Professional fans who provide applause and ovations for certain dancers or performers: Roman emperors are said to have trained expert claqueurs to mingle with crowds to give roars of approval at specific times so the emperors appeared to have the support of the people.

Such behavior of people was refined in the theaters of 18th and 19th-century France, where the term claqueur, or someone who claps, was coined.

Why do performing artists need claqueurs? Some performers like to have a few extra seconds to catch their breaths between the end of an adagio and the beginning of a variation.

Dancers of the Bolshoi rarely talk in public about the existence of claqueurs for self-preservation even when the artist has confidence and doesn't feel the need for guaranteed applause any more; however, some of the Bolshoi's claqueurs are known as 'thin-skinned and vengeful', and they can come up with a variety of strategies for disturbing the performances of any uncooperative dancer.