They always say that Dance is the language of the body. Well, the language of the body definitely has its own vocabulary that goes with it. From baby ballet all the way up into competition or performance dance, us dancers speak to each other in a language foreign to many.
After hearing all of those terms that your coaches/choreographers have yelled at you and taught you for so long, they are permanently ingrained in your brain and it is sometimes hard to hear them in a way that normal human beings would. Whether you danced for one year or ten, you'll probably understand this weird dance language.
1. Frappe
To normal citizens of the world, this word brings to mind a delicious, frozen, coffee drink. To us dancers, however, we think of that step done mostly at the barre one million times to warm up. Frappe means “to strike”, so it makes a lot more sense to me, personally, to think of striking my foot over the ground opposed to coffee, which has noting to do with striking anything.
2. Barre
When people hear us talking about a “barre,” they automatically think of the word “bar”. Instead of going to a packed and dirty establishment to get our drink on, when we say to go to the barre we’re talking about the ballet barre or maybe even pure barre.
3. Attitude
I'm not sure what's worse of an insult, telling a normal person that they have a bad attitude or saying that to a dancer.
4. Fondu
Delicious cheesy substance or another barre move?
5. Squad
Most teens think of there “squad” as their main group of friends or a famous group that is their "squad goals". Dancers think of their team. Instead of being like Taylor Swift and her Bad Blood squad, you team's "squad goals" are to win nationals or perfect your dance.
6. Arial
For most little girls, the "Little Mermaid" will come straight to mind. For many adults, the computer font might spring up in their head. For dancers, visions of tumbling will dance in their heads.
7. Fan
Instead of a device that can cool you off in the hot, summer heat or an avid supporter of an actor or musician, dancers will probably think of a fan kick or a “fan out”/ripple.
8. Combination
In dance class, you learn dance combinations. At school or the gym, you get your locker combination.
9. Marking
When a dancer is told to “just mark it” they internally cry tears of joy in celebration that they can save their energy and not have to perform the dance full out. To normal people, they’d just think they had to write something down or take note of it.
10. Kick
Normal people will think of kicking a soccer ball or kicking someone in self-defense. For many teens, kick refers to an online texting service (you gotta kik bae?) We think of kicking our own faces.
