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Wilson, Sir Angus

(Encyclopedia)Wilson, Sir Angus, 1913–91, English novelist, b. South Africa. As a novelist, he attempted to delineate a society in which traditional values have lost their force and human relationships are corrup...

Arapaho

(Encyclopedia)Arapaho ərăpˈəhō [key], Native North Americans of the Plains whose language belongs to the Algonquian branch of the Algonquian-Wakashan linguistic stock (see Native American languages). Their own...

performance art

(Encyclopedia)performance art, multimedia art form originating in the 1970s in which performance is the dominant mode of expression. Perfomance art may incorporate such elements as instrumental or electronic music,...

Merian, Matthäus

(Encyclopedia)Merian, Matthäus māˈrēän [key], the elder, 1593–1650, Swiss engraver and draftsman. In Frankfurt am Main from c.1623, he produced, with help from assistants, numerous engravings of battles and...

Karsavina, Tamara

(Encyclopedia)Karsavina, Tamara təmäˈrə Kərsäˈvyĭnə [key], 1885–1978, Russian prima ballerina. Karsavina was trained in the Imperial Theatre School and the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, making her...

music hall

(Encyclopedia)music hall. In England, the Licensing Act of 1737 confined the production of legitimate plays to the two royal theaters—Drury Lane and Covent Garden; the demands for entertainment of the rising lowe...

Halston

(Encyclopedia)Halston, 1932–90, American fashion designer, b. Des Moines, Iowa as Roy Halston Frowick; attended Indiana Univ. and the Art Institute of Chicago. In 1958 he moved to New York City, designing hats fo...

kachina

(Encyclopedia)kachina kəchēˈnə [key], spirit of the invisible life forces of the Pueblo of North America. The kachinas, or kachinam, are impersonated by elaborately costumed masked male members of the tribes wh...

roller skating

(Encyclopedia)roller skating, gliding on a hard, smooth, durable surface on skates with rollers or wheels, in recent years has become a popular adult sport. Skates mounted on wooden rollers date from the 1860s, and...

snipe

(Encyclopedia)snipe, common name for a shore bird of the family Scolopacidae (sandpiper family), native to the Old and New Worlds. The common, or Wilson's snipe (Capella gallinago), also called jacksnipe, is a game...