History of Dance: Universal Elements and Types of Dance

Dancing involves moving the body rhythmically, often in a choreographed way and usually to music. Dance can express aesthetic ideas and emotions as a form of performance art presented to an audience. People also dance in nonperformance situations to release energy, express emotion, connect with other people, or just enjoy the feeling of movement.
While the art of dance varies across history and cultures, it exists in all cultures. In many cultures, both highly trained professionals and amateurs of all ages dance.

Dancing in all its forms involves five key elements:

1. 1. Body: The body is the primary instrument of dance. Dancers may use their entire bodies or limit movement to certain body parts. Professional dancers train their bodies to have exceptional agility and strength.
2. 2. Action: Action refers to what the dancer does while dancing, whether they stay rooted in one spot or move across the floor and through the air.
3. 3. Space: Dancers move through space in every possible way, varying their level, direction, and path as they move, no matter the form of dance. They also move, often in very specific ways, in relation to other people taking part in a given dance.
4. 4. Time: Time is one of the key elements of dance, as it relates to the rhythm of the movements. Performers often choreograph their dances to the meter of the music.
5. 5. Energy: The final element of dance, energy, speaks to how the dancers move through space and time. Dancers can use their bodies and their dance technique to make movements that are smooth or sudden, that feel tight and restricted or light and relaxed.

While the five elements work together in all forms of dancing, dancers can use each element separately.

• Origins in antiquity: The earliest historical records showing the origins of dance are cave paintings in India dating to about 8000 BCE Egyptian tomb paintings also depict dance in about 3300 BCE These early dances may have been religious in nature, and by the era of ancient Greece, people were incorporating dance into celebrations of the wine god Dionysus (and later the Roman god Bacchus) and into ritual dances at the ancient Greek Olympic Games. In addition, early people danced for enjoyment, seduction, and entertainment.
• India and China: Dance throughout Asia has a rich history. While Hindu dancing in India has a rich performance history going back millennia, in the late 1700s, dance was restricted by British colonists, who considered the dances immoral. Once India gained its freedom from Great Britain, the country revived its classical dance traditions. Chinese dance dates back at least 3,000 years, with ceremonial dances and folk dances adapted for performance at court. To this day, celebrations still include traditional dances such as the dragon dance and lion dance.
• European social dances: Social dancing in most parts of the world grew out of folk dances, many of which were simple and repetitive. In Europe, the folk dances of the Middle Ages turned into formal ballroom dancing. These dances moved into royal courts beginning in the Renaissance, becoming popular as dancing masters taught upper classes the proper steps for court dances. As women's clothing allowed more freedom of movement in the nineteenth century, social dancing became more lively. The waltz, in particular, swept around the world as a major dance craze in the mid-nineteenth century, and social dances began to focus on two-person dancing in the early twentieth century.
• Influence of ballet: Much of the dance created by choreographers and composers and performed as professional entertainment today has its roots in ballet, which, in turn, dates back to the Renaissance. Ballet dance became an art in the eighteenth century, when ballet companies sprang up around the world, telling entire stories through the emotional movements of the ballet dancers. As shoes and costumes changed, dancers gained greater expressive freedom, but some ballet dancers found the rules (and the pointe shoes) of classical ballet restrictive. In the twentieth century, modern dancers and choreographers such as George Balanchine and Martha Graham began to deconstruct ballet to create new forms of performance dance.

People still enjoy watching ballet and modern dance styles in performance on stage, with contemporary dance companies pushing boundaries for expression. In addition, theatrical dancing, including tap dancing, attracts people to New York City stages, while elaborate choreography is a hallmark of popular Bollywood productions in India.

Off the stage, ordinary people participate in a far greater variety of styles of dance in their own lives. Ballroom dancing has a rich history dating back to the Renaissance, and many ballroom-style dances are still popular today. Graceful dances such as the waltz and foxtrot bring elegance to celebrations, while more lively ballroom dances include the Charleston, swing dancing, the polka, the quickstep, and various country western dances. Latin dances, including salsa dancing and the tango, the cha-cha, the samba, and the rumba, involve complex rhythms and fluid motion.

Many people carry on the customs of their homelands through folk dancing and traditionally accompany these dances with the music of their culture. Sometimes, folk-type dancers also perform for audiences, as is the case with belly dancing, which originated in Egypt, and Polynesian dancing, including Hawaiian hula, Tahitian otea, and Maori haka.

Popular dances have exploded into new styles over the last decades. While the jitterbugging of the 1950s and disco of the 1970s draw their roots from earlier ballroom dance crazes, rock and electronic music has brought new types of dance, often non-partnered, to parties and dance floors. House dance incorporates Latin and soul influences, while dances at raves are energetic and freestyle. Hip hop dancing drawing on Black American dance styles has exploded around the world in the last fifty years, along with its related styles of breakdancing, popping, and locking.

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