Let’s turn to something you may do occasionally or regularly, but each of us has come in contact with at some point — dancing. Russians may not all be good dancers, but there are many social situations where dancing does come up. “To dance” is, of course, танцева́ть. Note the suffix change for present tense forms: танцу́ю, танцу́ешь (not танцеваю). “A dance” is та́нец (plural та́нцы). An older word is пляса́ть/пля́ски (to dance/dances) — this usually refers to folk dances.

Shall We Dance?

Many Russian teenagers (подро́стки) and college students (студе́нты) like going dancing/clubbing at what is called дискоте́ка — ходи́ть на дискоте́ку. An older phrase is ходи́ть на та́нцы, and that can refer to daytime social dancing and not necessarily a nightclub. Many look forward to ме́дленные та́нцы, or colloquially медляки́ (slow dances), as an opportunity to dance with the person you like. Traditionally, the guys are expected to ask the gals to dance (кавале́ры приглаша́ют дам), although it’s not a rigid rule. Бе́лый та́нец is a dance where the ladies ask the gentlemen to dance (да́мы приглаша́ют кавале́ров).

Into the Groove

There are also people who pursue dance more seriously. Some children go to танцева́льные кружки́/се́кции (dance classes with a longer curriculum than the more modular classes adults take). Adults can go на уро́ки та́нцев (to a dance class). Ба́льные та́нцы (ballroom dancing) are a popular category, although people also take classes in other styles like хип-хо́п or брейкда́нс. Finally, there are the rarer genres like ру́сские наро́дные та́нцы (Russian folk dancing, see video below!) or контрада́нсы (English county dance — think of your Jane Austen novel re-enactment).

I find it ironic that Russia is known abroad for its ballet (бале́т), but ballet really isn’t something your average person, especially an adult, can easily pursue there. Ballet schools (бале́тные шко́лы) are more like a closed-off caste you need to join in your pre-teens and commit to a serious competitive career — or drop out.

Whatever the style, a dancer (танцо́р) needs to rehearse (репети́ровать) their dance. Then they perform (выступа́ют — takes no object; to say “perform a dance,” you say “испо́лнить та́нец,” although that sounds a little clunky). Dances (танцы) are performed at конце́рты (concerts) or выступле́ния (performances).

Dance Idioms

I’d like to finish this post with some funny sayings that have to do with dance:

Плохо́му танцо́ру но́ги меша́ют — literally, “His own legs get in the way for a bad dancer.” This is used to talk about someone making excuses about something preventing them from succeeding when, in fact, it’s their ineptitude.

В те́мпе ва́льса — originally a musical term referring to a waltz tempo, it now means, “quickly,” chop chop.”

Плясат́ь под чужу́ю ду́дку — to dance to someone else’s tune, to do someone else’s bidding