The Dance

What is dance? Dance, patterned and rhythmic bodily movements, usually performed to music, that serve as a form of communication or expression. Human beings express themselves naturally through movement. Dance is the transformation of ordinary functional and expressive movement into extraordinary movement for extraordinary purposes; even a common movement such as walking is performed in dance in a patterned way, perhaps in circles or to a special rhythm, and it occurs in a special context.

Dance may involve a fixed vocabulary of movements that have no meaning in themselves, as in much of ballet and European folk dance, or pantomime and symbolic gestures may be used, as in many Asian dance forms. Peoples of different cultures dance differently and for varying purposes; their varied forms of dance can reveal much about their way of life. What is dance?

Dancing Dancing was an important part of ancient Greek Drama. Indian, Chinese, and Japanese dancing developed out of religious worship. In modern society, the two kinds of dancing are social dancing- disco dancing and ballroom dancing, and stage dancing – the ballet, and modern dance routines. The modern dance is similar to ballet, but it is freer in style. It is often used in stage musicals and variety performances.

It can be traced that dance as an art started from the moment it was harnessed to a rhythm, probably the stamping of the feet and clapping of the hands. It is an art ever present in the performers’ bodies until they die. It was only recently that the movement of dances were recorded and used in films and in television shows. Dancing is the rhythmical movement of the body, usually with music, to express an idea or emotion, to narrate a story or simply to enjoy and take pleasure in the movement itself. Dance may have been the very first means of communication. Even among the elite sectors of society, children would delightfully dance before they even know how to express their feelings in words. This is the instinctive dancing of toddlers.

Kinds of Dances The art of dancing stretches form the simplest forms of pure dance expression performed by an individual for his own satisfaction through the complexities and subtleties of Eastern dance to the most sophisticated, modern and large-scale production in which dance is the dominant factor.

Natural or untutored Dance By natural impulse, dance can be enjoyed both by the trained and untrained dancer. This is “creative dance” now encouraged in schools that frown upon what they call unnatural and rigid disciplines of formal dance training. A trained body, however, is a more articulate instrument that an untrained one. Click this to view a video concerning Natural or untutored dance Bonus Track...totally untutored dancing.Bonus Track...totally untutored dancing.

Solo or Group Dance The solo dance, performed by a single dancer, is for a specific purpose: to demonstrate a particular technique or style of dancing. Solo dance presentation! Group dances are categorized as folk dance, ballroom dancing and ballet. Group Dance

Ethnic Dance Dance that is indigenous to a certain race or country. Ethnic Dance presentation. Click this.

Court Dance Social accomplishments polished from materials usually found among folk dances and used for court entertainment. Click this to view an example of a court dance.

Ballroom Dance Social or popular dance performed by couples. Example of a Ballroom Dance Click Here...

Theatrical Dance Classical dance like ballet, performed by highly trained and physically, the most eloquent form of dance. Example of a Theatrical Dance

Modern Dance Group dancing as in discotheque. Example of a Modern Dance presentation

Special Thanks to... Youtube for the videos... Wikipedia for some definitions... And to Bukid Café for the fast internet access... Ahahahaha....