divertissement

This 1898 divertissement by Marius Petipa, to the melodious music of Alexander Glazunov, is accented with moves shaped by Hungarian folk dance and has long been a staple of various classical ballet companies.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 18, 2026

The loveliest expression of these is in the second act, where the enchanted forest is replaced by a pure-dance divertissement.

From Washington Post ● Jun. 10, 2022

This stitched-together divertissement, complete with dance sequences and musical interludes, opens itself up to alterations, rearrangements and modern liberties.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 17, 2016

Tricia Albertson, partnered by Rainer Krenstetter, led the Act II divertissement in the pas de deux that becomes the ballet’s epitome of harmonious love and chivalrous devotion.

From New York Times ● Mar. 20, 2016

With a slight splash, Matthew began scooping quartered slices of peaches into his mouth with such a zealous sucking and slurping that even his father paused to witness the divertissement.

From "The Great Santini" by Pat Conroy

He followed it with a succession of intensely theatrical divertissements, often revolving around unexpected intellectual conceits or bizarre juxtapositions and featuring brilliant dialogue, puns, repartee, double meanings and misunderstandings.

From BBC ● Nov. 29, 2025

Whole numbers were excised, though Prokofiev was able to salvage some of the divertissements elsewhere in the score.

From New York Times ● Jan. 23, 2018

To prove he was worth his salt in card-sharking, Fallon asked Reynolds to engage in a friendly game of Slapjack, yet another one of Fallon’s twisted divertissements.

From Time ● Sep. 22, 2015

The divertissements that take up most of act two are the weakest theatrical element of the ballet.

From The Guardian ● Dec. 18, 2012

I could only watch the others indulge in their divertissements, a lonely and wistful outsider.

From The Strange Adventures of Mr. Middleton by Wardon Allan Curtis