A Move with a Flourish

A Move with a Flourish

In the character's phrase: «such moves with a kandibober he was busting out» two layers of vocabulary are fused: dance terminology and vernacular folklore, producing an ironic, grotesque effect.

The word «kandibober» (also found as «kandebober», «skandibober») has a rich history of use in Russian colloquial and literary speech. Originally it denoted an ornate headdress, often eccentric and deliberately showy, and later came to be used more broadly for anything unusual, flashy, attention-grabbing, or deliberately effect-driven. Ushakov's dictionary records it only in the fixed phrase «s kandiboberom» — meaning with a flourish, boldly, in style.

In literature, «kandibober» was often used as a comic or ironic touch, underscoring the unusualness of someone's appearance or behavior: from describing the fantastical hairdos of Party activist women (see Nonna Chernyakova) to coarse everyday stories and jokes. The expression gained particular popularity in the post-Soviet period, becoming a symbol of ostentatious, ridiculous, and sometimes «showy» behavior. There are notable cases where the word became a synonym for excess, provocation, or even — in criminal circles — a carefully planned move (see Viktor Pronin's writing).

As for the expression «a move with a kandibober», it's a humorous, metaphorical portmanteau. The word pa (from the French pas) in dance terminology means a move, a step. The phrase can thus be literally read as «a dance move with showing-off» or «a move with flair, with flourish». This isn't a term that exists in actual ballet or choreographic practice, but the author's own coinage, meant to convey the mood of the scene — abandon, alcohol-fueled euphoria, and spontaneous creative extravagance.

In the context of the 1993 novel, where dance becomes a brief form of escape from reality, «a move with a kandibober» symbolizes the character's inner freedom — fleeting, bordering on madness — typical of the post-perestroika cultural and social chaos.