Dance History Exam 1

Why do we dance?

Everyone has their own meaning!

Danson

an ancient German word meaning to stretch or drag and based on tan

Tan

found in Sanskrit tension

Who is analyzing dance?  

• Performer  

• Choreographer  

• Audience  

• Anthropologist 

• Scientist  

• Philosopher  

• Historical Recollection  

• Participant

Orchesographie (1583)

“… to jump, to hop, to prance, to sway, to tread… to their feet, hands and body in certain rhythms”  

John Weaver - “dance is elegant, and regular movement, harmoniously composed of beautiful attitudes..” 

What’s wrong with the definition?

says regular movement so is walking considered dance?

Jean Georges Noverre (1760) - “the art of composing steps with grace, precision, and facility to the time and bars given in the music”  

What’s wrong with the definition?

says that there has to be music so is a dance without music not considered dance?

Sheldon Cheney - “defined dance as an ancient form of artistic expression…Dance then is the great mother of the arts.”  

What’s wrong with the definition?

says artistic expression so what about emotional expression!

Ideas That Inform a Definition  

• Aesthetic  

• Force in time and space  

• Phenomenology of dance

Dance as a societal function  

• Lineage - highly complex social structures, religious practices, and art forms  

• Lineage-based societies and ancient civilizations do not view dance as an activity external to survival 

1. Dance is taken very seriously by the entire tribe  

2. Dance is a means of survival and celebration of life events: birth, marriage, death, passage into adulthood, agriculture, hunting, war…. 

3. Dance is needed to sustain life 

4. Creates social unity, social identification, collective tribal strength and purpose  

Dance as Collective Unconscious 

dance based of   off dreams

Dance as Human Movement  

We all move, all the time, before birth, after birth; to move is to live

Characteristics

• Use of the human body  

• Extends through Time  

• Exists in Space  

• Exists in Force  

• Exists in Flow  

• Accompanied by rhythm  

• Serves to communicate  

• Has movement style and form  

• Serves to just exist as art  

• Means of community  

Prehistoric Times

• rock and cave paintings depict earlist evidence of human dancing

• worldwide: war dance, ritual, dance, environment

• features similar to tribal dances

• simple, repetitive steps, lines, circles and drums

Ancient Times

• prehistoric tribes settled and created cities and lifestyles making it easier for people to focus on dance

• ancient egyptian tomb paintings prove funeral rites, religious, celebrations, entertainment dances

Medieval Times

• medieval dance was primarily communal and functional - court records, letters, dance treaties and poems

• processional lines, circles, chain, formations and partnering

• movements repeated and mimicked musical phrasing

• develops into court dance where elegance was favored, folk dances developed utilizing movements such as skipping, stomping and upright posture

The Renassance

• more refined movements develop between partners

• part of dinner parties

• complex choreography is developed

• court dance and ballet develop

Baroque

• more refined movements for court events

• new dances were published in books to be peformed at the next court ball

• french or italian styles were distinguished

• styles include ballroom, ballet, theatrical

• complex use of arms, turnout of the feet, pile is developed

• approx. 20 steps, 350 dances

Regency and Romantic Era and High Victorian Era

• ballet developed here

• dances like the waltz, polka, polonaise, grand march, quadrille, step dances

• more vetined choreography and more difficult movements

• choreographed to the pharsing of music

Prehistoric Times - Why Do We Dance?

• Movement is based on survival and spirtual beliefs - to celebrate victory against other tribes of humans

• Rites of passage: births, deaths

• Hunt - hunting preparation, successful hunt

• Entertainment - social gathering / communal time

Prehistoric Times - Where is the World?

• Africa - where homo sapiens evolved over millions of years

• They migrated to Europe and Asia and then to Australia and America

Prehistoric Times - How Do We Know?

• cave paintings

• artifacts like animal bones and teeth

• stone tools (Stone Age)

Prehistoric Times - What Steps?

• simple steps

• stomping feet

• raised arms or bent elbows (reaching to a higher power)

• mimicking animals (wearing horns or tails)

Prehistoric Times - Formations

• lines

• circles

Prehistoric Times - Music

• Drum rhythms and rattling animal parts

Ancient Times - Why Do We Dance?

• now more civilized societies

• more resources available

• more knowledge of survival

• starrting to claim land in specific areas

Religious Ceremonies

more elaborate

Rites of Passge

• more elaborate

• funerals

Honor

beliefs in spirits is more powerful - Gods, People, Nature

Entertainment

we want to unite our community - social gathering / communal time

What Does Dance become in Egypt?

a profession because people appreciated dance

In Egypt, dance becomes…

• a joyful part of dinner parties

• a profession and temples have their own troupe (Ancient Egypt)

Egypt - Types

acrobatic and gymnastics

Dances Names - Egypt

Pyrrhic Dance

Ebullient Dance

Tahtib

Pyrrhic Dance

rhythmnic footwork and arm movements

Ebullient Dance

acrobatic and expressive gestures

Tahtib

stick dance

Shiba and Dancing Girl

famous artifacts in India

India

• dance, music, theatre and scared offerings

• dance is connected to something sacred here

Bharatanatyam (1000 BCE)

oldest form of dance in India - fixed upper torso, bent legs, geometric footwork, gestures tell us history and stories

China (2 types, but we only need to know formal)

1. Civil - performers held feather banners

2. Military - brandishing weapons

Dance Names - China

• Long Sleeve or Water Dance (1045)

Movement in China was

1. used in sacritical ceremonies or to honor the divine/people

2. connected to religions

In Israel, women

performed celebrations and victorious dances

Israel - What Types?

Distinction between:

1. Spirit Jewish - good

2. Pagan Folk Dance - too sensual

Pre - Columbian Of Central and South America - What Types?

• Agricultural Fertility

• Cosmological Order, movements that mimicked the movement of the stars or four cardinal direction (north, south, east, west)

• Shamanistic

Shamanistic

enter altered states of consciousness

Pre - Columbian Of Central and South America - Dance Names

Volador

Pre - Columbian Of Central and South America - what did they figure out?

there are 365 days in a year

In Israel dance overall is

spritual and an expression of joy

In Israel, there are how many different words in the Hebrew language for dance?

44

Where was dance held in great esteem

Greece

Greece - Education

everyone learned to dance at an early age

Terpsichore

muse of dance

What did Homer say?

“to sing well and to dance well is to be educated”

Dance Names? - Greek

• Pyrrchi Dance

• Ritual Dance

• Choral and Theatre Dance

Greece - How Do We Know?

• vase paintings

• Dipylon Inscription

• pottery depicts rows of men and women holding hands in circular motion

• first dances performed on Island of Crete

• Lyrics

Dipylon Inscription

alphabetic writings and poetry

Rome took…

culture from the Greeks

In Rome, professional dance starts to become…

suspicious to leaders and thus banned

Romans turned dance into…

a dark and grotesque violent spectacle less concerned with the actual art of the body, made immoral

Patomime

solo theatrical dance

Dance Names - Rome

Patomime

Rome - How Do We Know?

philosophical writings