HISTORY OF DANCE

Dance

It is the wedding of movement to music. It spans culture from soaring ballet leaps to the simple swaying at the school prom. It is dance, a means of recreation, of communication--perhaps the oldest, yet the most incompletely preserved, of the arts. Its origins are lost in prehistoric times, but, from the study of the most primitive peoples, it is known that men and women have always danced.

There are many kinds of dance. It can be a popular craze, like break dancing, or ballets that feature superstar performers such as Mikhail Baryshnikov and Suzanne Farrell. It can be folk dances that have been handed down through generations, such as the square dance, or ethnic dances that are primarily associated with a particular country. It can be modern dance or musical comedy dancing, both fields that were pioneered by American men and women.

Dances in primitive cultures all had as their subject matter the changes experienced by people throughout their lives, changes that occurred as people grew from childhood to old age, those they experienced as the seasons moved from winter to summer and back again, changes that came about as tribes won their wars or suffered defeats.

Two sorts of dance evolved as cultures developed: social dances on occasions that celebrated births, commemorated deaths, and marked special events in between; and magical or religious dances to ask the gods to end a famine, to provide rain, or to cure the sick. The medicine men of primitive cultures, whose powers to invoke the assistance of a god were feared and respected, are considered by many to be the first choreographers, or composers of formal dances.

Originally rhythmic sound accompaniment was provided by the dancers themselves. Eventually a separate rhythmic accompaniment evolved, probably played on animal skins stretched over wooden frames and made into drums or similar instruments. Later, melodies were added; these might have imitated birdcalls or other sounds of nature, or they might have been a vocal expression of the dancers' or musicians' state of mind. The rhythmic beat, however, was the most important element. This pulsation let all the dancers keep time together, and it helped them to remember their movements too. By controlling the rhythm, the leader of a communal dance could regulate the pace of the movement.

Primitive dancers also shared certain gestures and movements, which were drawn from their everyday lives. People planting seeds swing their arms with unvarying regularity. People who are hungry rub a hand on their empty bellies. People who want to show respect or admiration bend down or bow before another individual. These gestures, and others like them, were part of the earliest dances.

There is also a large vocabulary of gestures that originated as a means of expressing bodily needs. Caresses are universally taken to signify tender feelings. Clenched fists mean anger. Hopping up and down indicates excitement. Primitive dancers used all of these movements in both their social and religious or magical dances. These dances were not created and performed for entertainment, as many dances are today. One of the major reasons for them was to help tribes survive. Long before the written word could guarantee that traditions would be passed on and respected, it was dance that helped the tribe preserve its continuity.

SOCIAL DANCING

As known today, social dancing is an activity that can be traced back to three sources: the courts of Europe, international society, and primitive cultures. Among noblemen and women of 16th- and 17th-century Europe, ballroom dancing was a popular diversion. After the political upheavals of the 18th and 19th centuries, dances once performed by the aristocracy alone became popular among ordinary people as well. In America, too, dances that were once confined to the gentry who first led the republic passed to the common folk. By the mid-19th century, popular dances attracted many participants who performed minuets, quadrilles, polkas, and waltzes--all of European origin.

None of these dances grew more popular than the waltz, which was first introduced to the Austrian court in the 17th century. Its gliding, whirling movements immediately became the rage throughout the entire population. Some people, however, found waltzing undignified, and in 1760 the performance of waltzes was banned by the church in parts of Germany. Nevertheless, the mania continued, and by the late 18th century waltzing was common in the cosmopolitan cities of London and Paris. People felt the same spirit in the dance that they perceived in the great political events of the day--the French and the American revolutions.

The waltz stood for freedom of expression and freedom of movement. Unlike more courtly dances, with their restricted steps and predetermined poses, the waltz allowed the performers to sweep around the dance floor, setting their own boundaries and responsible to nobody but their partners.

By the early 20th century the waltz as an art form was exhausted. It found a final admirer in the French composer Maurice Ravel, whose orchestral piece 'The Waltz' both celebrates the dance's traditions and mourns its passing out of fashion.

Around the time of World War I, when America's attention was fixed on other lands around the globe, a dance craze developed that had strong international influence. From South America came the tango and the maxixe. European dances inspired the American couple Irene and Vernon Castle to develop many new sophisticated dances that won vast popularity and that were performed nationwide.

As the 20th century evolved, African and Caribbean rhythms and movements increasingly influenced social dancing. Swing, the jitterbug, the twist, boogie, and disco dancing all share a free and improvised movement style and a repetitive, percussive rhythm that can be traced to more primitive sources.

Another important influence was felt from Ireland, whose clog dances were first brought to America in the 1840s. After being adapted by local performers, clog dance steps became the tap dances done by generations of minstrels and music hall performers. Tap dancing was originally performed as an accompaniment to song. With costume, makeup, and scenery, it was another of the entertainer's accessories, its percussive and rhythmic patterns heightening a song's effectiveness.

Modern dancers, however, made tap an art form of its own. Rhythms grew more intricate, and movements became larger. Greater emphasis was placed on elements of dance composition and design, and greater value was shown to the music made by the taps themselves. Among the greatest tap dance artists are Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, who refined the minstrel tradition, and Fred Astaire, whose performances are unsurpassed for their musicality and grace (see Astaire).

Folk dancing preserved its own identity as these popular dances developed. By folk dance is meant a dance that originated in a particular country or locality and has become closely identified with its nation of origin. The czardas, for example, is unmistakably Hungarian, and the hora is linked to Israel. These dances are often performed by dedicated groups of amateurs who want either to preserve the dance tradition of their ancestors or to share in another country's culture. (See also Folk Dance.)

DANCE AS AN ART FORM



Ancient Egypt

The first great culture to infuse its entire society with the magic of dance was that of Egypt. Far more than mere pastime, dancing became an integral part of Egyptian life. It evolved from the most simple rituals used by hunters to find their prey. Performing the dances was believed to help in later hunts. A leader, called a priest-dancer, was responsible for seeing that the dances were performed correctly so that the hunt would be successful.

Eventually these dances were separated from their ritual and became an art of their own. This development paralleled the emergence of Osiris as the Egyptians' most important god. With his mythical sister and wife, Isis, he was a symbol of a more developed civilisation on Earth, and belief in him guaranteed everlasting life. Dance was a crucial element in the festivals held for Isis and Osiris. These occurred throughout the year--in the summer, for instance, when the Nile River began to rise and the corn was ripening, and in the fall on All Souls' Night--the ancient ancestor of Halloween. Dance was also important in the festivals dedicated to Apis, the bull associated with fertility rituals, and also in a ceremony in which priests portrayed the stars in celebration of the cosmos, or harmonious universe.

As was true in more primitive cultures, music was a part of these celebrations but not as important as the dancing itself. Egyptians had developed stringed, wind, and percussion instruments as well as different sorts of whistles and harps.

Dance figured, too, in private life. Professional performers entertained at social events, and travelling troupes gave performances in public squares of great cities such as Thebes and Alexandria.

Movements of Egyptian dances were named after the motion they imitated. For instance, there were "the leading along of an animal," "the taking of gold," and "the successful capture of the boat." Probably many of the poses and motions were highly acrobatic, though in certain instances Egyptian dance steps look remarkably like steps in classical ballet.

Ancient Greece

Myths associated with the Greek god Dionysus are remarkably similar to those that surround the Egyptians' Osiris, suggesting that the early culture of Greece was influenced by that of Egypt. According to the philosopher Aristotle, Greek tragedy originated in the myth of Dionysus' birth. He relates that the poet Arion was responsible for establishing the basic theatrical form, one that incorporated dance, music, spoken words, and costumes. There was always a chief dancer who was the leader of these presentations. As the form evolved, the leader became something close to what would now be considered a combination choreographer and performer, while other participants assumed the role of an audience. By the 6th century BC, the basic form of theatre as known today was established.

No matter how far Greek theatre moved from its original ritual sources, it was always connected with the myths of Dionysus. Participation in dance and drama festivals was a religious exercise, not merely an amusement. In Greek plays dance was of major importance, and the three greatest dramatists of the era--Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides--were familiar with dance in both theory and practice. Sophocles, for example, studied both music and dance as a child, and, after the defeat of the Persians in the 5th century BC, he danced in the triumphal celebration. In his childhood Euripides had been affiliated with a troupe of dancers, and in plays such as 'The Bacchae', his last great work, a dancing choir plays a role of major importance.

Even in earlier times dancing was popular among the Greek people. It was thought to promote physical health and to influence one's education positively. These attitudes were passed on from generation to generation. For instance, in Homer's epics, which date from the 11th to 10th century BC, dance is portrayed as a kind of social pastime, not as an activity associated with religious observances. By the end of the 4th century BC, dancing had become a professional activity. Dances were performed by groups, and the motion of most dances was circular. In tragic dances--where mimed expression, or wordless action, was important--the dancers would not touch one another. Generally, in fact, Greek dances were not based on the relationship between men and women. Most were performed by either one sex or the other.

Greek dance can be divided into large and small motions--movements and gestures. Movements were closely related to gymnastic exercises; schoolchildren had to master series of harmonious physical exercises that resembled dance. Gestures imitated poses and postures found in everyday life and conveyed all the emotions ranging from anger to joy. For musical accompaniment the Greeks used stringed instruments such as the lyre, flutes such as the panpipe, and a wide variety of percussion instruments, including tambourines, cymbals, and castanets.

Altogether there were more than 200 Greek dances designed for every mood and purpose. There were comic pieces, warlike works, and dances for athletes, spectacles, and religious worship. For purely social purposes there were dances for weddings, funerals, and seasonal celebrations connected with harvest time. Yet these dances were not as important as those connected with the theatre. By the 5th century BC, dancing had become recognised as an art.

Roman Empire

As early as 364 BC entertainers from Greece were imported to Rome to perform theatrical pieces in honour of the gods and to amuse a population weary from a plague. These performers inspired the local population to develop plays of their own--mimes and bawdy farces that included elements of dance.

Roman culture, which eclipsed the Greek in approximately the 3rd century BC, was in many ways influenced by Grecian models. In dance, however, the Romans distorted the balance and harmony that characterised the Greeks, putting the most emphasis on spectacle and mime. Dancing itself almost disappeared.

Roman theatre had originated in 240 BC, when public games were held after the victory in the first Punic Wars. As part of these celebrations comedy and tragedy were performed, including drama, music, and dance. According to the writer Plutarch, dance included three elements: motion, posture, and indication, the last a gesture that pointed out some object near the performer.

Performances such as these fed the Romans' love of spectacle. Their desire to see a bustling stage full of people led to performances that took place in ever-larger spaces. Conventional theatres were replaced by the circus and the arena. To get his meaning across to such a large audience, a performer's gestures had to become cruder and coarser. Eventually the artist's skill was blunted, and with this loss of craftsmanship came a loss of social prestige. Dancers, who were honoured and respected by the Greeks, became little more than slaves to the Romans.

Though spectacles provided the Roman population with most of its dancing, social and domestic dances were also performed to a limited extent. Most of these had a religious or ritualistic nature. They prophesied events or appeased the gods. Dances were also designed for entertainment, with battle pieces the most common.

In general, however, dancing was not highly thought of. The famous orator Cicero said in a speech that "no man, one may almost say, ever dances when sober, unless perhaps he be a madman; nor in solitude, nor in a moderate and sober party; dancing is the last companion of prolonged feasting, of luxurious situation, and of many refinements."

As the Roman Empire expanded, secular dances showed exotic influences. People from Africa to Britain fell under Roman rule, but their strange, foreign movements and gestures were never truly integrated into a style of dance the Romans could call their own. Like the artworks among their plunder, the dances were merely novelties and curiosities.

While dance itself was diminished by the Romans, pantomime became an art form worthy of respect in itself. Under the reign of Caesar Augustus in about 22 BC, the pantomime dance-drama became an independent form of artistic expression. Most of the pieces were tragedies, and dancers made liberal use of costumes and masks. According to the writings of the 2nd-century Greek satirist Lucian of Samosata, Roman pantomime was a highly developed art form that made lavish and creative use of dance. Though the Romans showed little use for the dance as developed by the Greeks, they excelled in this new form of pantomime dance-drama.

Christian Era

With the rise of Christianity throughout the first millennium, dramatic rituals developed for use during prayer. The Latin mass is the best-known of these rites. Originally dance movements were part of these pieces as well as music and a dramatic dialogue. By the Middle Ages these works moved from inside the churches to the out-of-doors. On cathedral porches, church squares, and marketplaces, miracle plays, mystery plays, and morality plays that taught the church's lessons were enacted in a theatrical way. Rather than being part of the ritual, however, these pieces had become a form of entertainment.

Dance was also observed in two other sorts of activity. In dramatic ritual games with dance movement the passing of the seasons was celebrated, even as it had been by primitive tribes; and in the works of troubadours and other wandering minstrels, dance and song were used to express the full range of human emotions.

Another important rite of the Middle Ages was known as the dance of death. A ritual procession performed throughout Europe from the 14th to the 16th century, it was a sort of danced parade that was led by a figure representing death. It was performed perhaps with the most intensity in the years of the Black Death, a bubonic plague that swept across Europe beginning in 1373. At once grotesque and graceful, the piece expressed the anguish of a diseased civilisation.

The dance of death reflected the rituals performed by primitive peoples, who had also danced to acknowledge the passing of the seasons of the year and of a human life on Earth. Other dances in the Middle Ages did the same. During the annual May games, for example, dances were performed that celebrated the greening of the countryside and the fertility of the land. During saints' days, which echoed the rites dedicated to Dionysus, large groups of women danced in churches. Similar to earlier pieces associated with battles, sword dances were performed in Germany, Scotland, and elsewhere in Europe. Similar to the sword dance is the Morris dance, which was performed at secular festivals from Scotland to Spain.

Development of Ballet - Italy

Out of the many styles in the late Middle Ages--religious dancing, folk dancing, and performances by minstrels--emerged the art form now known as ballet. An early pioneer whose work led in this direction was Guglielmo Ebreo, better known as William the Jew, from the Italian town of Pesaro. A teacher of dance to the nobility, he also wrote a study of dance that includes one of the first examples of recorded choreography. These dance steps were not designed for the stage or for professional dancers but for amateurs to perform at festive balls.

At the same time when William was active, dancing was on the move. First performed as part of feasts and then in ballrooms, dances finally found a home in theatres. Performed between the acts of classical comedies, tragedies, or operas, they became known as intermezzos. Gradually the word balletti, which originally referred to dances performed in ballrooms, was used for the dramatic works in theatres. Ballet as it is known now was just around the corner.

'Circe', a work created in 1581, is said to be the first ballet. Original in its mixture of theatrical elements that had been found for more than a decade in Italy and France, 'Circe' was the work of an Italian who became a Frenchman, Balthasar de Beaujoyeulx.

His work was the inspiration of the Ballet Comique de la Reine, a sort of grand theatrical presentation that entertained the nobles at court in the last two decades of the 16th century. These rich pieces brought together in a unified way the separate elements of tournament presentations, masquerade, and dramatic pastorals, or rural scenes.

In 1588, a few years after 'Circe', a book crucial in the development of ballet, 'Orchesographie' by Thoinot Arbeau, was published. It set forth the dance steps and rhythms that became the ballet postures and movements in the 17th and 18th centuries.

The next great pioneer was another Italian-born Frenchman, Jean-Baptiste Lully, who was born in Florence and served Louis XIV at Versailles. Though best known as an opera composer, his influence on dance was profound. In 1661 he established a department of dance in the Royal Academy of Music, and he played an important role in making ballets more coherent and unified. He also improved the musical scores to which dancers performed as well as the scenic designs and the librettos, or texts, on which the dances were based. In 1664 Lully began to work with the playwright Moliere. They produced many works that had a major effect on both music and dance. In his opera-ballets Lully expanded the scope of dance. There was greater use made of dancers' arms and legs and a more adventurous attitude toward the space on the stage. (See also Lully.)

Growth of Ballet - France

By the 18th century the centre of dance activity had moved from Italy to France. For this period the best guide is Pierre Rameau, whose book 'The Dancing Master' is primarily a guide to social dances performed not just in France but throughout all of Europe. As with earlier treatises, 'The Dancing Master' also describes stage presentations, for both social and stage dancing shared the same steps.

In the decades preceding Rameau's book, the public's appetite for dancing had been stimulated. This hunger was satisfied by the opera-ballets that flourished in the first half of the 18th century. These works were operas of a sort, but dancing and orchestral music overshadowed the dramatic elements. The balance that Lully had established between drama, dance, and music had been destroyed. Now, in the opera-ballets, dance was the main element, with music of next importance and drama far behind.

Choreographers of the time tried to avoid an old-fashioned style of movement and aimed instead for a new sort of expressive gesture. Dancing became highly personal and creative for both dancer and choreographer. Individual performers often added steps and gestures of their own, and it was during this time that the first great soloists were recognised.

Among the most beloved dancers during the first half of the 18th century was Marie Anne de Dupis, called Camargo, who was brilliant technically and daring; she is credited with shortening her skirt a few inches to allow audience members to better see and appreciate her intricate footwork. Marie Salle was also a great favourite and brought a new freedom to the dance through her expressive use of costume and masterful use of gestures. Gaetano Vestris was the first among male dancers, known for his elegance and delicacy.

All of the advances made by these and other artists, and by choreographers of the time, were classified and recorded by the writer Jean-Georges Noverre, whose 'Letters on the Dance' became the authority for succeeding generations. The 'Letters' also proposed to reform dance of the day by getting rid of all movements and gestures not justified by the drama. Like the opera reformer-composer Christoph Willibald Gluck, with whom he was associated, Noverre wanted to purify his art form and make it even more effective for the audience. Noverre's reforms would be remembered and applied into the 20th century.

Salvatore Vigano was another dancer who ultimately changed the course of his art. After performing in his youth in Italy and Spain, he went to Vienna, where he collaborated with Beethoven, among others. The dances he created were notable for their innovative use of groups and their fine attention to detail. More than any of his peers, Vigano made works that recalled the art of sculpture.

Romantic Ballet and Beyond

An Italian master was also responsible for some of the 19th century's most important creations. Carlo Blasis, who was schooled in the ideas of Noverre, published in 1830 his 'Code of Terpsichore', a book of ballet instructions that became the standard manual through all of Europe and even in Russia.

It was Blasis' technique that formed the great ballerinas of the era: Marie Taglioni, Fanny Elssler, Fanny Cerrito, Carlotta Grisi, and Lucille Grahn. Each embodied a different aspect of the romantic ideal for the period. Taglioni thrilled audiences with her virtuoso technique, for example, and Elssler excelled in character dances that evoked exotic lands.

The choreographer who developed and defined romantic ballet was Marius Petipa. He arrived in St. Petersburg from Italy in 1847, and during his reign as ballet master the Russian school eclipsed all others in theatrical splendour and brilliant dancing. With his assistant Lev Ivanov, he created the core repertoire of the Russian ballet--works such as 'Don Quixote', 'Swan Lake', and 'The Nutcracker'--and his influence is still felt.

It was not a choreographer or even a dancer who spread the Russian ballet through Europe and the Americas but an impresario, or promoter-manager. Sergei Diaghilev's genius was in bringing together some of the foremost artists of his time (see Diaghilev). His Ballets Russes, formed in 1909, drew on talents that had been formed at the Maryinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg. Michel Fokine, trained as a dancer, developed into a choreographer of great distinction. A work such as 'Les Sylphides' brought to the romantic ballet a new purity. A piece like 'Sheherazade' brought a colourful and exotic strain to the ballet stage (see Fokine). Collaborating with him, under Diaghilev's watchful eye, were superb designers such as Leon Bakst; musicians such as Igor Stravinsky; dancers such as Vaslav Nijinsky, Tamara Karsavina, and Anna Pavlova; and choreographers such as Leonide Massine and George Balanchine. (See also Nijinsky; Pavlova; Balanchine.)

Although America had seen ballet dancers as early as the late 18th century, it was not until the 20th century that the art form took root in the United States. Spurred by visits of Diaghilev's troupe, American-born performers showed a new interest in the art. After the Ballets Russes was dissolved in 1929, many of its dancers immigrated to the United States.

Around those performers who remained in Europe--artists such as Alexandra Danilova, Alicia Markova, and Massine--companies such as the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo and the Original Ballet Russe were formed. In the 1930s they toured the United States from coast to coast. The first major American company to be established was the Ballet Theatre--now the American Ballet Theatre (ABT)--founded in 1940. Conceived of as a repository of great works from differing dance styles, it had difficulty in establishing an identity of its own, even though it often presented world-class artists such as Alicia Alonso, Nora Kaye, and Cynthia Gregory. Among its finest choreographers have been Antony Tudor, Jerome Robbins, Agnes de Mille, Twyla Tharp, and Mikhail Baryshnikov. The superstar Baryshnikov was artistic director of the ABT from 1980 until his resignation in 1989.

The New York City Ballet, which was founded in 1948 with Balanchine as its principal choreographer, set new standards for the world of ballet. Ballet technique became even more virtuosic and gestures more economical. In the more than 150 works that he created for the company, Balanchine devised some of the century's most profound and beautiful productions. Among his masterpieces are 'Agon' and 'Orpheus', both to music of Igor Stravinsky; 'Serenade', Tchaikovsky; and 'Concerto Barocco', Bach. Robbins, who also worked with the ABT, became a ballet master with the company in 1969 and created two of his finest works for its dancers--'Dances at a Gathering' and 'The Goldberg Variations'. Among the company's best dancers were Diana Adams, Violette Verdy, Suzanne Farrell, Jacques d'Amboise, Edward Villella, and Peter Martins, who took over the company with Robbins after Balanchine's death in 1983.

Arthur Mitchell, the first black dancer to perform with the New York City Ballet, founded his own company, the Dance Theatre of Harlem, in 1971. This interracial company won a new audience for ballet and opened opportunities for young black dancers. Another pioneer was Alvin Ailey, whose American Dance Theatre performed a stylistically wide variety of worksdash;from modern dance classics by Ted Shawn to ballet-influenced works by Ailey himself. The company was composed exclusively of black dancers until Ailey integrated it in 1963.

In the mid-20th century interest in dance also increased in England. The Royal Ballet evolved under choreographer Frederick Ashton into a company of impeccable style and feeling. The pieces Ashton created made perfect use of his dancers, among whom were Margot Fonteyn and Rudolf Nureyev (see Nureyev).

In Russia the tradition begun in the 18th century continued to flourish in the 20th century through the country's two venerable companies--the Bolshoi in Moscow and the Kirov, known to Petipa and Diaghilev as the Maryinsky, in St. Petersburg. (See also Ballet.)

Modern Dance

At about the same time that Fokine was reforming the traditional ballet in St. Petersburg, an American woman was developing a revolutionary concept of dance. Isadora Duncan was trained in ballet but later found that these movements did not allow her as much expression of herself as she desired. Rather than modifying the conventional postures and steps, Duncan threw them out. Her new form of dance was spontaneous and highly personal and let her feel that her spirit had been liberated. (See also Duncan.)

Because it was so personal, this new kind of dance was an art form that could not be passed on to the next generation. Duncan, however, inspired younger people also to express themselves through dance. This was the beginning of the form now called modern dance. Among those included with Duncan as modern-dance pioneers are Ruth St. Denis and Ted Shawn, who specialised in highly theatrical and exotic tableaux, or stage pictures. Like the opera-ballets of the 18th century, their pieces satisfied an audience's hunger for a glimpse of foreign people and places.

Though dancers such as the German Mary Wigman, a highly dramatic performer, had a wide following both in America and Europe, no modern dancer was as influential as the American Martha Graham. A pupil of St. Denis and Shawn, she invented a style of dance that did not just ignore traditional ballet steps but contradicted them completely. Graham's revolutionary technique denied the primary importance of the classical positions of ballet. For her the source of interest and energy was the centre of the body, not its extremities. Through her company and her school, which trained successive generations of disciples, Graham influenced every modern dancer of importance--titans such as Jose Limon, Paul Taylor, Merce Cunningham, and Twyla Tharp are included on this list--and made America the centre of creativity for modern dance.

Dance in Musical Comedy

Americans also created the most vital forms of theatrical dancing. The first musical stage performance seen in the United States was a ballad opera called 'Flora', produced in Charleston, S.C., in 1735. More than a century later, 'The Black Crook' (1866) also scored an enormous success. It was not until the 20th century, however, that dancing and drama became truly integrated. Credit for this breakthrough goes to Agnes de Mille, whose 'Oklahoma!' (1943) made dancing an integral part of the story. Performed by dancers who had studied ballet, the dances in 'Oklahoma!' included not just ballet steps but folk dance and modern dance as well (see De Mille). Equally successful were the dances choreographed by Jerome Robbins for 'West Side Story', which brought a new vitality to the musical theatre. Robbins, in his turn, influenced other choreographers such as Bob Fosse and Michael Bennett.

ETHNIC DANCE

Older than folk dances are dances performed and preserved by ethnic groups throughout the world. Every culture has developed its own means of expression through movement. These dances were part of tribal rituals, designed to be performed at crucial moments in the life of both the individual and the tribe.

American Indians

Despite similarities in purpose among all tribal dances, differences existed from culture to culture. American Indians, for example, had separate dances for men and for women and others in which men, women, and children took part. These dances emphasised various movements for the feet and postures for the head. Arms were not considered as important. As in many other tribal cultures, drums beat out an accompaniment.

Far East

Dancing in the Orient is different from that in the West. In Eastern dance every movement has a specific meaning. Each gesture of the hands, the head, the arms, and the feet conveys a specific message that unschooled Western observers can only guess at.

India

In India, as in Western cultures, dances celebrate various festivals and rites of passage. The most important is the Hindu classical dance-drama bharata natya, which comes from the southeast. Performed by one woman, this dance has a great variety of bodily movement and is accompanied by rhythms stamped out by the performer's feet. Kathakali, from southwestern India, is performed only by men and young boys. The movements of these highly theatrical dances are extremely energetic, and drums and other percussion instruments accompany the performers.

Japan

Traditional dances in Japan have been performed for centuries. Among the best-known forms are No and Kabuki, both dance-dramas that combine mime and dance steps. Unlike dancing in the Western world, Japanese dancing is very formal and moves at a slow and stately pace.

China

Chinese dancing was developed thousands of years ago, when formal dances were performed at the ancient Chinese court. Dancing was also an important part of Chinese religion and philosophy. Through the ages these dances were largely forgotten and abandoned. Chinese dancing today is most often performed as a part of Chinese opera.

Indonesia

In Indonesia, however, the people have kept their dances alive and infused them through the years with new steps and movements. Instead of clinging to ancient traditions, the Indonesian people have adapted and modernised their dances.

Spain

Some native dances from Spain can be traced back to Greek times. Spanish dancers were known throughout the Roman Empire for their artistry. During the Renaissance the saraband and the pavane were developed and performed by the ruling classes, while the common people created their own dances like the fandango, bolero, and cachucha.

Perhaps the best-known Spanish dance is the flamenco, a Gypsy dance thought to be of Indian or Persian origin. A dance of great exuberance and intensity, a flamenco is improvised as the performer works within traditional forms according to the mood of the moment. A guitarist follows the rhythms, and friends clap, stamp, and shout encouragement.

Africa

The origins of African dance are lost in antiquity, but it is known that tribal peoples throughout Africa relied on dance to a remarkable degree. An integral part of everyday life, dances were used to express both joy and grief, to invoke prosperity and avoid disaster, as part of religious rituals, and purely as pastimes.

Although traditional African dance all but vanished as the continent yielded to Western culture, several dances survived. Fertility dances in Cote d'Ivoire are performed in the shape of a circle. Performers move rhythmically to the beat of drums, and many wear masks depicting birds and beasts. Also found in Cote d'Ivoire is a highly dramatic hunting dance. With vivid pantomimed gestures, two men carrying bows and arrows pursue a boy who wears an antelope mask. In a totem dance in Burkina Faso (formerly Upper Volta), a dozen men wearing animal masks take turns doing acrobatic leaps and jumps to the beating of drums until all but their leader is exhausted.