Adagio: Adagio means slow, in ballet and dance it means a slow, sustained movement In music notation, Adagio means “slowly.” In dance and ballet, the word adagio does not refer to the music accompaniment, but to the type of ballet movement being done.

In classical ballet classes, there is often an Adagio portion of the class that concentrates on slow, sustained movements to improve the dancer’s ability to control the leg and increase skills to full extension.