The World Of Dance

  Dance is a performing art form consisting of purposefully selected sequences of human movement. This movement has a symbolic value, and is acknowledged as dance by performers and observers within a particular culture. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography.

Other forms of human movement are sometimes said to have a dance-like quality, including Martial art, gymnastics, cheerleading, figure skating, marching bands, and many other forms of athletics. Dancing is beneficial to our health. It lowers the chances of heart and blood vessel diseases, improves posture and weight, reduces stress and tension, improve brain function because of constant of music.

History of Dance 

• First archeological proof of dance comes from the 9 thousand year old cave paintings in India.
• One of the earliest uses of structured dance was introduced in religious ceremonies that told the stories of ancient myths and gods. Egyptian priests used this kind of visual storytelling in their rituals.
• ancient Egyptians used dancing as both entertainment and religion.
• Dance represented important parts of many Greek and Roman religious ceremonies.
• Ancient Greeks and Romans annually celebrated their wine gods Dionysus and Bacchus with several days long festivities filled with alcohol, song and dance.
• History of European medieval dance is fragmented and limited, but is believed that simple folk dances were widespread among common and wealthy classes.
• Modern dance history in Europe started with Renaissance, when many new dances were invented. After that, periods of Baroque, post French Revolution, Elizabethan era, World War 1, Prohibition, Ragtime and pre-WW2 brought many new waves of dance styles.
• Waltz one of the most popular dances today came into popularity in mid-19th century by the efforts of the famous composer Johann Strauss, but its origins can be traced even to the distant 16th century.
• At first, waltz was performed with arm's length between male and female dances. The shocking transition to the close embrace happened only after English Queen Victoria fell in love with the dance and forced this change.
• Around 30 thousand people are employed in UK dance industry today, maintaining around 200 dance companies.
• Even people in wheelchairs can dance! Such dancing is very popular in Europe where there are even competitions in Latin dances with special wheelchair choreographies.
• Professional dance is today regarded as one of the most demanding physical abilities and sports. According to studies, 80% of all professional dances have at least one major injury during their career and staggering 93% of all dance teachers were forced into that position after career ending injury.
• High amount of injuries in professional dancing is induced by high levels of fatigue, little time for rest, inadequate healing techniques and high stress levels. All those factors can produce burn out periods when dancers have decreased strength, coordination, cognitive and immune functions.

Types of Dances in World

Hip-hop dance  Hip-hop dance refers to street dance styles primarily performed to hip-hop music or that have evolved as part of hip-hop culture. It includes a wide range of styles primarily breaking, locking, and popping which were created in the 1970s and made popular by dance crews in the United States. 

Tap dance  Tap dance is a form of dance characterized by using the sounds of tap shoes striking the floor as a form of percussion. Two major variations on tap dance exist: rhythm (jazz) tap and Broadway tap. Broadway tap focuses on dance; it is widely performed in musical theater.

Yangko dance  Yangko drama, or Yangko opera, is a form of Chinese sung theatre. An example is the founding piece of the China National Opera when it was founded in Yan’an in 1942, which was with a performance of a Yangko drama Brothers and Sisters Opening up the Wasteland. 

Belly dance  Belly dance is an expressive dance which emphasizes complex movements of the torso. Originally a Middle Eastern folk dance, it has evolved to take many different forms depending on the country and region, both in costume and dance style. New styles have evolved in the West as its popularity has spread globally.

Kathak  Kathak (Sanskrit: कथक) is one of the ten major forms of Indian classical dance. The origin of Kathak is traditionally attributed to the traveling bards of ancient northern India, known as Kathakars or storytellers. The term Kathak is derived from the Vedic Sanskrit word Katha meaning “story”, and kathak in Sanskrit means “he who tells a story”, or “to do with stories”. Wandering Kathaks communicated stories from the great epics and ancient mythology through dance, songs and music in a manner similar to early Greek theatre. Kathak evolved during the Bhakti movement, particularly by incorporating childhood and stories of Hindu god Krishna, as well as independently in the courts of north Indian kingdoms.

Ballet  Ballet is a type of performance dance that originated in the Italian Renaissance courts of the 15th century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread, highly technical form of dance with its own vocabulary based on French terminology. It has been globally influential and has defined the foundational techniques used in many other dance genres. Becoming a ballet dancer requires years of training. Ballet has been taught in various schools around the world, which have historically incorporated their own cultures to evolve the art.

Salsa  Salsa is a popular form of social dance that originated in New York City with strong influences from Latin America, particularly Puerto Rico and Cuba. The movements of salsa have origins in Cuban Son, Cha-cha-cha, Mambo and other dance forms, and the dance, along with the salsa music, originated in the mid-1970s in New York.

Line dance  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.

Indian Classical Dances

• Bharatanatyam
• Chhau dance
• Garba
• Kathak
• Kathakali
• Kuchipudi
• Manipuri dance
• Mohiniyattam
• Odissi
• Sattriya

Dance it is one of the best activity which I love to do. During this time of sadness caused by the pandemic dance makes the people health, physically fit and entertain both the dancer and the viewer. there are many more types of dance I will discuss that in my next post. Don't forget to give your feedback in comments thankyou😊.