History of Dance
History of Dance
History of Dance
Veiled dancer, ancient Greek terracotta figurine from Myrina, ca. 150–100 BC. Louvre Museum
Ancient Greek terracotta statuette of a dancing maenad, 3rd century BC, from Taranto.
The history of dance is difficult to access because dance does not often leave behind clearly
identifiable physical artifacts that last over millennia, such as stone tools, hunting implements
or cave paintings. It is not possible to identify with exact precision when dance became part
of human culture.
Contents
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1Early dance
o 1.1Means of social communication and bonding
o 1.2As folk celebrations
o 1.3In ceremonies and rituals
o 1.4As a method of healing
o 1.5As a method of expression
2Asia
o 2.1Indian classical dance
o 2.2China
3Europe
o 3.115th–19th centuries: from court dancing to Romanticism
o 3.2Early 20th century: from ballet to contemporary dance
o 3.3The late 20th and early 21st centuries
4See also
5References
6Further reading
7External links
Early dance[edit]
Dance has been an important part of ceremony, rituals, celebrations and entertainment since
before the birth of the earliest human civilizations. Archaeologydelivers traces of dance
from prehistoric times such as the 30,000-year-old Bhimbetka rock shelters paintings
in India and Egyptian tomb paintings depicting dancing figures from c. 3300 BC.
Many contemporary dance forms can be traced back to historical, traditional, ceremonial,
and ethnic dances of the ancient period.
Means of social communication and bonding [edit]
Dance may have been used as a tool of social interaction that promoted cooperation essential for
survival among early humans. Studies found that today's best dancers share two specific genes
associated with a predisposition for being good social communicators.[1]
As folk celebrations[edit]
Many dances of the early periods were performed to celebrate festivals, on important or seasonal
occasions such as crop harvest, or births and weddings. Such dances are found all over the
world.[2]
In ceremonies and rituals[edit]
Main article: Ceremonial dance
Dance may be performed in religious or shamanic rituals, for example in rain dance performed in
times of drought. Shamans dancing for rain is mentioned in ancient Chinese texts. Dance is an
important aspect of some religious rites in ancient Egypt,[3] similarly dance is also integral to
many ceremonies and rites among African people.[4] Ritual dances may also be performed in
temples and during religious festivals, for example the Rasa ritual dances of India (a number
of Indian classical dances may have their origin in ritual dances), and the Cham dances of
Tibet.[5]
As a method of healing[edit]
Another early use of dance may have been as a precursor to ecstatic trance states in healing
rituals. Dance is used for this purpose by many cultures from the Brazilian rainforest to
the Kalahari Desert.[6] Medieval European danses macabres were thought to have protected
participants from disease; however; the hysteria and duration of these dances sometimes led to
death due to exhaustion.[7]
According to a Sinhalese legend, Kandyan dances originated 2500 years ago, from a magic
dance ritual that broke the spell on a bewitched king to cure the king of a mysterious illness.
As a method of expression[edit]
One of the earliest structured uses of dances may have been in the performance and in the
telling of myths. It was also sometimes used to show feelings for one of the opposite gender. It is
also linked to the origin of "love making." Before the production of written languages, dance was
one of the methods of passing these stories down from generation to generation.[8]
In European culture, one of the earliest records of dancing is by Homer,
whose Iliad describes chorea (χορεία khoreia). The early Greeks made the art of dancing into a
system, expressive of all the different passions. For example, the dance of the Furies, so
represented, would create complete terror among those who witnessed them. The Greek
philosopher, Aristotle, ranked dancing with poetry, and said that certain dancers, with rhythm
applied to gesture, could express manners, passions, and actions.[citation needed] The most eminent
Greek sculptors studied the attitude of the dancers for their art of imitating the passion.
Asia[edit]
Details from a copy of a 10th-century painting Night Revels of Han Xizai by Gu Hongzhong, depicting a
dancer performing a dance known in the Tang dynasty.
There is a long recorded history of Chinese dances. Some of the dances mentioned in ancient
texts, such as dancing with sleeve movements are still performed today. Some of the early
dances were associated with shamanic rituals. Folk dances of the early period were also
developed into court dances. The important dances of the ancient period were the
ceremonial yayue dated to the Zhou dynasty of the first millennium BC. The art of dance in China
reached its peak during the Tang dynasty, a period when dances from many parts of the world
also performed at the imperial court. However, Chinese opera became popular during the Song
and Yuan dynasty, and many dances were merged into Chinese opera.[9]The art of dance also
declined from the Song dynasty onward as a result of the increasing popularity of footbinding,[10] a
practice that ironically may have originated from dancing when a dancer wrapped her feet so she
may dance ballet-fashion.[11][12] The best-known of the Chinese traditional dances are the dragon
dance and lion dance. Lion dance was described in the Tang dynasty in form that resembles
today's dance.[9]
Europe[edit]
See also: Medieval dance, Renaissance dance, and History of ballet
Pietro Longhi, La lezione di danza ("The Dancing Lesson"), ca 1741, Venezia, Gallerie dell'Accademia.
After the explosion of modern dance in the early 20th century, the 1960s saw the growth
of postmodernism. Postmodernism veered towards simplicity, the beauty of small things, the
beauty of untrained body, and unsophisticated movement. The famous "No" manifesto rejecting
all costumes, stories and outer trappings in favour of raw and unpolished movement was
perhaps the extreme of this wave of thinking. Unfortunately lack of costumes, stories and outer
trappings do not make a good dance show, and it was not long before sets, décor and shock
value re-entered the vocabulary of modern choreographers.
By the 1980s dance had come full circle and modern dance (or, by this time, "contemporary
dance") was clearly still a highly technical and political vehicle for many practitioners. Existing
alongside classical ballet, the two