mai
mai — noun
1. a traditional Japanese dance form known for its slow, restrained movements and e
a traditional Japanese dance form known for its slow, restrained movements and expressive hand gestures, originally performed in Noh theater
Sofia watched a mai dancer glide across the Noh stage, her hands shaping slow circles as she moved.
mai + Noh theater context
Eli's first mai lesson in Kyoto lasted two hours — he never moved faster than a slow walk.
illustrates mai's extremely slow, restrained pace
Last April at the Kitano Tenmangu festival, a mai dancer turned so slowly that her silk sleeves barely rustled.
Chidi noticed how the mai dancer's hand gestures looked like floating petals.
Each morning Farid practised one mai gesture: raising his palm slowly, as if underwater.
- Noh dance
broader term covering all dance within Noh theater; mai is the principal dance style but Noh also includes other movement forms
- odori
lively Japanese folk dance with leaping, energetic movements — the stylistic opposite of mai's slow, grounded restraint
用法筆記
Typically uncountable. Often appears in the phrase 'mai dance' or as 'Noh mai' when referring to the Noh theater tradition specifically.