Would you say they were throwing shapes? Photograph:EPA
The fact that dance is a non verbal art form may be the reason why cultures around the world have developed such rich vocabularies for talking about it. Dance certainly features largely in Toujours Tingo, Adam Jacot de Boinod's latest treasury of exotic words and phrases.
Culled from 280 languages, de Boinod's list conjures up a vivid snapshot of the global dancing community - the physical act of dancing, the range of emotions communicated by the human body, plus the bizarre situations in which people feel the urge to dance. You don't need to be any kind of linguist - the colour, the drama and the comedy dance off the page. Courtesy of the author, here are some of the most collectible dance highlights on de Boinod's list.
Menear el bote - to dance or literally, to wiggle your bucket (Latin American Spanish, Mexico) Mbuki-mvuki - to take off your clothes in order to dance (Bantu, Zaire) Pamutas-silya - ladies who go to dances but do not dance (Tagalog, Philippines) Bal paradox - a ball at which women ask men to dance (German) Verbunkos - a dance performed to persuade people to enlist in the army (Hungarian) Pulir hebillas - to polish belt buckles or to dance very closely (Spanish, Central America) Raspar canillas - to scrape shins ie. to dance (Spanish, Central America) Buz-baz - a showman who makes a goat and a monkey dance together (old Persian) Zangu - a dance to immunise adulterous women from the spirit of their dead husbands (Luvale, Zambia) Tomboka - the dance of an executioner (Luvale, Zambia)
And finally one for Christmas
Gamadj - dancing with a scalp in one's hands, in order to receive some presents (Ojibway, North America)
