cadencia

Cadencia, or cadence, is a term used in Spanish-language contexts to describe patterns of rhythm and closure in music as well as pacing in movement and dance. It denotes both the end of a musical phrase and the tempo or rate of a movement, depending on the discipline.

In music theory, a cadence is a harmonic progression that signals the end of a phrase or section. The Spanish terminology covers several standard types: authentic cadence (cadencia auténtica), typically V–I, delivering a strong sense of finality; imperfect authentic cadence (cadencia auténtica imperfecta), when the tonic is not in the soprano or one chord is inverted; plagal cadence (cadencia plagal), IV–I, often described as a softer closure; half cadence (cadencia de media), ending on V and leaving the phrase unresolved; and deceptive cadence (cadencia engañosa), V–vi, which avoids a conclusive I.

Outside pure harmony, cadencia refers to the pacing of movement. In walking or running, cadence is the rate per minute of steps and is used as a metric for efficiency and injury avoidance. In dance, cadencias describe the rhythmic patterns and timing of steps in relation to the music.

The term is widely used across Spanish-speaking communities in music and dance, and it shares its core concept with cadence in English: a patterned articulation of time that punctuation and shapes musical or physical activity.