Dance!! What makes me so crazy in love with it?! I’m most likely going to say because it’s so awesome and it makes me, personally feel great while doing it. There is no limit or any rules. All types of dance are great, it’s the thought of dance that counts, or maybe that statement is just in my head. It just clicks! It has always been my thing. Dance is a type of art that generally refers movement of the body, usually rhythmic. It is performed in many different cultures and used as a form of expression, social interaction or used in a spiritual or performance setting. The point in time when and where people started to dance is pretty hazy, in fact it’s more like a cloud than a point. There are people who believed that man have danced since before Sapiens was a species. Within that fact they say that before we had power of speech, ancient man conveyed thoughts and emotions through actions. However, they consider man to have started dancing when we danced for entertainment or spiritual reasons.
There are so many types of dance through out history, but what I’m here to write about is the dances that I truly find interesting to myself. I’m going to go through plenty, so try to keep up. Dance is a pretty big part in my little world and now you will see why. I’m going to start with one of my favorite types of dance, swing dancing. This type of dance refers to partner dancing where man literally “swings,” a lady through series of dance patterns. Swing dancing can either be pretty simple or very complex. The history of swing dancing dates back to the 1920’s while dancing to contemporary Jazz music. The dance is a lively style of social dancing. Considered both hip and cool, swing dancing is a favorite among dancers of all ages. The dance is characterized by lots of swinging, flipping and throwing dancers. Since it’s a non-progressive dance style, because it’s performed in one spot and it’s a popular dance for crowded dance floors. Swing is a quick, fast-paced dance. The style is very energetic and one of the main reasons why swing dancing is so much fun is because you have the chance to add your own personal style and expression.
Next on my list of dance types is Jazz. It’s a type of dance that is matched up to the rhythms and techniques of jazz music; black Americans developed it in the early part of the 20th century. Jazz has become one of the most popular dance styles in these recent years, mainly due to it’s popularity on television shows, movies, music videos and maybe even commercials. People enjoy watching jazz dancers. Jazz dancing is a form of dance that showcases a dancer’s indivual style and originality. Every jazz interprets and executes moves and steps in their own way. This type of dance consists of unique moves, fancy footwork, big leaps and quick turns. To be good at jazz, dancers need a strong background in ballet, as it encourages grace and balance.
The Argentina Tango is also an interesting dance form. The antique Argentina tango was influenced by the Tango Habanera. The dance came about from two types of Tango. The Milonga was influenced in the guajira flamenca and the Tango flamenca. The Milonga was danced and played by countryside people of Argentina. Tango flamenco was modified with the habanera rhythm. The tango was heard of, in 1883, but died towards the end of the century.
Following the tango, I’m going to talk about the great era of Disco and Hustle. Most dancers that dance disco have strong experience in swing, samba, cha cha, mambo, and the tango. The hustle is believed to have come about in New York City in the1970’s. This specific dance has gone through many variations in the seventies. It went from line dances to partner dancing has a little bit to do with the basic Hustle, Latin, Spanish and the Tango Hustle. Popular disco music in the 70’s include Bee Gee’s “Stayin Alive,” Night Fever,” “More than a women,” “Everyone dance,” and Donna Summers “Love to love you Baby.”
Another one of my very favorites. The style of Break-dance. It’s a style of acrobatic dancing originating in the mid-1970’s, often performed to rap music usually by teenagers in the streets, and characterized by intricate footwork, pantomime, spinning headstands, tumbling and elaborate improvised movements. Break dancing is one of the most popular upcoming dance styles. It has been accepted by the street and starting to gain acceptance from much higher-class dance schools. Break dancing started out on the streets of New York. It originated within the African American community and eventually spread throughout all communities. The dance is thought to come from the “Lindy Hop,” and the “Charleston.” The reason why it’s one of my favs is because when I was 12 I entered a talent show and break danced for a huge crowd. I ended up winning.
One of my next favorites types of dance that is for the gangsters is Hip Hop. From breaking dancing to the moonwalk from M.J. to Krump dancing to Bboy dancing to plain old nodding the head, comes Hip Hop. The history of hip-hop dance started with break dancing. It all began around the late 1970’s to the early 80’s. Breaking started in the south Bronx New York. It was a form of hip-hop that was used by street gangs to settle differences without using violence. This was a positive for the blacks and youth at the time. One of the first hip-hop dance crews in history was the Rocksteady Crew. Old school hip-hop included street funk and break dancing. Funk dance evolved, distinct, and recognizable moves such as popping and locking developed. With the dawn of the 1990’s, hip hop music developed new rhythms, styles and dance moves changed right along with it. Some describe the new school hip hop dancing more “aggressive,” and methodical in its movements, while also including such signature moves, know as krumping. One of my reasons for loving this dance so much is the fact that people in not so good of places in the world, dance this type of dance to stay out of trouble. It is very inspiring to know that moving your body could keep you safe from the bad violence on the streets. I’m going t dance into one of the most popular dances of time and still very popular today, Ballet! It is a type of performance dance that originated in the Italian Renaissance courts of the15th century, which was further developed in France and Russia. Ballets were typically performed in grand halls or ballrooms. The male performers (women at this time did not dance ballet) were usually masked and lavishly costumed. Attitude is a position in which the dancer stands on one leg (known as the supporting leg) while the other leg (working leg) is lifted and well turned out with the knee bent at approximately at a 90 degree angle. The lifted leg can be behind, in front, or on the side of the body. If the leg in “attitude is resting on the floor, then the pose is known as a B-plus. In some styles of ballet, such as RAD, the foot should be below the knee, creating an obtuse angle at the knee. In others, such as the Balanchine and Russian styles, the foot must be in line with the knee or above it, creating an angle that is 90 degrees or less. The attitude position can be performed with the supporting leg and foot either en pointe, demi pointe or on flat foot.
The Ballon in terms of ballet is what it means to bounce, where the dancer can show the lightness of the movement. It describes a quality, it’s not about the elevation or height, of the jump. Even during small or quick jumps, dancers strive to exhibit balloon. A dancer-exhibiting balloon would spring off the floor and appear to pause mid-air before landing.
Another term in this delightful dance is called Batteria. Which is the whole family of techniques and steps involving turns and jumps, where the feet cross quickly in front and behind each other, creating a flapping or “beating,”effect and brushing through to the first position. “Battu” is to beat. Any step that adds an extra beat before finishing is considered battu. For example, Jete battu. A “Brise” is literally a broken jump. One leg is thrusted from the fifth position to the second position in the air: the second leg reaches mid-air making a beat. Next ballet dance move that comes to my little mind would have to be the “Bras Croise” which is pretty much your arms crossed. Arms are placed so that, when a dancer is facing one of the stage corners, one is extended to the second position away from the audience and the other is curved in the first position front (Cecchetti forth position en avant) The “ Bravura,” is a flashy, showy and elaborate steps and styles to similar music. Usually during a solo key. In Ballet, “Bourree,” a word that originates from an old French dance resembling the gavotte. The word is used to describe quick, even movements often done on pointe, the movement gives the look of gliding. The word “Changement,” is a jump in which the feet change positions in the air. An example I can give you is when, beginning in fifth position. “Chasse,” is to slide forwards, backwards, or sideways with both legs bent, then springing into the air with legs meeting and straightened. It can be done either in a gallop or by pushing the first foot along the floor in a pile to make the springing sump up. This step is generally found in a series, either with several of the same or a combination of movements. Now I could go on and on about this type of dance because I enjoy the dance and know it, but the next upcoming dance I want to discuss about is, Tap Dancing!
The way I define this dance would be that it is a step dance in which the performer wears shoes that are equipped with taps that make a rhythmic sound when they perform on stage. This dance in which is rhythmical variation is audibly tapped out with the toe or heel. This type of dance has the distinction of being a uniquely American art form. From Fred Astaire to the Hoofer Club in Harlem and then to the 39th Grammy Awards, tap has amazed audiences for most of the 20th century and even still continues in this current century. Back before there were tap shoes, dancers would wear soft shoes, or clogs. Tap dancing originated from Juba, which was a kind of dance practiced by African slaves. Then it kind of weaved through Irish dancing and continued to alter when it encouraged the influence of jazz dancing. As you may know, tap is very popular for Broadway. When talking about Broadway tap, it tends to focus more on the dance because it is widely performed in a musical theater. Now rhythm tap is more on the musicality.
Sometimes when there is a tap dancing sound in movies or in the theater, they have theater productions that use a number of techniques to capture, amplify and recreate the sound of the tapping. They take wireless microphones and put them into the shoes of the dancers. Sometimes, know as “click tracks,” with synchronized, pre-recorded sound which is added during the performance. It just makes the sounds of the taps more defined.
Tap dance has its root from the time when slavery was introduced in America. The slaves were forbidden to use drums; therefore, they developed to beat out their own little rhythms out using their hands and feet. Which I personally think that is so awesome because maybe just maybe this type of dance would have never been thought of, which could have changed the whole history of dance. The best known contemporary tap dancer is Savion Glover, who has choreographed Broadway shows like Bring in Da Noise and Bring in Da Fink, which not to mention won a Tony Award in 1996. He made his Broadway debut at a young age of 12. As you may know as a recent animated movie Happy Feet, which was a hit, highlighted tap dancing. America is still breeding ground for tap dance innovations. Many young students are taking tap dance classes and many are eager to learn. Through tap-dancing is less popular in other parts of the world, it has surely become an international dance form!
Ballroom dancing is once again one of the many of my interests of dance. Everything about it attracts my every attention. The five ballroom dances are danced all over the world and are both socially and in Dance Sport competitions. The Standard ballroom dances have diverse origins, including rhythms, tempos, and aesthetics, but have one thing in common, they are all danced by a couple (usually man and a lady) in Closed Hold maintaining five areas of contact between the partners while performing all the figures of the dances. The most thing I love about this type of dance is that it is danced within a couple and the types of dance moves they do are very interesting.
Dance is extremely important to me, it has made me who I am today and I’m not too sure where I would be without dance flowing through my blood stream. Maybe the world would be different because dance has certainly been an important part of ceremonies, rituals, celebrations and entertainment since before the birth of the earliest human civilizations. One of the earliest structured uses of dance may have been in the performance and in the telling of myths. And even sometimes used to show feelings for one of the opposite gender, it is also linked to the origin of “love making.” And one of the biggest reasons I can think of why dance is really important is because before the production of written languages, dance was one of the methods of passing stories down from generation to generation. So am thinking that if dance were never created that we wouldn’t know about myths or the old stories of the past. Dance is still used in many cultures. So to bring it all to a conclusion dance should be very respected since it has made all of us know the history and such about the past lives. And for that We Thank You!
Most importantly, dance is inspired by more dances. New or even old dances, all of them have influenced each other. For example, African dance influenced the way modern dance is done. The upright posture of ballet is a posture that the Africans used to bend towards the Earth as they stood in place. In dances when they form a line formation or a circle, that was also brought upon by the
African dance. In the same why, African music consisted of many different complex rhythms that are used at the same time. Same thing with modern music like Jazz and Rock n Roll..When swing came around in the 1920’s, not soon after that, the dance of
Jazz became popular. Both were danced because of the fast-paced style. Swing is very energetic and same goes for Jazz, that’s why they influenced and went together so well.
The Argentina Tango is an intriguing dance form also, which was influenced by the Tango Habanera. The dance was actually brought together by three dance forms, the Milonga was influenced in the Guajira Flamenco and the Tango flamenco.
Dance is really important to other types of dance, because dances influence more dances. And dance is really important to me, I always want it in my life and I plan to take to the next level in college. I have to problem surrounding my life around dance cause it’s always a blast! Who doesn’t want to get paid bank for their hobby, ha-ha I do! Thank you dance!
Bibliography
Gretchen Ward Warren
Classical Ballet Technique
Flordia
University Press Of Flordia
12/28/1989
Vera S.Kastrovitskaya
One Hundred Lessons In Classical Ballet
Hal Leonard Corporation
7/28/2004
Ballroom Dancing
WWW.ballroomdance.org
3/25/12
HistoryWorld-Dance Timeline
WWW.historyworld.net//default.asp
4/9/12
Gretchen Ward Warren
Classical Ballet Technique
Flordia
University Press Of Flordia
12/28/1989
Vera S.Kastrovitskaya
One Hundred Lessons In Classical Ballet
Hal Leonard Corporation
7/28/2004
Ballroom Dancing
WWW.ballroomdance.org
3/25/12
HistoryWorld-Dance Timeline
WWW.historyworld.net//default.asp
4/9/12