Introduction
Dance is a performing art form consisting of purposefully selected sequences of human movement. This movement has aesthetic and symbolic value, and is acknowledged as dance by performers and observers within a particular culture. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoire of movements, or by its historical period or place of origin.
An important distinction is to be drawn between the contexts of theatrical and participatory dance, although these two categories are not always completely separate; both may have special functions, whether social, ceremonial, competitive, erotic, martial, or sacred/liturgical. Other forms of human movement are sometimes said to have a dance-like quality, including martial arts, gymnastics, cheerleading, figure skating, synchronized swimming, marching bands, and many other forms of athletics.
Selected general articles
Russian folk dance is an important part of Russian culture. Some of the unique characteristics suggest that many elements were developed by the early Russian population. Russian dances were also influenced by cultures from eastern Orient and western Occident. Read more...
Danish folk dance is characterized by being easy going, gentle, and relatively easy to learn. Danish folk dance is mainly a social dance involving groups or groups of couples of dancers, often designed for large gatherings. The dances were supposed to be simple enough for everyone to join in. Danish folk dances are made for social and educational purposes, generally speaking not for exhibitional purposes.
The canonized history of Danish folk dance highlights a performance by Philochoros in Copenhagen in 1899 with some Danish students in the audience as a triggering factor. The students were immediately so inspired that they started a folk dance club. In 1901 some of the same students who were now students of gymnastics founded a formal organization, the Danish Association for the Promotion of Folk-Dancing (Foreningen til Folkedansens Fremme). Read more...
Modern social round dancing is choreographed and cued ballroom dancing that progresses in a circular pattern, counter-clockwise around the dance floor. The two major categories of ballroom rhythm found in round dancing are the smooth or international rhythms, such as foxtrot and waltz, and the Latin rhythms, such as cha-cha and rhumba. It is not to be confused with circle dancing, which is a type of folk dance where dancers are connected in a circular chain. Read more...- In some types of partner dance, lead and follow are designations for the two dancers comprising a dance couple. In the case of mixed-sex couples, the male is traditionally the Lead and the female is the Follow. The Lead is responsible for guiding the couple and initiating transitions to different dance steps and, in improvised dances, for choosing the dance steps to perform. The Lead communicates choices to the Follow and directs the Follow by means of subtle physical and visual signals, thereby allowing the couple to be smoothly coordinated. Read more...
- Ballet technique is the foundational principles of body movement and form used in ballet. It is an important aspect of ballet performance because ballet (especially classical ballet) puts great emphasis on the method and execution of movement. The techniques found in classical ballet are a framework for many other styles of dance, including jazz and contemporary ballet.
Aspects of ballet technique include alignment, which refers to keeping the head, shoulders, and hips vertically aligned. Turnout refers to completing movements with legs rotated outward; this promotes clean footwork, graceful port de bras (movement of the arms), and correct body positions, lines and angles. Other aspects of ballet technique include posture, toe pointing, keeping shoulders down, and pulling up, which combines proper posture and lifting of the muscles to increase turnout and enhance alignment and thus improve the quality of turns. Ballet technique is also used to exhibit ballon, the appearance of gravity-defying lightness, during leaps. Pointe technique is the part of ballet technique concerned with dancing on the tips of fully extended feet. Read more...
Dancing mania (also known as dancing plague, choreomania, St. John's Dance and St. Vitus's Dance) was a social phenomenon that occurred primarily in mainland Europe between the 14th and 17th centuries. It involved groups of people dancing erratically, sometimes thousands at a time. The mania affected men, women, and children who danced until they collapsed from exhaustion. One of the first major outbreaks was in Aachen, in the Holy Roman Empire, in 1374, and it quickly spread throughout Europe; one particularly notable outbreak occurred in Strasbourg in 1518, also in the Holy Roman Empire.
Affecting thousands of people across several centuries, dancing mania was not an isolated event, and was well documented in contemporary reports. It was nevertheless poorly understood, and remedies were based on guesswork. Generally, musicians accompanied dancers, to help ward off the mania, but this tactic sometimes backfired by encouraging more to join in. There is no consensus among modern-day scholars as to the cause of dancing mania. Read more...- Swing dance is a group of dances that developed with the swing style of jazz music in the 1920s–1940s, with the origins of each dance predating the popular "swing era". During the swing era, there were hundreds of styles of swing dancing, but those that have survived beyond that era include: Lindy Hop, Balboa, Collegiate Shag, and Charleston. Today, the most well-known of these dances is the Lindy Hop, which originated in Harlem in the early 1930s. While the majority of swing dances began in African American communities as vernacular African American dances, some swing era dances, like Balboa, developed outside of these communities.
Somewhat surprisingly, "swing dance" was not commonly used to identify a group of dances until the latter half of the 20th century. Historically, the term "Swing" referred to the style of jazz music, which inspired the evolution of the dance. Jitterbug is an umbrella term that denotes all forms of swing dance, though it is often used as a synonym for the six-count derivative of Lindy Hop called "East Coast Swing". It was also common to use the word to identify a kind of dancer (i.e., a swing dancer). A "jitterbug" might prefer to dance Lindy Hop, Shag, or any of the other swing dances. The term was famously associated with swing era band leader Cab Calloway because, as he put it, "[The dancers] look like a bunch of jitterbugs out there on the floor due to their fast, often bouncy movements." Read more...
African dance refers mainly to the dance of Sub-Saharan Africa, and more appropriately African dances because of the many cultural differences in musical and movement styles. These dances must be viewed in close connection with Sub-Saharan African music traditions and Bantu cultivation of rhythm. African dance utilizes the concept of as well as total body articulation.
Dances teach social patterns and values and help people work, mature, praise or criticize members of the community while celebrating festivals and funerals, competing, reciting history, proverbs and poetry; and to encounter gods. African dances are largely participatory, with spectators being part of the performance. With the exception of some spiritual, religious or initiation dances, there are traditionally no barriers between dancers and onlookers. Even ritual dances often have a time when spectators participate. Read more...
Austrian folk dancing (see Austria) is mostly associated with Schuhplattler, Ländler, Polka
or Waltz. However, there are other dances such as Zwiefacher, Kontratänze and Sprachinseltänze. Read more...
A line dance is a choreographed dance with a repeated sequence of steps in which a group of people dance in one or more lines or rows, all facing either each other or in the same direction, and executing the steps at the same time. Unlike circle dancing, line dancers are not in physical contact with each other.
Line dancing is practiced and learned in country-western dance bars, social clubs, dance clubs and ballrooms. It is sometimes combined on dance programs with other forms of country-western dance, such as two-step, western promenade dances, and as well as western-style variants of the waltz, polka and swing. Line dances have accompanied many popular music styles since the early 1970s including pop, swing, rock and roll, disco, Latin (salsa suelta), rhythm and blues and jazz. Read more...
Tap dance is a type of dance characterized by using the sounds of tap shoes striking the floor as a form of percussion. The sound is made by shoes that have a metal "tap" on the heel and toe. There are several major variations on tap dance including: flamenco, rhythm (jazz) tap, classical tap, Broadway tap, and post-modern tap. Broadway tap is rooted in English theatrical tradition and often focuses on formations, choreography and generally less complex rhythms; it is widely performed in musical theatre. Rhythm tap focuses on musicality, and practitioners consider themselves to be a part of the jazz tradition. Classical tap has a similarly long tradition which marries European "classical" music with American foot drumming with a wide variation in full-body expression. Post-modern or contemporary tap has emerged over the last three decades to incorporate abstract expression, thematic narrative and technology.
There are different brands of shoes which sometimes differ in the way they sound. "Soft-shoe" is a rhythm form of tap dancing that does not require special shoes, and though rhythm is generated by tapping of the feet, it also uses sliding of the feet (even sometimes using scattered sand on the stage to enhance the sound of sliding feet) more often than modern rhythm tap. It produced what is currently considered to be modern tap, but has since declined in popularity. Read more...
Country/western dance, also called country and western dance, encompasses many dance forms or styles, which are typically danced to country-western music, and which are stylistically associated with American country and/or western traditions. Many of these dances were "tried and true" dance steps that had been "put aside" for many years, and became popular under the name(s) "country-western", "cowboy", or "country".
Country dancing is also known as "kicker dancing" in Texas. Read more...
The traditional Georgian dance (Georgian: ქართული ცეკვა) was born at the intersection of two cultural worlds, the European and the Asian. Despite successive invasions, Mongolian, Persian, Ottoman and Russian, it has retained its own characteristics.
Two folk dances, Perkhuli and Khorumi, are inscribed on the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Georgia list. Read more...
Latin dance is a general label, and a term in partner dance competition jargon. It refers to types of ballroom dance and folk dance that (with few exceptions) originated in Latin America.
The category of Latin dances in the international dancesport competitions consists of the cha-cha-cha, rumba, samba, paso doble, and also the jive of United States origin. Read more...- Bulgarian folk dances are intimately related to the music of Bulgaria. This distinctive feature of Balkan folk music is the asymmetrical meter, built up around various combinations of 'quick' and 'slow' beats. The music, in Western musical notation, is often described using compound meter notation, where the notational meter accents, i.e., the heard beats, can be of different lengths, usually 1, 2, 3, or 4. Many Bulgarian dances are line dances, in which the dancers dance in a straight or curved line, holding hands. Read more...
Graham technique is a modern dance movement style and pedagogy created by American dancer and choreographer Martha Graham (1894–1991). Graham technique has been called the "cornerstone" of American modern dance, and has been taught worldwide. It is widely regarded as the first codified modern dance technique, and strongly influenced the later techniques of Merce Cunningham, Lester Horton, and Paul Taylor.
Graham technique is based on the opposition between contraction and release, a concept based on the breathing cycle which has become a "trademark" of modern dance forms. Its other dominant principle is the "spiraling" of the torso around the axis of the spine. Graham technique is known for its unique dramatic and expressive qualities and distinctive floorwork; dance critic Anna Kisselgoff described it as "powerful, dynamic, jagged and filled with tension." Read more...
Group dances are danced by groups of people simultaneously, as opposed to individuals dancing alone or individually, and as opposed to couples dancing together but independently of others dancing at the same time, if any.
The dances are generally, but not always, coordinated or standardized in such a way that all the individuals in the group are dancing the same steps at the same time. Alternatively, various groups within the larger group may be dancing different, but complementary, parts of the larger dance. An exception to this generalization must be vxpointed out where groups of individuals are dancing independently of each other, but with the purpose of creating a "group" feeling or experience, such as might accompany various forms of ritual dancing. Read more...
Social dance is a category of dances that have a social function and context. Social dances are generally intended for participation rather than performance and can be led and followed with relative ease. They are often danced merely to socialise and for entertainment, though they may have ceremonial, competitive and erotic functions.
Many social dances of European origin are partner dances (see Ballroom dance) but this is quite rare elsewhere, where there may instead be circle dances or line dances, perhaps reserved for those of a certain age, gender or social position. Read more...
Dance in China is a highly varied art form, consisting of many modern and traditional dance genres. The dances cover a wide range, from folk dances to performances in opera and ballet, and may be used in public celebrations, rituals and ceremonies. There are also 56 officially recognized ethnic groups in China, and each ethnic minority group in China also has its own folk dances. Outside of China, the best known Chinese dances today are the Dragon dance and the Lion dance. Read more...
Modern dance is a broad genre of western concert or theatrical dance, primarily arising out of Germany and the United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Modern dance is often considered to have emerged as a rejection of, or rebellion against, classical ballet. Socioeconomic and cultural factors also contributed to its development. In the late 19th century, dance artists such as Isadora Duncan, Maud Allan, and Loie Fuller were pioneering new forms and practices in what is now called aesthetic or free dance for performance. These dancers disregarded ballet's strict movement vocabulary, the particular, limited set of movements that were considered proper to ballet, and stopped wearing corsets and pointe shoes in the search for greater freedom of movement.
Read more...
Dance notation is the symbolic representation of human dance movement and form, using methods such as graphic symbols and figures, path mapping, numerical systems, and letter and word notations. Several dance notation systems have been invented, many of which are designed to document specific types of dance. A dance score is recorded dance notation that describes a particular dance. Read more...
The history of dance is difficult to access because dance does not often leave behind clearly identifiable physical artifacts that last over millennia, such as stone tools, hunting implements or cave paintings. It is not possible to identify with exact precision when dance became part of human culture. Read more...
Did you know...
- ... that East Texas State Normal College president Randolph B. Binnion asked prospective faculty members whether they danced and whether they belonged to a church?
- ... that Steps' fifth studio album, Tears on the Dancefloor, is their first album in 17 years to consist mostly of original material?
- ... that artwork at Othello station in Seattle, Washington, includes African dancers, an Asian-American "totem pole", and stormwater channels?
- ... that ballet dancer Herman Cornejo is "not a fairy-tale prince", but "a believable, 21st-century hero"?
- ... that tap dancer Ayodele Casel developed her style under the influence of salsa music?
- ... that A Summer in a Sea Shell was the first Slovenian coming-of-age film to have popular music and dancing?
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Selected images
A ballet dancer performs a standing side split
A dancer practices in a dance studio, the primary setting for training in classical dance and many other styles
Social dance – dancers at a juke joint dance the Jitterbug, an early 20th century dance that would go on to influence swing, jive, and jazz dance
Two classical ballet dancers perform a sequence of The Nutcracker, one of the best known works of classical dance
Erotic dance – a pole dancer performs a routine
Harlequin and Columbina from the mime theater in Copenhagen, Denmark
Latin Ballroom ballroom dancers perform the Tango
A latin ballroom couple perform a Samba routine at a dancesport event
Dance at Bougival by Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1883)
A hip-hop dancer demonstrates popping
Stage dance – a professional dancer at the Bolshoi Theatre
Street dance – a Breakdancer performs a handstand trick
Dance partnering – a male dancer assists a female dancer in performing an arabesque, as part of a classical pas de deux
Ritual dance – Armenian folk dancers celebrate a neo-pagan new year
Prop dance – a fire dancer performance
Gumboot dance evolved from the stomping signals used as coded communication between labourers in South African mines
Ugandan youth dance at a cultural celebration of peace
Modern dance – a female dancer performs a leg split while balanced on the back of her partner
Street samba dancers perform in carnival parades and contests
Acrobatic dance – an acro dancer performs a front aerial
Folk dance – a trio of Irish Stepdancers performing in competition
Two modern dancers
An amateur dancesport competition, featuring the Viennese Waltz
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