All About Dance Quiz

Question: Which American dancer was noted for his unique ability to run backward?

Answer: Bill Robinson became a star of African American musical comedies, later a top vaudeville star, and finally a star of motion pictures. His soft-shoe and tap routines were widely copied by other dancers, but Robinson was probably unmatched for ingenuity in creating new steps, especially his famous “stair dance.” He also was famed for a unique ability to run backward—almost as fast as others could run forward.

Question: Which American dancer born in San Francisco paved the way for modern expressive dance?

Answer: Dancer Isadora Duncan was born in San Francisco on May 26, 1877 (or May 27, 1878). Her teaching and performances presaged the development of modern expressive dance, and she was among the first to raise interpretive dance to the status of creative art.

Question: In which art form does the deeply musical dancer fall into a duende, an intensely focused trancelike state of transcendent emotion?

Answer: A deeply musical dancer of flamenco, after a 15- or 20-minute sequence, is said to fall into a duende, an intensely focused trancelike state of transcendent emotion that Federico García Lorca in 1933 described as los sonidos negros (“the dark sounds”) invading the performer's body. This extraordinary state is enhanced by rhythmic hand clapping and encouraging interjections (jaleo) from the audience and fellow performers.

Question: What is a masque?

Answer: A masque is a festival or entertainment in which disguised participants offer gifts to their host and then join for a ceremonial dance. Most likely originating in primitive religious rites and folk ceremonies known as disguising, or mummery, masques evolved into elaborate court spectacles that, under various names, entertained royalty throughout Europe, notably in Renaissance Italy. During the 16th century the European continental masque traveled to Tudor England. 

Question: What American tap dancer became, in 1992, the youngest ever recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts grant?

Answer: American dancer and choreographer Savion Glover became known for his unique pounding style of tap dancing, called “hitting.” In 1990 Glover, who was born in 1973, created his first choreography, for a festival at New York City’s Apollo Theatre. Two years later, in 1992, he became the youngest ever recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts grant.

Question: What is the name of the system of movement that had an enormous influence on 20th-century theatrical dance?

Answer: Eurythmics is harmonious bodily movement as a form of artistic expression—specifically, the Dalcroze system of musical education in which bodily movements are used to represent musical rhythms. To early modern dancers, eurythmics suggested an alternative, nonballetic choreographic technique.

Question: What kind of music and dance is associated with the Andalusian Roma of Spain?

Answer: Flamenco is a form of song, dance, and instrumental (mostly guitar) music commonly associated with the Andalusian Roma of southern Spain. The roots of flamenco are unknown but seem to lie in the Roma migration from Rajasthan (in northwest India) to Spain between the 9th and 14th centuries.

Question: Which of the following dance forms is an Americanized form of quadrille?

Answer: Square dance is an Americanized quadrille. It begins and progresses rapidly in well-ordered patterns within the framework of a relatively compact square, with sets of four couples forming its four sides.