fan dances

Noun

fan dance (plural fan dances)

1. (performing arts) A dance performance incorporating the artful use of fans.
   • Gracefully he led the fan dance, and glided without a pause into the shadow dance and the umbrella dance.1903, Andrew Lang, “The Magic Kettle”, in The Crimson Fairy Book
2. (performing arts) A stage performance or striptease in which a female entertainer disrobes while dancing with large hand-held fans that are alternately used to conceal and provide glimpses of her erogenous body regions.
   • Undaunted Ming-Toy did a sinuous, undulating fan dance before the Imperial Daughters of the British Empire, then, at the last moment, showed what she thinks of them by raising her fans and standing starkly revealed in red underdrawers.1935 April 22, “Canada: Ming-Toy's Revenge”, in Time
3. (broadly, figuratively, idiomatic) The incremental disclosure of tantalizing bits of information.
   • In what may be the most farcical episode of an 18-month-long fan dance, baseball players and ownership will sit down Monday in Los Angeles to discuss "non-economic issues" regarding the expired collective bargaining agreement.1994 May 22, Thomas Stinson, “Labor talks: Much ado about nothing”, in Atlanta Journal-Constitution, retrieved 28 May 2013

   Synonyms:

   dance of the seven veils

See all 4 meanings of fan dance