of reaching a more spiritual plane and can be used to
express gratitude toward a deity. Can be achieved through the use of a trance-like state. An example
of this is the Native American and Sufi Muslim whirling dervish dances where practitioners spin for
long periods of time.
2. Name the Egyptian dance ritual that was described by Plato eventhough he never observed it. Who
performed it, what movements did it include, and what did it represent?
The Astronomic. Was performed by priests around a central altar representing the sun, the dancers made
signs of the zodiac with their hands while turning rhythmically from east to west, representing the
courses of the planets. After each turn, the dancers froze in place to represent the immobility of
planet Earth.
3. In ancient Greece, what did the revels of Dionysus include, in what century did they evolve, and what did
they evolve into?
The revels of Dionysus were ceremonial celebrations, including processions of noisy, enthusiastic dancers
and singers, led by the priests of Dionysus. They evolved in the 6th century B.C.E., gradually
transforming into choral and dramatic competitions.
4. Dance was a part of the lives of India's earliest civilizations. In Hinduism, two dieties and one avatar integrate
dance into the symbolic relationship between heaven and earth. For each, name the diety or avatar, and
describe how dance was depicted as part of this relationship
Shiva, the god of creation and destruction, is represented posed on one leg as the Lord of the Dance,
describing the act of creation itself as a dance. As Shiva sends pulsating waves of energy outward to
create or destroy, matter is depicted dancing around him as an aureole of fire.
The deity Vishnu is commonly associated with dance, appearing in human form.
Krishna is often depicted carrying a flute and performing circle and serpentine dances with village
maidens.
5. Describe a few important movement and performance aspects of the Hawaiian Hula, noting what years the
Hula was banned, and by whom.

The hula, in performance, often included nudity and rapid hip undulations. Dances for the men involved
juggling burning torches, and overall, the Hula generally was accompanied by fierce chanting, beating
drums and rattling gourds. Performance of the Hula was banned by Christian clergy from 1825 and
1851.
Unit 4: Social Dance
Pre-Assignment
As outlined in the Lihs Social Dance pdf, name and include the attributes and example of the four types of
Social Dances:
Courtship Dances: These dances appear in many forms with reels, double circle dances and couple dances being
the most common. They sometimes follow a pattern of display or flirtation between the sexes. Examples include
the annual courtship dance of the nomadic Wodaabe people of Nigeria, the Hungarian Maidens’ Round, and
couple dances in the Flamenco style from Spain, among others.
Work Dances: These folk dances mimic and celebrate the movement of people in their daily work, creating bonds
between participants. Examples include the reenactment of hunting in The Deer Dance of Mexico’s Yaqui as well
as the net pulling actions done in the Fisherman’s Dance performed by men residing in the coastal town of Vera
Cruz, Mexico
War Dances: Dances in this category display strength and agility, often were originally devised to keep soldiers fit
for battle. Examples include: Capoeira, a Brazilian form of dance and acrobatics which is a martial art under the
guise of dance, as well as the Morris Dance of the British Isles, a recreational folk dance that was originally a war
dance where men make a double file formation in elaborate costumes including ribbons and bells.
Communal Dances: These dances focus on group cooperation, conformity participation, culture, and unity.
Examples include the dances of Bulgaria, performed in lines and circles executing synchronized steps; English and
Irish country dances that emphasize interweaving group patterns and fast footwork; and the Hora, the national
dance of Israel, of which allows for exuberant displays that must be done in unison because of the linked
formation.
As described in the "Sharing the Dance" pdf, a description and definition of contact improvisation is:
Contact improvisation is a spontaneous movement form done in constant contact with another person. The form
uses momentum to move in concert with a partner’s weight, rolling, suspending, leaning, supporting,
counterbalancing, falling, yielding, and resisting while focusing on physical sensations and the ongoing shared flow of
energy.
Partnering: In class vocabulary definitions:

Weight Sharing: Any experience where there is a level of weighted support, often leaning inward to support someone
else’s mass.
Rolling Point of Contact: A Contact Improvisation basic where you maintain the same level of weighted support,
leaning into one another, gradually moving the location of the weight sharing around your bodies.
Aura, Skin, Flesh, Skeleton: The layers of weighted support, in a rolling point of contact or weight sharing experience.
Bonestacking: Refers to the vertical or triangular lines of support in one’s skeleton that provide the level of support
needed to lift someone, often in a Playground shape.
Playground Shapes: The shorthand for any weight sharing position where full body support can safely occur. These,
so far, are: Park Bench, Rock, and the small of the back.
Lead/Follow: Often experienced in handholding or ballroom-type social dance experiences, this refers to the
communication of guiding or listening through the body.
Counterbalance: With a partner, leaning away from each other in support, in order to equalize your masses.
Unit 5: Ballet
In class vocabulary definitions:
1st position: Heels together, toes apart, arms curved in front
2nd position: Heels separated shoulder width apart, toes pointed outward, arms reaching to the sides
Plié: To bend the legs - small = demi, large = grande
Relevé: To rise up onto the balls of the feet
Tendu: To brush into a stretch the foot (front, side, back)
Dégagé: To brush into a disengaged tendu, about 1 foot off the ground (front, side, back)
Attitude: A leg gesture/position beyond degage where the knee is bent
Chassé: To slide and travel where the back/second leg chases the front/first leg. “Plie, Plie, Up”
Sauté: A jump where you use the same number of feet to take off as you do to land
From the pdf: “Ballet” from Learning About Dance By Nora Ambrosio – Terminology, definitions, and application to
Ballet videos (pre-assignment prompt):
Romantic Ballet: Characterized by a passionate striving to discover meaning in human events. Often focused on love,
nature, emotion, power, violence, and tranquility. Ballets of this type often focus on featuring the
female dancer and use mythical places and characters.
Classical Ballet: Usually depicting a storyline - often a fairy tale or fable - elaborate costumes and spectacular scenery
are used. Large, orchestral pieces of music are brought to life by the choreography. Dancers in this
type of ballet are often divided into Principals, Soloists, and Corps de Ballet.
Contemporary Ballet: Often, these ballets are void of a plot or storyline, and the movement is the primary focus.
Depending on the choreographer, content may be edgy, flamboyant, and/or comedic. The
movement vocabulary often uses more freedom in the torso, upper body, and arms.
Giselle (1841) by Jean Coralli, Jules Perrot, and Marius Petipa is a Romantic Ballet. It is categorized as Romantic as per
its use of mythical characters - the “wilis” (a spirit creature), it has longer tutus, features the female dancer, and
revolves around themes of love, nature, and tranquility.

Swan Lake (1895) by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov is a Classical Ballet. It can be classified as classical as per the
spectacular scenery; elaborate costumes; has slightly shorter tutus (as compared to romantic ballet); is tied closely to
the music; and its dancers are divided into three categories but feature the principals – the male and female leads.
Agon (1957) By George Balanchine is a Contemporary Ballet. Agon doesn’t use a set or even costumes beyond what
would be worn for taking ballet class, the dancers are presented as equals on stage, the dance is “plotless,” and the
partnering and movements included in the dance is particulary indicative of a more contemporary cultural approach.
Swan Lake (1995) by Matthew Bourne is a Contemporary Ballet. The dance uses an all-male cast to depict swans as
powerful and agrressive. The edgy and inventive choreography in this work includes some comedy, suggestions of
same-sex love, and partnering that moves well beyond traditional approaches to ballet partnering.
Unit 6: Modern/Post-Modern/Contemporary Dance
From the pdf: Modern, Post-Modern, and Contemporary Dance (Pre-Assignment Prompts):
Modern Dance includes a range of movement forms developed as a revolt against Ballet. Across the first half of the
20th century, the form is characterized by several inventors of training methodologies that sought to embrace new
ways of moving the body.
Post-Modern Dance came about in the mid-20th century and developed due to dancers and choreographers feeling
restricted by the teachings of their predecessors. Post Modern dance can be characterized by being unconventional,
experimental, and abstract, with a focus on movement instead of storyline.
Contemporary Dance denotes a fusion of techniques and styles, drawing on influences from modern, ballet, jazz, and
dances from a range of cultures.
Isadora Duncan is credited by many dance historians as being the first person to present Modern Dancing to the
public. She was inspired by the movement of the trees, ocean and all of nature. Her movement technique primarily
included hopping, running, swaying, and skipping. She believed that the solar plexus was the center of the body, from
which all movements were generated.
Martha Graham's choreography focused on psychological issues, inside of pieces relating to American life, Native
Americans, and Greek mythology. Her technique demonstrated contraction and release through the center of the
body. Appalachian Spring (1944) and Cave of the Heart (1946) are two of her most famous works.
Doris Humphrey was a choreographer and educator who partnered with Charles Weidman to develop the technique
known for Fall and Recovery. The technique stressed specific rhythms, dynamics, and the use of breath phrasing.

Merce Cunningham's "new style of choreography" revolved around the idea of “movement for movement’s sake:”
movement was the primary focus of any given work, and didn’t include any storyline. In order to "break old habits
and create new and exciting moments in his dances," he used “chance” and “indeterminancy” - like a toss of a coin -
in determining the order of movement sequences, dancers’ direction and floor patterns.
The Judson Dance Theatre was a group of dancers determined to reject the conventional teachings of their
predecessors. They performed in places other than theatres, like gyms, city streets and rooftops. They used
improvisation, theatre games and other experiments in evoking the look and feel of the “Happenings” of the 1960s
avant garde.
Trisha Brown was known for choreographing complexity out of the repetition of simple movement patterns. Her
piece Accumulation (1971) depicts this approach.
Pina Baush, who hails from Germany, is the founder of Wuppertaler Tanztheatre. Her work combines dance and
theatre to create disturbing pictures of real-life situations almost always based on the male female relationship,
showed in a bleak and disturbing way.
Videos
Know important aspects of their descriptions, so you can match the video to its description.
Religion Unit:
Alarmel Valli: Famous Bharata Natyam dancer who discussed connecting spiritually through her movements which
was like writing her own poetry. Why I Dance | Alarmel Valli | Kalanidhi Dance and IndianRaga
Holo Mai Pele: Traditional Hula dance telling the historically, culturally, and religiously important story of Pele -
goddess of the volcano, and her youngest sister, Hi'iaka. Transporting viewers and performers from
one world into another, the dance depicts the myth of the volcanic nature of the Hawaiian islands.
Holo Mai Pele
Ballet Unit:
Agon (1957): Contemporary ballet by George Balanchine, important in the development of “American” Ballet. One of
the most famous sections is the “Duet” from Agon, which upended gender norms in ballet partnering
at the time. Igor Stravinsky: Agon
Giselle (1841): This Romantic Ballet was Choreographed by Jean Corally and Jules Perrot. The 1977 video of American
Ballet Theatre we viewed featured Natalia Makarova as Giselle, Mikhail Baryshnikov as Albrecht.
"Giselle" ABT 1977 Part 9 (Act II Grand Pas de Deux)
Swan Lake (1895): Classical Ballet by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov with music by Thaikovsky. Balletto di Teatro alla
Scala: Swan Lake - Petipa, Ivanov and Ratmansky (2016)
Swan Lake (1995): Contemporary ballet by Matthew Bourne, using the music of Thakovsky and an all-male cast.
Matthew Bourne ́s Swan Lake, 2012 - swan dance - long
Modern/Post-Modern/Contemporary Unit:

Revelations (1960): Modern Dance work by Alvin Ailey, celebrates African-American identity through the use of
Spirituals. Revelations - Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater
Rite of Spring (1975): Modern dance work by German choreographer Pina Bausch, where the floor was covered in
dirt. Stravinsky- Rite of Spring "Opening"
D-Man in the Waters (1989): This dance, performed by the Bill T. Jones / Arnie Zane Dance Company, was created to
celebrate the life of a company member who had passed away from AIDS. Because that person loved
to swim, swimming motifs occur throughout the dance. https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=VgXiwkaqJnE
Rosas Danst Rosas (1983): This theatrical modern dance work by Belgian choreographer Anne Teresa De
Keersmaecher utilizes repetition, meticulous gradations across Effort, and setting to suggest
something psychological. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XaifFARSNm0&t=678s
Accumulation (1971): Choreographed by Trisha Brown, this piece turns simple, fundamental motor patterns into
something visually and kinesthetically complicated. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86I6icDKH3M
Re- (Part III) (2009): Choreographed by Shen Wei, is inspired by his traditional training and forty days he spent on the
silk road in China. The piece fuses modern, and post-modern aesthetics.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7v54m4OSJtU