Dance and Religion

A religious taboo continues to exist when it comes to incorporating dancing as part of religious activity. Some people think that dancing is not enough to renew energy in both mind and body through dancing, while others believe it to be quite a powerful spiritual experience.

There are several manifestations of religious activities through dancing. One of the most common ways of incorporating religion through dance forms is via rituals. The act of dancing is believed to help a performer enter a trance state that will open up their spiritual path to an empowering religious experience and communicate with the divine being. Other dances also incorporate spells or prayers.

Native American Dancing

The Native Americans had quite an interesting perspective on dancing. They perform dances for varius reasons and believed that the beat of the drum served as the spirit that guides them spiritually. Hence, Native Americans performed what was to be later on considered as ceremonial dancing since they danced for joy, rain, grief, in preparation for war, and for worship. It is for this same reason such that dancing was embedded not just in their individual identities, but has become part of tribal history. Ceremonial dances played a huge role in the Native American heritage and culture.

But still, there remained to be a few others who performed dancing because of the music and for the enrichment of this art form.

Kerala Festival Dancing

Kerala is a Southwestern Indian city known for its local festivals and celebrations. During these cultural and religious festivities, ceremonial dances are an integral part of the celebration and has earned its social importance throughout the years. Here are some of the Kerala festivals that involve various types of ceremonial dances:

• Onam: This is a popular festival in Kerala that is observed with much gaiety and fervor, typically held between August and September. There are a lot of dancing involved that represent religious harmony amongst various families. There is also a ritual attached to the ceremonial dances that require the performers to wear new clothes, or paint themselves with bright yellow, red, and black colors. Meanwhile, the music is produced through cultural instruments thakil and udukku.

• Mahasivarathri: This is an annual festival observed by the Hindus that involve lots of ceremonial dances as a way to commemorate the death of Lord Shiva in an effort to save the world of destruction.

• Vishu: This festival is held during the month of April, which is the New Year according to calendar of Malayalam. Like the above festivals, there are ceremonial dancing involved mainly to thank for the abundant supply of fruits, flowers, cereals, and coconuts, while also wishing for good luck in the coming year.

Asian Ceremonial Dancing

There is a distinct correlation between drama, music, dance, and culture in majority of Asia. Hence, costumes and particular dance movements hold a sacred cultural importance, often depicting historical events, legends, mythology, and deep ceremonial activities and worship. Each performance of ceremonial dance could last for several hours, depending on the event being portrayed or the particular cultural event being commemorated.

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Square dance is a classic art and dance form that was popularly paired with country and western American music. It involves vigorous dance routines in a single set that is performed by a group of four couples. Hence, each could make up one side of the square, which explains the name for this particular dance style.

When performing square dance, there is a caller nearby that calls out instructions to the dancers through the microphone to ensure cooperation amongst all dancers. Thus, the dancers on the floor has to perform whatever dance moves, spins, steps, and turns that is being called out by the instructor.

History and Evolution

This dance form has a long history that dates back to the 17th century, wherein it evolved from a different dance style known as quadrille. It also distinctively featured dance moves extracted from the Morris dance that was innovated around the same time period. As this particular dance style grew on popularity and was introduced in the US, more steps were added and some regions might even have their own variety that is distinct from the others. As it was introduced in the west, more square dancing forms were developed.

The traditional form of square dancing was most popular in the Appalachians, though. It often involves clogging and could either be done in quadrille form or not, but are combined with Scottish or Irish music. The western variety of square dance was distinct for its use of intricate footworks, which depend on the moves being called out by the caller on a microphone. Between 18th to 19th century in the US, this dance form was performed informally.

Role of Instructor or Caller

The caller plays one of the most vital roles during performance of square dance, hence each aspiring dancer need to understand what their role is. The main rule in square dancing is simple: listen to the caller!

Aside from calling out the moves to be performed by the caller on the floor, it is also the caller’s responsibility to gauge the progress of a student. This will help a student’s learning pace and to speed up the process of improvement with their learning. Hence, student dances are often recommended by callers for beginners to ensure that they begin at a level that they can handle.

Square Dance Lesson

When you choose to enter into a square dance lesson, it is important to equip yourself with the basic knowledge of what goes on during each session so you can come into each class well prepared. Most square dance lessons are sponsored by dance clubs that specialize in this particular dance style. As the caller instructs basic calls, the student gradually makes their way to the mainstream level. From the mainstream level, you move onto the Plus level.

The period of transition between each dance level would vary based on the intensity of the classes, number of students, and the skill level of the student. The level at which the caller is teaching could also be an important factor. It is not only beginners that enroll into a square dance lesson, experienced square dancers also attend these classes with the hope of learning new techniques and enhancing their skill level.

Enrolling into a Square Dance Lesson

If you are interested in attending a square dance session, below are some tips on finding classes to enroll into. Furthermore, you need to consider basic factors when choosing the right class for you:

• You can inquire into existing dance clubs in your area and ask if they offer classes for beginners. Obtain contact details of the individuals concerned and ask them about specifications to your class.

• Ask them about the frequency of your class. Some might be held daily or bi-weekly, so you must choose depending on your personal schedule.

• Inquire into the cost of the program, as well as the mode of payment.

• Look into possibly getting free lessons, on top of your regular sessions.

• Seek professional opinion from square dancers about the level at which you must begin with. Hence, you can adapt learning at your own natural pace and have more fun with your square dance lessons.

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Social Dancing Or Competition?

Many classify dancesport as a type of social dancing, though this is mostly a misconception since dancers all flock to the dance floor and show off their techniques. In truth, this type of dance is classified as a sport activity that is mostly described as a competition to display assorted ballroom dancing techniques and maneuvers in front of the judges and live audience.

If you observe closely, dancesport competition follows a set of rules. Music denotes what type of ballroom dancing you are going to perform on the floor. However, dancers are free to come up with their own unique maneuvers to impress the judges and win the prize.

International Competition

The World Dance Council was once called International Council of Ballroom Dancing (ICBD) that regulates dancesport competition around the globe. The council was formed in 1950 in Edinburgh with affiliate sponsors including Ballroom Dancers Federation that helps regulate these competitions in various sectors in an international level.

The very first dancesport competition was held in 1909, the first team of ballroom dancing competition in 1932, and became a live TV broadcast in 1960.

Due to the insistence of the International DanceSport Federation (IDSF), the International Olympic Committee recognized dancesport as a sports activity in 1997 and included in their roll of sports competition though not all Olympic games have this in their main event.

In most cases, we can safely say that this ballroom dancing competition requires a sponsor before it can be included in Olympic Games with the inclusion of a vote among its council.

However, there have been many critics in the inclusion of dancesport as an Olympic event. Judging is often done through appeal and how dancers impress judges. Scoring in these competitions is considered to be dubious as well — opening to the possibility of disguising fraudulent judgment with anonymous decisions with no definite criteria and scores.

Despite the subjective ruling of dancesport competitions, the ballroom dancing arena is still a much celebrated event in various countries around the globe.

Different Styles

Dancesport is not limited to specific ballroom dancing styles known today. Considering that it is dubbed as an International competition, various styles are known to be incorporate into dance routines that include standard ballroom, Latin American dance steps, Ten Dance, and diverse Rock and Roll maneuvers.

Today, this competitive dancing is introduced by various social groups to promote ballroom dancing to a whole new level. Television shows are known to use competitive dancing as a means to find new talents in the industry. Dancesport has also been introduced in social events, like college proms and athletic competitions.

Also, health groups reported that active maneuvers of ballroom dancing have a positive role in our body’s health. Today, dancesport is being introduced as an alternative solution to main proper body function and weight loss.

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Dancing is an art form that has continually evolved over the years but it has been deeply attached with humans and society. Hence, partner dances have become an integral core of this art form and might even have deep spiritual, cultural, or social meaning, depending on which particular part of the world it originated.

In the case of partner dancing, two individuals perform coordinated dance choreography. However, there are some dance forms that require each partner to perform individually.

Concept of Leader and Follower

Just like in a social setting, partner dances also incorporate roles into each participant. The man is often assigned as the “leader”, while the woman is the “follower”. These two individuals maintain a connection all throughout the dance, thus making it more of a social experience than just a simple act of dancing.

Types of Dance Partner Connections

There are different types of connection that is established between two dancing partners during a particular dance routine. Below are two of general forms of connection between two dancing partnerrs:

• Dance handhold. In this type of dance, the connection between both partners is rather loose.

• Dance frame. In other types of dance connection, there is body contact involving that connection. Hence, there are certain restrictions to your body position during dance sequence. A dance frame is relegated to each dancer, which makes it a crucial concept to each dancing partner.

Dances with Same Sex Partners

The typical idea with partner dances is that it often involves two individuals of the opposite sex, which is a type of dance involving man and woman. But there are various types of partner dancing that involve two individuals of the same sex, particularly in several western societies.

It is still treated unusual by outsiders though, while the idea of both women dancing together is more acceptable as compared to that of two men. But as more of these types of dancing are becoming more prevalent, this has been gradually accepted by the general society, especially in social situations wherein there are insufficient partners of the opposite sex. Such dances do not even take into account the sexual orientation of individuals involved during dance, while most have adapted a “comedy value” to them.

Double Partner Dance

In this type of partner dances, there are three persons involved and dancing together. It could either be one man with two women, or one woman with two men. This type of partner dancing is only done for social dancing with significant demographic disproportion amongst the two sexes. Hence, this was quite common during the years of war wherein there is not enough women in the army, or the civilians only had women as dancers.

It was not until during the 1980s though that double partner dances was officially acknowledged as a type of partner dancing. It quickly became popular amongst Hustle, Swing, Ceroc, and Salsa dancing communities. In most cases, only one serves as a leader and the two other dancing partners are mere followers. Nowadays, you will also find several folk dances that are partnered after this setup, but it typically involves one man and two women.

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History

If you study dancing history then you will see that breakdancing is nowhere to be found in the records. The trend started in the streets of New York — a way for kids and teenagers to show off their “cool moves” with the inclusion of music. It was observed that this form of modern dance is a combination of athletic moves and dance maneuvers — with emphasis on extreme “power moves” with “freezes” during breaks in the music. The trend started with the Latinos and Black youths in Bronx, but was later performed by the general populace and eventually in the international level. 

Naming

Breakdancers don’t like to be called as such. They have their own terms to define who they are in this modern dance routine. Notable performers often term themselves as “b-boy” or “b-girl” and the dance itself is named as “breaking”

Break And Dance

Breakdancing got its name from the “breaks” in the music where performers put a halt on their extreme dance moves to show off. In most cases, the musics are remixed to fit in these breaks to allow more emphasis on the maneuvers. There are 5 moves incorporated into this modern dance routine, namely:

1. Toprock – steps performed while standing;

2. Downrock – emphasis of feet and body movements on the floor. This is often termed as footwork or floorwork;

3. Power Moves – these are termed as acrobatic maneuvers that require physical strength, balance, and stamina. Initial movement includes circular maneuvers for the body to gain momentum to execute power moves;

4. Freezes – the performer stays in a pose, usually after executing power moves, during the break in the music;

5. Suicides – this is an extreme maneuver that usually denotes the end of a routine.

Requirement

If you break down the fundamentals of “breaking”, one will observe that the emphasis is more into the person’s physical strength and balance. The moves can be quite tricky and require complete control of the body or ends up in very painful consequences brought about by lack of timing and experience.

In most cases, professional breakers who teach breakdancing often start their lessons in improving a performer’s physical strength and balance. Each maneuver is executed individually until they learn to grasp complete control of their body and proceed to more complicated techniques.

There has been a major debate saying that breakdancing is more into power than style. However, breakers classify themselves into these two fundamentals — one incorporating the use of power to amplify and support their moves, while one group focus more into mastering unique “power moves” to their dancing.

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History

The Flamenco’s history dates back to the Golden Age of the gypsies, though historians only found vague records in regards to where the dance actually came from. Studies show that the Flamenco is actually more into the category of music than a dance. The music, though its original composition was lost in history, are said to contain influences from Muslim and Christian cultures.

Many researchers believe that the Flamenco did not exist before 1780. Gypsies who were known to dance the Flamenco during their social gathers, mostly in secret, does not know when or where the dance came from — only that it was passed on from generation to generation.

Music

According to research of renowned historians and dance critics, the Flamenco started off as an impromptu dance following a steady beat — mostly staccato clapping of the audience. Later, it was modified its repertoire of movement to follow the complicated harmony produced by the “togue” (flamenco guitar), as well as the rhythmic clapping and stamping of the audience or the band. The dance was later termed as the “baile” — a common social dance of those with Spanish decent.

Live Performance

The Flamenco dance went into the public scene later in the 1869. Due to its popularity, many have utilized its unique and appealing music and dance maneuvers to attract customers to public events and roadside cafes. Later, the dance was introduced as paid performance enjoyed by Spaniards and foreigners.

The year 1869 to 1910 is considered to be the Golden Age of Flamenco. The dance and music evolved as new inspirations and cultures were introduced into the mix. In the 19th Century, Flamenco was introduced in romantic theatrical plays that depict a woman seducing their partners into a web of romantic palette that is a favorite pastime in European countries.

Live Lessons

There is no fixed class in regards to how Flamenco is passed to the next generation. Gypsies passed the culture through watching and listening — inviting their sons and daughters to social gatherings to educate them to the music and body interpretation that resulted in the dance.

This is one reason why the dance routine has shed its traditional form and has succumbed to the changes of modern world. Music critics shed light to the Flamenco being a dance of unlimited possibilities — the creativity and personal interpretation of individual performers and musicians giving light to new maneuvers and techniques that shows the modern Flamenco we know today.

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