A Brief History of Dance

Origins

Early History

Even before the emergence of written language and modern history, when our first societies formed through oral and performance means to pass along stories from one generation to the next, dance has always been with us. Many historians think that social, celebratory, and ceremonial dances were important in the formation of early human civilizations.

The beginnings of ancient dances can been traced back to 9000 years ago in India or 5300 years ago in Egypt, although records of more common infusions of dance into modern civilization may be found in Ancient Greece, China, and India. All of these ancient dances evolved into a vast range of Roman and European medieval dances, traditional Chinese dances, Hindi and other traditional dances, and so on.

The history of music and dance blossomed with new contributions to song and dance after the introduction of the European Renaissance. Due to the ease of travel and immigration to the New World, these dances were mixed in with numerous native cultures, resulting in a plethora of new dance genres that are still popular today.

Important Parts of Dance

Dancing's Universal Elements

Five basic components are present in all types of dancing:

The body is the most important instrument in dance. Dancers can move their complete bodies or only select sections of their bodies. Professional dancers work hard to develop their bodies' agility and strength.

The dancer's action refers to whether they stay rooted in one location or move over the floor and through the air when dancing.

Dancers move through space in a variety of ways, changing their level, direction, and path as they go, regardless of the type of dance. They also move in response to other persons participating in a dance, often in very particular ways

Time is an important aspect of dance since it affects the rhythm of the motions. Dancers frequently choreograph their moves to the beat of the music.

The last aspect of dance is energy, which describes how the dancers move through space and time. Dancers may produce motions that are smooth or abrupt, tight and confined or light and relaxing, using their bodies and dance technique.

Dancers can employ each of the five components independently, even though they operate together in all styles of dance.

Music & Dance

Influence of Music on Dance

The two art forms, music and dance, appear to produce an emotional quotient when they are combined, constantly complimenting one another.

Dartmouth researchers had two groups of people participating in a difficult experiment to determine the link between music and dance: college students from the United States and villagers from a Cambodian hamlet.

They discovered that being exposed to music caused emotional reactions in both groups. Regardless of their backgrounds, they both started dancing.

The strong relationship between dance and music is based on the fact that both are organized around rhythmic patterns; hence, the accompanying music's rhythm can be utilized to set the dance's rhythm, to emphasize it, or to assist the dancers in maintaining the same beat.

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