Dance as a Performing Art
Dance is commonly considered to be a form of art. This is a fact acknowledged by civilizations around the world, both in ancient and modern times. Dance is a form of emotional expression that is highly sophisticated and technical.
A dance may just be a rhythmic swaying of your body, to the music or it might be a violent and passionate communication form of what cannot be seen, but has to be felt. If you understand this sort of feeling, you will be able to express yourself in dance wordlessly.
Dance starts off with a gathering of people. They come together to express emotions like joy, hurt or sorrow, but these dance forms then turn into trends. Dancing trends do not have to be classical in nature, but they can evolve into a new form that is a reflection of the traditional, cultural or social views of the time.
A great example that demonstrates how things can change is the waltz. During its heyday, the waltz was considered almost to be scandalous because the man would put his hand around a woman’s waist while dancing. By today’s standards, that is almost a joke. Now it is no problem to watch couples dance an erotic tango and in fact this dance doesn’t even cause shocked reactions.
There are two accepted general forms of dance. It is said that each dance form belongs to one of two different types of schools. The dance types that have remained the same, more commonly referred to as traditional dancing, includes dances like the waltz. However, it is hard to imagine hip hop dancing to this old classical type! On the flip side of things, it is just as difficult to imagine dancing a waltz to jazz music. Nevertheless, some people still believe that the two forms of dance can be combined to create inspirational and unique performances.
“If music be the food of love play on,” said Orsino, and he was willing to dance to the tune of love’s song. The idea that music and dance are intertwined together, to be almost one shows that one cannot exist without the other. Nevertheless, there are performances, where you are going to see only musical melodies being played, but they are going to be feet tapping somewhere, in rhythm to Beethoven or Mozart’s melodious works. In the same manner tap dancing, does not necessarily need music, but it is rhythmic enough to make one think that the dancer is hearing some musical tune playing in his head somewhere.
With new kinds of music coming out, it is only natural that new dance forms will develop. There are no limits on dance forms and that also means that a style is not just restricted to one era or that an old dance form can not reappear in a new style.
So it does not matter if people consider you to have 2 left feet. If the music sways you enough to want to stand up and move your feet, repeat those moments again, then move your head, and the rest of your body, you are dancing. Perhaps you are making the same movements your ancestors did more than 5000 years ago, and who were considered bewitching dancers to enthrall the public! Whatever the reason, dance as an art form is going to be around in some form or the other through time eternal.
