Forms of visual expression like dance can be difficult to incorporate into the written word. After all, the entire experience is about what the audience is seeing. While an individual scene might be easy or possible to describe every change in position is a new scene and a picture is indeed worth a thousand words. It is the same from tap-dance to the tango.
With a known dance, one that has permeated the culture the author can take the short cut of relying on the knowledge of the audience. Perhaps, 'The child danced a jig from joy.' For more complex but refined dances like ballet there are specific terms that can be used. 'The ballerina stood proudly in arabesque at the end of the set.' But these must be targeted carefully at an audience. To describe a free flow of dancing movement might take pages of effort and requires that the audience be invested if they are to stick with it.
Do any other writers out there have a method for describing scenes of artistic movement?
With a known dance, one that has permeated the culture the author can take the short cut of relying on the knowledge of the audience. Perhaps, 'The child danced a jig from joy.' For more complex but refined dances like ballet there are specific terms that can be used. 'The ballerina stood proudly in arabesque at the end of the set.' But these must be targeted carefully at an audience. To describe a free flow of dancing movement might take pages of effort and requires that the audience be invested if they are to stick with it.
Do any other writers out there have a method for describing scenes of artistic movement?
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