THE DANCE

Dance-Portfolio-41

What Is:

 

Dance is a type of art that generally involves movement of the body, often rhythmic and to music. It is performed in many cultures as a form of emotional expression, social interaction, or exercise, in a spiritual or performance setting, and is sometimes used to express ideas or tell a story. Dance may also be regarded as a form of nonverbal communication between humans or other animals, as in bee dances and behaviour patterns such as a mating dances.

Definitions of what constitutes dance can depend on social and cultural norms and aesthetic, artistic and moral sensibilities. Definitions may range from functional movement (such as folk dance) to virtuoso techniques such as ballet. Martial arts kata are often compared to dances, and sports such as gymnastics, figure skating and synchronized swimming are generally thought to incorporate dance.

There are many styles and genres of dance. African dance is interpretative. Ballet, ballroom and tango are classical dance styles. Square dance and electric slide are forms of step dance, and breakdancing is a type of street dance. Dance can be participatory, social, or performed for an audience. It can also be ceremonial, competitive or erotic. Dance movements may be without significance in themselves, as in ballet or European folk dance, or have a gestural vocabulary or symbolic meaning as in some Asian dances.

Choreography is the art of creating dances. The person who creates (i.e., choreographs) a dance is known as the choreographer.

History of Dance:

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.

Dance has been an important part of ceremony, rituals, celebrations and entertainment 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.

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.

Many contemporary dance forms can be traced back to historical, traditional, ceremonial, and ethnic dance. For example, some Sri Lankan dances are related to aboriginal, mythical devils known as “yakkas”, and according to local legend, Kandyan dance began as a ritual that broke the magic spell on a bewitched king.

Classification and genres:

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:

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

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.

List of dance style categories:

Contents:

  • 1 Traditional Jazz / African-American vernacular dance
  • 2 Dancehall dance
  • 3 Experimental / freestyle
  • 4 Folk dance
  • 5 Hip-hop dance
  • 6 House dance
  • 7 Hard dance
  • 8 Punk dance
  • 9 Historical dance

    • 9.1 Folk dance
    • 9.2 Latin dance
    • 9.3 Swing dance
    • 9.4 Liturgical dance
    • 9.5 Participative dance improvisation
    • 9.6 Miscellaneous
  • 10 Concert dance / performance dance11 Further reading

    • 10.1 Historical dance

1) Traditional Jazz / African-American vernacular dance

  • Black Bottom
  • Boogie-woogie
  • Cabbage patch
  • Cakewalk
  • Charleston
  • Chicago stepping
  • Detroit Ballroom
  • Drunken Sailor
  • Hand Dance / Bop
  • Jitterbug
  • Jazz dance
  • Lindy hop
  • Swing
  • Tap dance
  • Texas Swingout
  • Texas Tommy
  • Ballroom
  • Calypso
  • Zumba
  • Reggaeton dance
  • Zouk dance
  • Compas dance
  • Salsa
  • Salsaton dance
  • Soca dance
  • Bernie dance

2) Dancehall dance

  • Skanking

3) Experimental / freestyle

  • Boogie
  • Jump up
  • dance de Gauthier
  • contemporary

4) Folk dance

regional dance like in India 1.mass 2,rajastani. 3.punjabi. 4.bhangra 5.dandiya and garba

5) Hip-hop dance

  • Breaking
  • Bounce

  • Crip Walk (C-Walk)Detroit Jit

    • Clown Walk
    • Crown Walk
  • Electric boogaloo
  • Floating
  • Jerkin’
  • Jiggin’
  • Memphis Jookin’
  • Krumping
  • Litefeet

  • Locking

 

  • PoppingSnap dance

    • Liquiding
    • Moonwalk
    • Strobing
    • Waving
    • Tutting
    • Robot Dance
  • Turfing
  • Lyrical hip-hop

6) House dance

  • Hustle
  • Jacking
  • Vogue
  • Waacking
  • Electro Dance
  • Grinding

7) Hard dance

  • Melbourne Shuffle
  • Jumpstyle
  • Free step

8) Punk dance

  • Hardcore
  • Pogo

9) Historical dance

  • Historical dance

see also Concert dance

11) Folk dance

  • Perafic dance

12) Latin dance

  • Latin danceQuebradita

    • American Rhythm
      • Mambo
      • Rumba
      • Bolero
      • East Coast Swing
    • International Latin
      • Rumba
      • Samba (ballroom dance)
      • Jive
      • Reggaeton
      • SalsaDanza
        • Rueda
      • Samba (Brazilian dance)
      • Samba de Gafieira
      • Bachata
      • Cumbia
      • Merengue
      • CapoeiraArgentine tango
        • Maculelê
      • Zouk
  • Duranguense
  • Cumbia Texana
  • Corridos
  • Tejano
  • Cha Cha

13) Swing dance

  • Modern Jive
  • Leroc
  • Lindy Hop
  • Blues dance
  • Balboa
  • Deneme
  • Jitterbug
  • Jitting (evolved from Jitterbug)
  • Jive (dance)
  • East Coast Swing
  • West Coast Swing
  • Collegiate Shag
  • Carolina Shag
  • Hand Jive
  • Charleston
  • Western dance

14) Liturgical dance

  • Liturgical dance

15) Participative dance improvisation

  • Contact improvisation
  • Ecstatic dance aka Freestyle Dance aka Barefoot Improvisational Dance

16) Miscellaneous

  • Disco dance

See also: Disco music

  • Novelty and fad dances
  • Flying Men dance
  • Pom dance
  • Line dance
  • Bollywood dance

17) Concert dance / performance dance

  • Acro dance
  • Ballet
  • Contemporary dance
  • Greek Classical
  • Concert dance
  • Flamenco
  • Modern dance
  • Performance dance
  • Tap dance
  • Lyrical
  • Hip Hop

  • Belly danceFire dance

    • Raqs sharqi and other regional Middle Eastern/North African dances
    • Improv Tribal Style Belly Dance and American Tribal Style Belly Dance
    • Tribal fusion
    • Gothic bellydance
  • Spinning, hooping and flow arts

18) Historical dance

  • Historical dance
    • Medieval dance
    • Renaissance dance
    • Masque
    • English country dance
    • Baroque dance
    • Regency dance
    • Vintage dance