Dance (redirected from leading a merry dance)

dance [Old High Ger. danson=to drag, stretch], the art of precise, expressive, and graceful human movement, traditionally, but not necessarily, performed in accord with musical accompaniment. Dancing developed as a natural expression of united feeling and action.

The Origins of Dance

The earliest history of human dance is a continuing mystery. From the evidence of illustrated ceramic fragments, some archaeologists have speculated that dance originated some 5,000 to 9,000 years ago in early agricultural cultures located in a swath running from modern Pakistan to the Danube basin. Others, however, have expressed caution regarding the reconstruction of social behavior from such sources. Speculation aside, specific knowledge of prehistoric dances is lacking, and thus many experts have extrapolated dance history from the preserved ritual dances of various preliterate societies.

Ritualistic and Ceremonial Dance

Native American dances illustrate most of the purposes of dance that is of a ritualistic or ceremonial nature: the war dance, expressing prayer for success and thanksgiving for victory; the dance of exorcism or healing, performed by shamans to drive out evil spirits; the dance of invocation, calling on the gods for help in farming, hunting, the fertility of human beings and animals, and other tribal concerns; initiation dances for secret societies; mimetic dances, illustrating events in tribal history, legend, or mythology; dances representing cosmic processes; and, more rarely, the dance of courtship, an invocation for success in love. The dance of religious ecstasy, in which hypnotic or trancelike states are induced (a characteristic phenomenon of Southeast Asia and Africa), was represented in America by the remarkable Ghost Dance.

Native American dancing is always performed on the feet, but in many islands of the Pacific and in Asia some of the dances are performed in a sitting posture, with only the hands, arms, and upper parts of the body used. Ancient Egyptian dances, often of a religious character, were derived from earlier African forms. In Greece the choral dance in honor of Dionysus played a part in the development of the drama and in religious worship. Many early religious or celebratory dances have survived in the folk dance of modern times.

In India dance and drama have usually been related, both generally having religious significance. An elaborate code of movements of the arms and hands (mudras), expressive use of the face and especially of the eyes, and a sinuous posturing of the body are important features of Indian classical dancing, among the best-known examples being Kathakali and the Bharata Natyam, both of S India. The early dances of Japan, probably influenced by ancient Chinese forms, became institutionalized with the establishment of a national school of dancing in the 14th cent. Soon the dance became associated with the famous No drama (see Asian drama). Secular dances are performed by the geisha.

The Development of Dance in Europe

In medieval Europe the repeated outbreaks of dance mania, a form of mass hysteria sometimes caused by religious frenzy and usually associated with epidemics of bubonic plague, are reflected in the allegory of the dance of death (see Death, Dance of). Dancing as a social activity and a form of entertainment is of relatively recent origin. During the Middle Ages, especially in France, dancing was a feature of the more enlightened and convivial courts. Some medieval dances, such as the volta, precursor of the waltz, became the sources of modern dance steps. In the 16th cent. two types of dance were popular, the solemn and stately dances performed at the court of Charles IX and the lively peasant dances.

The ballet first appeared in Italian courts in the 16th cent., and it became popular in France, especially during the reign of Louis XIV. Among the formal dances of the 17th cent. were the courante, saraband, pavan, minuet, gavotte, quadrille (or contredanse), and cotillion. Music, which had developed to accompany dancing, had, by this time, evolved many forms and rhythms no longer associated with the dance. French dances made their way to England in the 17th cent. where variations of the morris dance were frequently performed in villages and small towns.

Popular national dances include the mazurka and polonaise from Poland; the czardas from Hungary; the fandango, bolero, seguidilla, and flamenco from Spain; the tarantella and saltarello from Italy; the waltz and galop from Germany; the polka and schottische from Bohemia; the strathspey and Highland fling from Scotland; the hornpipe from England; and the jig from Ireland.

Dance in the Americas

The United States initiated the barn dance, Virginia reel, clog dance, cakewalk, and Paul Jones in the 19th cent., the two-step c.1890, the turkey trot (one-step) c.1900, and the fox-trot c.1912. The popularity of jazz in the early 1920s produced a number of new social dances, of which the most popular was the charleston. From South America came the Argentine tango and the Brazilian maxixe and samba; from Cuba, the rumba, conga, and mambo.

Since the 1920s the United States has seen a wave of dance crazes, among them the Lindy Hop of the 1930s, the boogie woogie and jitterbug of the 1940s, the cha cha and rock 'n' roll of the 1950s, the twist, frug, and various frenzied discothèque and go-go dances of the 1960s, the disco dances of the 1970s, and in the 1980s hip-hop, which was tied to rap music and evolved into an energetic style of street dancing, called break dancing. Tap dancing and ballroom and adagio dancing have won wide popularity as entertainment and have been featured frequently in musical stage shows and movies.

See also modern dance.

Bibliography

See L. Kirstein, Book of the Dance (rev. ed. 1942); C. Sachs, World History of the Dance (tr. 1937, repr. 1963); W. Sorell, The Dance through the Ages (1967); A. Chujoy and P. W. Manchester, ed., The Dance Encyclopedia (rev. ed. 1967); W. Terry, The Dance in America (rev. ed. 1971); G. Vuillier, A History of Dancing from the Earliest Ages to Our Own Time (1898, repr. 1973); P. Magriel, Chronicles of the American Dance (1978); J. H. Mazo, Prime Movers (1977, repr. 1983); F. Bijester, Dancing Is Pleasure for Two: The Story of Ballroom and Social Dance (1985); S. Barnes, Terpsichore in Sneakers: Post-Modern Dance (1987); S. J. Cohen, ed., International Encyclopedia of Dance (6 vol., 1998); D. Craine and J Mackrell, Oxford Dictionary of Dance (2000); N. Reynolds and M. McCormick, No Fixed Points: Dance in the Twentieth Century (2003).

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dance

Form of expression that uses bodily movements that are rhythmic, patterned (or sometimes improvised), and usually accompanied by music. One of the oldest art forms, dance is found in every culture and is performed for purposes ranging from the ceremonial, liturgical, and magical to the theatrical, social, and simply aesthetic. In Europe, tribal dances often evolved into folk dances, which became stylized in the social dances of the 16th-century European courts. Ballet developed from the court dances and became refined by innovations in choreography and technique. In the 20th century, modern dance introduced a new mode of expressive movement. See also allemande; ballroom dance; country dance; courante; gavotte; gigue; hula; jitterbug; Ländler; mazurka; merengue; minuet; morris dance; pavane; polka; polonaise; quadrille; samba; sarabande; square dance; sword dance; tango; tap dance; waltz.

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dance

1. a series of rhythmic steps and movements, usually in time to music

2. an act of dancing

3. 

a. a social meeting arranged for dancing; ball

b. (as modifier): a dance hall

4. a piece of music in the rhythm of a particular dance form, such as a waltz

5. dancelike movements made by some insects and birds, esp as part of a behaviour pattern
www.culturekiosque.com/dance
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www.sapphireswan.com/dance/links/modern.htm
www.artindia.net/modern.html
www.britisharts.co.uk/moddance.htm

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Dance

Carmichael, Essie

untalented girl who goes into her ballet routine with little or no encouragement. [Am. Drama: Kaufman and Hart You Can’t Take It with You in Hart, 955]

Esmerelda

gypsy girl whose street dancing captivates onlookers. [Fr. Lit.: Victor Hugo The Hunchback of Notre Dame]

“Red Shoes, The”

bewitched shoes force Karen to dance unceasingly. [Danish Lit.: Andersen “The Red Shoes” in Magill II, 27]

Rockettes

precision dancers; a fixture at New York’s Radio City Music Hall. [Am. Dance: Payton, 576]

Roseland Ballroom

New York dance hall. [Pop. Culture: Misc.]

Salome

danced to obtain head of John the Baptist. [N.T.: Matthew 14:6–11]

St. Denis, Ruth, and Ted Shawn

(1877–1968) (1891–1972) husband-and-wife team, founders of Denishawn dance schools. [Am. Dance: NCE, 2395]

Terpsichore

muse of dancing. [Gk. Myth.: Brewer Dictionary, 849]

Vitus, St.

patron saint of dancers. [Christian Hagiog: Saints and Festivals, 291]

Ziegfeld Follies

beautiful dancing girls highlighted annual musical revue on Broadway (1907–1931). [Am. Theater: NCE, 3045]

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Dance 

an art form that employs bodily movements and gestures to express artistic images. Dance was first based on various movements connected with man’s work and man’s impressions of the surrounding world. The movements gradually became stylized, and the art of the dance evolved as one of the earliest examples of folk arts. Initially linked with speech and song, dance gradually acquired importance as an independent art form. Dance traditions have developed among all peoples of the world.

Stage dance, which is based on folk dance, became highly developed in the professional theater and was thoroughly systematized. Various schools of dance developed, including European classical dance, which is the basis of contemporary ballet, Asian dance, including the Indian kathak, kathakali, manipuri, tamasha, and African dance. Folk dance was also the basis of ballroom dance.

As an art form, dance is a means of intellectual and emotional expression. The artistic quality of a given dance is determined by its thematic content and the way it is performed. The chief means of expression used in dance are harmonious movements and poses, plasticity, and facial expression; important features of the dance are dynamics, rhythm, and design (arrangement of movements). Costumes and stage props are used to enhance the beauty of dances and to make dance visually real. Ballet is enriched by dramaturgy, which lends it particular expressive power. The most basic element of dance movement is the tempo. Individual steps are grouped into combinations. Dance is measured by the same rhythmic units as music.

The dance of antiquity exerted a great influence on the development of European dance, for example, the religious dances in Assyria and Egypt and various dances in Greece, including dances in honor of Apollo, Bacchus, and other gods, the pyrrhic war dances, and the gymnopaedic dances, all of which were an integral part of the Greek theater. Dancer-mimes appeared in the Hellenistic period, between the fourth and second centuries B.C. During the second and first centuries B.C., the Romans adopted Hellenistic dance, which they subsequently developed as pantomime in the second and fifth centuries A.D.

During the Middle Ages dance was discouraged by the clergy. Later, dance was gradually theatricalized by jongleurs, Spielmänner, and skomorokhi (Russian itinerant performers). In the 15th and 16th centuries, Morescas (narrative dance scenes) were performed and the first treatises and textbooks on the dance were written.

With the appearance of the first ballets in the early 17th century, a new dance technique evolved. The French Academy of Dance (founded 1661) codified what subsequently became known as classical dance. Reforms in music, for example, the opera reform of C. Gluck, influenced the structure of ballets, helping ballet emerge as an independent art form.

During the Enlightenment, ballet became emotionally and dramatically more profound. The pas d’action, a dance with narrative or thematic content, evolved and later was developed in the romantic ballet. During the second half of the 19th century, a new virtuoso dance style developed, facilitated by special point shoes, which permitted the ballerina to stand, move about, and execute rapid turns while on her toes. A great contribution was made to ballet in the late 19th century by the symphonic composers P. I. Tchaikovsky and A. K. Glazunov and the choreographers M. I. Petipa and L. I. Ivanov. Their innovations included the use of leitmotifs and the coordination of the choreography of soloists and the corps de ballet.

The character dance, a balletic stylization of folk dance, developed in ballet and was followed by an interest in genuine folk dance, elements of which were employed by many Russian choreographers, including M. M. Fokine, K. Ia. Goleizovskii, and F. V. Lopukhov. Experiments were conducted in new choreographic forms, and the traditional structure of the pas de deux, pas de trois, and grand pas was discarded.

By the late 19th century, a new school of dance had evolved. Conventionally termed “modern dance” (or “free,” “plastic,” or “rhythmic” dance), it was originally based on the methods of F. Delsarte and E. Jaques-Dalcroze. I. Duncan also exerted an influence on the development of modern dance. In Europe and the USA between the 1940’s and the 1960’s, modern dance borrowed elements from classical ballet, and ballet likewise adopted certain elements of modern dance. The dance of the variety stage, in which performers strive for virtuosity and striking, expressive technique, has also developed.

Dance has become especially popular in the USSR, where numerous amateur and professional dance companies have been established, including song and dance ensembles. National schools of dance have been founded by peoples who once lacked developed dance traditions or whose traditions had disappeared, such as the Turkmen, Kazakhs, and Kirghiz. Soviet choreographers utilize classical dance as the most highly perfected dance system. Distinctive schools of ballet are developing in the national republics on the basis of the Russian school of ballet. An integrated system of teaching has been adopted in the ballet schools of the USSR, and textbooks and teaching aids have been created for folk dancing, ballet, character dancing, and ballroom dancing.

REFERENCES

Khudekov, S. N. Istoriia tantsev, parts 1–4. St. Petersburg, 1913–18.
Lucian. “O pliaske.” Sobr. soch., vol. 2. Moscow-Leningrad, 1935.
Lopukhov, A. V., A. V. Shiriaev, and A. I. Bocharov. Osnovy kharakternogo lantsa. Leningrad-Moscow, 1939.
Vaganova, A. la. Osnovy klassicheskogo tantsa, 3rd ed. Leningrad-Moscow, 1948.
Ivanovskii, N. P. Bal’nyi tanets XVI-XIX vv. Leningrad-Moscow, 1948.
Vasil’eva-Rozhdestvenskaia, M. V. Istoriko-bytovoi tanets. Moscow, 1963.
See also under .

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