allemande left

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. Move in which two facing dancers take left hands or forearms, turn halfway around to the left, let go, and step forward.

Word forms

allemande left allemande lefts

Etymology

From French allemande (“German”) + left. Contrary to some folk etymologies, this term does not come from the phrase a la main (“by the hand”).

Related words

This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.