virtuosity vərʧuˈɑsɪti noun
: great technical skill, fluency or style
The word virtuosity has appeared in 80 articles on NYTimes.com in the past year, including on Jan. 5 in “A Dance Company of ‘Just About the Fastest-Moving People on Earth’” by Marina Harss. It’s about the Georgian National Ballet Sukhishvili:
Dance in Georgia is as dazzling as it is ancient. In the fourth century B.C., the Greek military leader and historian Xenophon described Georgian soldiers dancing on the battlefield, a brazen form of intimidation.
You can see why their opponents might have been impressed. Georgian dance is an art of outrageous virtuosity and athleticism, often meant to indicate prowess at war and in the hunt. The dances are characterized by fiery leaps, sudden drops to the knees, swordplay, spinning jumps and men dancing on the tips of their toes.
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