The History of Dance

While dance has actually been an important part of social culture for  countless years, there are few archaeological finds of dance from the very earliest  societies. Unlike hunting or farming implements, or weapons of battle,  bodily evidence of  dancing  just reaches back about 9,000 years. Rock paintings in India and in Egyptian burial places from around 3300 B.C. depict dancing figures.

Dance plays a role in ceremony, rituals, parties and  amusement in all cultures. An early usage of dance, however, was as a  recovery  routine. Such dances were the precursors to ecstatic hypnotic trance states in  old healing ceremonies. This feature of dance  expanded from the Brazilian rainforest to the Kalahari Desert in Africa. Medieval Europe made use of  dancing  regimens to ward off disease.

Storytelling is among the  earliest  avenues for dance. The expressive  bodily  activity in dance  functioned  specifically well in the  imparting of myths and  tales, adding depth and feeling to the  initial storyline. The combo of storytelling and  dancing was the primary  technique of passing knowledge down  via the generations before the  development of written languages.

The very early Greeks turned dancing into a high art, using it to  share all the  various passions of human nature. Aristotle compared dancing to poems, while Homer  pointed out dancing in his Iliad. Greek carvers made a serious study of the attitude of dancers in order to  record their art of imitating the various passions.

India had  hundreds of years of  remarkable and  elaborate  dancing  up until the last 200 years, when it became associated with courtesans, then with  streetwalkers, falling out of social favor. While a colony of the British, public dancing was disallowed  entirely. After India acquired her  freedom in 1947, classical dance forms were  discovered, ethnic specialties were  recognized, and  brand-new innovations in dance  arose, blending the old with the new.

In Europe, the 18th century saw the growth of classical ballet from the  imperial court to the Paris Opera. Moving from ambient 'moving scenery' to performance in its own right, ballet continued to develop throughout Europe, with its brand-new forms sweeping away the stiff artificiality of the court dance, with art  copying nature. This liberated both the costuming and  using  body language to convey expression. The angelic  design of the prima ballerina, doing point work on her toes was the dominant theme of this romantic trend in  ballet dancing. The male ballet dancer didn't enter his own until the 20th century, with Nijinsky demonstrating the raw power and passion of the male of the species.

American choreographers introduced contemporary  dancing in the early 20th century. This free-form, flowing and primitive style of physical expression was a direct rebellion to the stiff style of classical  ballet dancing. It took virtually 40 years before  contemporary  dancing and  conventional  ballet dancing  might  co- exist peacefully  side-by-side in the public's consciousness.

Mass culture took an evolutionary leap onward with street dance. Led by Michael Jackson of the Jackson 5 in 1974, African-Americans jumpted on this  brand-new post-modern  dancing  design and ran with it, literally in the streets. Break dancing progressed from street dance in the 1980s and became a  worldwide  sensation.

For wedding event  parties,  affairs and special events,  dancing  songs adds to the  celebration. For the best dance experience with a live band,  have a look at Skyline Drive Orchestra, a wedding band New Jersey. A wedding band NJ, they have the skill for all  song styles. Few wedding bands new jersey might  offer the live  skill that Skyline Drive Orchestra can. Whether its Samba or ballroom waltz, wedding bands NJ has it!

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