fan dance

American  

noun

1. a solo dance performed by a nude or nearly nude woman using fans for covering.

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fan dance British  

noun

1. a dance in which large fans are manipulated in front of the body, partially revealing or suggesting nakedness

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Other Word Forms

• fan dancer
  noun

Etymology

Origin of fan dance

First recorded in 1875–80

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

fan dance

Music was blasting from a speaker under the low trees where a troop of elderly ladies were choreographing a fan dance routine.

From BBC ● Dec. 28, 2025

Ultimately, Mr. McConnell agreed to devising a procedural fan dance: A handful of Republican senators will help provide the 60 votes needed to create a one-time fast-track process to raise the debt ceiling.

From Washington Post ● Dec. 8, 2021

The same friend later posted photos of herself and a Han Chinese woman doing a Chinese fan dance, playing the drums and wearing traditional Han clothing.

From Washington Times ● Nov. 29, 2018

Dean’s choreographer, Tamarie Cooper, has created original musical numbers for the production, including a ravishing fan dance with baby-food jars and a soldierly march using buckets and squeegees.

From The New Yorker ● Apr. 7, 2017

Gracefully he led the fan dance, and glided without a pause into the shadow dance and the umbrella dance, and it seemed as if he might go on dancing for ever.

From The Crimson Fairy Book by Lang, Andrew