apache dance

American  

[uh-pahsh, uh-pash, uh-pach-ee] / əˈpɑʃ, əˈpæʃ, əˈpætʃ i /

noun

1. a vigorous dance representing a Parisian apache dancing in a rough, domineering way with his woman.

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apache dance British  

noun

1. a fast violent dance in French vaudeville, supposedly between a Parisian gangster and his girl

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Example Sentences

He’s Dad the destroyer, who mapped out the steps for the apache dance that defines his children’s lives.

From New York Times • Jul. 28, 2014

But the broken, jagged heart of this production belongs to Ms. Rodriguez and Mr. Cannavale, who turn their characters’ relationship into a bruising, tragicomic apache dance of love, betrayal and indecision.

From New York Times • Apr. 12, 2011

The result is a bravura hodgepodge of Spanish and gypsy dances, pas de deux, a smattering of light-footed cupids and dryads and, for some obscure reason, a jig resembling a French apache dance.

From Time Magazine Archive

Afterwards came the turn which, notwithstanding the furore caused by Andrea Korust's appearance, was generally considered to be equally responsible for the packed house—the apache dance of Mademoiselle Sophie Celaire.

From Peter Ruff and the Double Four by Oppenheim, E. Phillips (Edward Phillips)

There is nearly as wide a distance separating the courtly dances of the eighteenth century from the cake-walk, and the apache dance from the Irish reel.

From The Book of This and That by Lynd, Robert