Dance

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Dance

Modern dance

Originating culture

various

Originating era

Antiquity

Dance is a type of art that generally refers to movement of the body, usually rhythmic and to music,
[1]

performed in many different cultures and used as a form of expression,social interaction or

presented in a spiritual or performance setting. Dance may also be regarded as a form of nonverbal communication between humans, and is also performed by other animals (bee dance, patterns of behaviour such as a mating

dance). Gymnastics, figure skating and synchronized swimming are sports that incorporate dance, while martial arts kata are often compared to dances. Motion in ordinarily inanimate objects may also be described as dances (the leaves danced in the wind). Definitions of what constitutes dance are dependent on social, cultural, aesthetic,artistic and moral constraints and range from functional movement (such as folk dance) to virtuoso techniques such as ballet. Dance can be participatory, social or performedfor an audience. It can also be ceremonial, competitive or erotic. Dance movements may be without significance in themselves, such as in ballet or European folk dance, or have a gestural vocabulary/symbolic system as in many Asian dances. Dance can embody or express ideas, emotions or tell a story. Dancing has evolved many styles. Breakdancing and Krumping are related to the hip hop culture. African dance is interpretative. Ballet, Ballroom, Waltz, and Tango are classical styles of dance while Square Dance and the Electric Slide are forms of step dances. Every dance, no matter what style, has something in common. It not only involves flexibility and body movement, but also physics. If the proper physics are not taken into consideration, injuries may occur. Choreography is the art of creating dances. The person who creates (i.e., choreographs) a dance is known as the choreographer.
Contents
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1 Origins and history 2 Classification and genres 2.1 Dancing and music 3 Dance studies and techniques 4 Dance competitions 5 Occupations 6 By ethnicity or region 6.1 India

6.1.1 Bhangra in the Punjab 6.1.2 Dances of Sri Lanka 6.2 In Europe and North America 6.2.1 Concert (or performance) dance 6.2.1.1 Ballet


7 See also 8 References 9 External links

6.2.1.2 20th-century concert dance 6.2.2 The influence of African American dance

Origins and history

Main article: History of dance

Ancient Greek bronze statuette of a veiled and masked dancer, 3rd - 2nd century BC, found in Alexandria, Egypt.

Dance does not leave behind clearly identifiable physical artifacts such as stone tools, hunting implements or cave paintings. It is not possible to say when dance became part of human culture. Joseph Jordania recently suggested, that dance, together with rhythmic music and body painting, was designed by the forces of natural selection at the early stage of hominid evolution as a potent tool to put groups of human ancestors in a battle trance, a specificaltered state of consciousness. In this state hominids were losing their individual identity and were acquiring collective identity.[2] Jonathan Pieslak's research shows, that some contemporary military units use loud group singing and dancing in order to prepare themselves for the dangerous combat missions.[3] According to Jordania, this trance-inducing ability of dance comes from human evolutionary past and includes as well a phenomenon of military drill[4] which is also based on shared rhythmic and monotonous group activity.

Dance has certainly been an important part of ceremony, rituals, celebrations andentertainment since before the birth of the earliest human civilizations. Archeology delivers traces of dance from prehistoric times such as the 9,000 year old Rock Shelters of Bhimbetka paintings in India and Egyptian tomb paintings depicting dancing figures from c. 3300 BC. One of the earliest structured uses of dances may have been in the performance and in the telling of myths. It was also sometimes used to show feelings for one of the opposite gender. It is also linked to the origin of "love making." Before the production of written languages, dance was one of the methods of passing these stories down from generation to generation.[5] Another early use of dance may have been as a precursor to ecstatic trance states in healing rituals. Dance is still used for this purpose by many cultures from the Brazilian rainforest to the Kalahari Desert.[6] Sri Lankan dances goes back to the mythological times of aboriginal yingyang twins and "yakkas" (devils). According to a Sinhalese legend, Kandyan dances originated 250 years ago, from a magic ritual that broke the spell on a bewitched king. Many contemporary dance forms can be traced back to historical, traditional, ceremonial, and ethnic dance.
Partner Dancing in Art

Dance at Bougival byPierre-Auguste Renoir(188283)

Eadweard Muybridge's phenakistoscope "A Couple Waltzing" (c.1893)

Classification and genres

Main articles: List of basic dance topics and List of dances Dance categories by number of interacting dancers are mainly solo dance, partner dance and group dance. Dance is performed for various purposes like ceremonial dance, erotic dance, performance dance, social dance etc.

Dancing and music

See also: Category:Music genres Many early forms of music and dance were created and performed together. This paired development has continued through the ages with dance/music forms such as: jig, waltz, tango, disco, salsa,electronica and hip-hop. Some musical genres have a parallel dance form such as baroque music and baroque dance; others, such as classical music and classical ballet, developed separately. Although dance is often accompanied by music, it can also be presented independently or provide its own accompaniment (tap dance). Dance presented with music may or may not be performed in time to the music depending on the style of dance. Dance performed without music is said to be danced to its own rhythm[citation needed]. Ballroom dancing is a dance art form which combines athletic fitness with artistically skillful dance steps.

Saman Dance from Gayo people of Sumatra,Indonesia

Morris dancing in the grounds of Wells Cathedral,Wells, England

An amateur dancesport competition at MIT

Professional dancers at the Tropicana Club,Havana, Cuba, in 2008

Dance studies and techniques

See also: Dance theory, Choreography, and Dance moves In the early 1920s, dance studies (dance practice, critical theory, Musical analysisand history) began to be considered an academic discipline. Today these studies are an integral part of many universities' arts and humanities programs. By the late 20th century the recognition of practical knowledge as equal to academic knowledge led to the emergence of practice research and practice as research. A large range of dance courses are available including:

Professional practice: performance and technical skills Practice research: choreography and performance Ethnochoreology, encompassing the dance-related aspects of: anthropology,cultural

studies, gender studies, area studies, postcolonial theory, ethnography, etc.

Dance therapy, or dance-movement therapy Dance and technology: new media and performance technologies Laban Movement Analysis and somatic studies

Academic degrees are available from BA (Hons) to PhD and other postdoctoralfellowships, with some dance scholars taking up their studies as mature studentsafter a professional dance career.

Dance competitions
A dance competition is an organized event in which contestants perform dances before a judge or judges for awards, and in some cases, monetary prizes. There are several major types of dance competitions, distinguished primarily by the style or styles of dances performed. Major types of dance competitions include:

Competitive dance, in which a variety of theater dance styles such as: acro,ballet, jazz, hip-

hop, lyrical, and tap, are permitted.

Open competitions, that permit a wide variety of dance styles. A popular example of this is the

TV program So You Think You Can Dance.

Dancesport, which is focused exclusively on ballroom and latin dance. Popular examples of

this are TV programs Dancing with the Stars and Strictly Come Dancing.

Single-style competitions, such as; highland dance, dance team, and Irish dance, that only

permit a single dance style.

Today, there are various dances and dance show competitions on television and the Internet.

The Elements of Dance:

Body

The art of dance takes place in and through the human body. The renowned dance critic Walter Terry commented: No paints nor brushes, marbles nor chisels, pianos or violins are needed to make this art, for we are the stuff that dance is made of. It is born in our body, exists in our body and dies in our body. Dance, then, is the most personal of all the arts . . . it springs from the very breath of life. * In dance, the body is the mobile figure or shape, felt by the dancer, seen by others. The body is sometimes relatively still and sometimes changing as the dancer moves in place or travels through the dance area. Dancers may emphasize specific parts of their body in a dance phrase or their whole body. When we look at a dancer's whole body we might consider the overall shape design; is it symmetrical? twisted? Another way to describe the body in dance is to consider the body systemsmuscles, bones, organs, breath, balance, reflexes. We could describe how the skeletal system or breath is used, for example. The body is the conduit between the inner realm of Intentions, ideas, emotions and identity and the outer realm of expression and communication. Whether watching dance or dancing ourselves, we shift back and forth between the inner~outer sense of body.

Action

Action is any human movement included in the act of dancingit can include dance steps, facial movements, lifts, carries, and catches, and even everyday movements such as walking. Dancers may choose movement that has been done before, or they may add their own original movements to the existing dance movement vocabulary. Dancers may also revise or embellish movement they have learned from others. Dance is made up of streams of movement and pauses, so action refers not only to steps and sequences, but also to pauses and moments of relative stillness. Movement that travels through space is broadly called locomotor movement in contrast to axial movement, which occurs in one spot. Understanding and discussing action does not require extensive dance terminology since movement can be categorized and described according to its qualities. For example, while a sashay in American Square Dance might be called a chass in Ballet or an undercurve in Modern Dance technique, we can also describe it as a slide since that essential characteristic is present in all those steps.

Space

There are countless variations and combinations of ways that movement can occur in space.Dancers interact with space in myriad ways. They may stay in one place and move parts of their body or their whole body, or they may travel from one place to another. They may alter the direction, level, size, and pathways of their movements. Dancers may focus their movement and attention outwardly to the space or inwardly, into themselves. The line of travel may be quite direct towards one or more points in space or indefinite and meandering. The dance may take place in one corner of a stage or in a big open circle outdoors with the entire community surrounding the dancers. Dancers may also orient their movement towards objects or in relation to natural settings.

Sometimes dances are created for specific locations such as an elevator or on a barge for sitebased performances. Spatial relationships between dancers or between dancers and objects are the basis for design concepts such as beside, in front of, over, through, around, near or far.

Time

The keyword for the element of time is when. Human movement is naturally rhythmic in the broad sense that we alternate activity and rest. Breath and waves are examples of rhythms in nature that repeat, but not as consistently as in a meter. Spoken word and conversation have rhythm and dynamics, but the patterns are characteristically more inconsistent and unpredictable. Rhythmic patterns may be metered or free rhythm. Much of western music uses repeating patterns (2/4 or 3/4 for example), but the concepts of time and meter are used very differently throughout the world. Dance movements may also show different timing relationships such as simultaneous or sequential timing; or brief to long duration; fast to slow speed; or accents in predictable or unpredictable intervals. Time may also be organized in other ways including clock time, sensed time, and eventsequence. Dancers may take sight cues from each other to start the next phrase or use a shared sense of sensed time to end a dance. They may even take cues from an event such as a train whistle during an outdoor dance performance. The inherent rhythms in our movement and our aural landscape are a rich source of variation in dance.

Energy

Energy is about howit refers to the force of an action and can mean both the physical and psychic energy that drives and characterizes movement. Choices about energy include variations in movement flow and use of force, tension, and weight. A run might be free flowing or easily stopped, and it may be powerful or gentle, tight or loose, heavy or light. A dancer may step into an arabesque position with a sharp, percussive attack or with light, flowing ease. Energy may change in an instant, and several types of energy may be concurrently in play. Energy choices may also reveal emotional states. For example, a powerful push might be aggressive or playfully boisterous depending on the intent and situation. A delicate touch might appear affectionate or uncertain, or perhaps suggest concern. Some types of energy can be expressed in words, others spring from the movement itself and are difficult to label with language. Sometimes differences in the use of energy are easy to perceive; other times these differences can be quite subtle and ambiguous. Perhaps more so than the other elements, energy taps into the nonverbal yet deeply communicative realm of dance.

Dance seems to be a lot like ice cream flavors...it's so hard to choose just one. If you are thinking of trying out a new dance style, there may be a few you haven't even considered. Check out this list of dance genres and see which one appeals to you. There are many fun types of dance, you may need to sample a few to find your favorite. Ballet

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Ballet serves as a backbone for many other styles of dance, as many other dance genres are based on ballet. Ballet is based on techniques that have been developed over centuries. Ballet uses music and dance to tell stories. Ballet dancers have the ability to transport an audience to another world.

Ads Looking for Maximum Dance?Find Maximum Dance on Facebook. Sign Up Free Now! www.Facebook.com Stars Dancewear Deal:Hot Selection, Free Shipping on Orders over $150. Buy Now & Savewww.StarsDancewear.net 19th Cent. social DancesWorkshop with Paolo Di Segni - Rome (Italy) August 1-8 2012ilteatrodellamemoria.wordpress.com/ Jazz

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Jazz is a fun dance style that relies heavily on originality and improvisation. Many jazz dancers mix different styles into their dancing, incorporating their own expression. Jazz dancing often uses bold, dramatic body movements, including body isolations and contractions. Tap
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Tap dancing is an exciting form of dance in which dancers wear special shoes equipped with metal taps. Tap dancers use their feet like drums to create rhythmic patterns and timely beats. Hip-Hop

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Hip-hop is a dance style, usually danced to hip-hop music, that evolved from the hip-hop culture. Hip-hop includes various moves such as breaking, popping, locking and krumping, and even house dance. Improvisation and personal interpretation are essential to hip-hop dancing. Modern

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Modern dance is a dance style that rejects many of the strict rules of classical ballet, focusing instead on the expression of inner feelings. Modern dance was created as a rebellion against classical ballet, emphasizing creativity in choreography and performance. Swing

Swing dance is a lively dance style in which couples swing, spin and jump together. Swing dancing is a general term that means dancing to swing music, or music that "swings." How can you tell if a song swings? Swing dancers know when a song swings because when they hear it, they can't stand still. Contra Dance

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Betty Ann Sather / Great Meadow Music

Contra dance is a form of American folk dance in which the dancers form two parallel lines and perform a sequence of dance movements with different partners down the length of the line. Contra dances are relaxed with family-like atmospheres. The dancing is excellent exercise, and dancers can set their own pace. Contra dancers are usually friendly, active people with a love of dance. Country and Western

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Country and western dance includes several dance forms, usually danced to country-western music. If you've ever been to a country and western club or tavern, you've probably seen a few cowboy boot-wearing dancers twirling around the dance floor with big smiles on their faces. Ads Summer Dance IntensiveVermont Performing Experience for Dancers ages 11 and upwww.BurklynBallet.com Learn to Sail MontaukIntro to Sailing,Keel Boat Courses, Teen Camp,Private Lessons and more!www.sailmontauk.com Belly Dance

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Belly dance is a unique form of dance characterized by sharp, rolling movements of the hips and abdomen. The true origins of belly dancing are debated among enthusiasts. Flamenco

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Flamenco dance is an expressive dance form that mixes percussive footwork with intricate hand, arm and body movements. Flamenco is a Spanish art consisting of three forms: Cante, the song, Baile, the dance, and Guitarra, guitar playing. . Latin Dance

Stockbyte / Getty Images

Latin dance is a fast-paced, often sensual, partner dance characterized by sexy hip movements. However, hip movements are not intentional in any of the Latin dances. The hip motion is a natural consequence of changing weight from one foot to the other. Folk Dance

Folk dance refers to a variety of dances developed by groups or communities, as opposed to being made up by a choreographer. There are several types of folk dance including clogging, English country dance, international folk dance, Irish dance, Maypole dance, Morris dance, Nordic polska dance, square dance, and many more. Folk dances are often performed at social events.

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