WHY DO WE DANCE?

Have you ever twirled in a circle? Stretched on your tiptoes and swept your arms above your head? Tapped your feet to snappy music? All people dance, because the human body is made to move. The world offers an exciting variety of dances!

WHAT IS DANCE?
Our bodies can twist, jump, stretch, and turn. Dance blends these movements together, usually with music. Dance uses space: What patterns do the dancers make across the floor? What designs do dancers’ arms and legs brush through the air? Dance uses time: Is the dance fast or slow? What rhythm pulses in the music? Dance uses weight: Are the steps light and quick, or heavy and limp? Dance uses energy: Does the dance have fast, choppy movements, or flowing, soft ones?
WHY DO WE DANCE?
People around the world dance for different reasons and in different ways. Some dances can express feelings like sadness, anger, or joy. Other dances can tell a story.
Dance may sparkle as an art form, as ballet does, and be performed for an audience. Ballet dancers train for years to learn to leap and turn across a stage.
People may dance as part of an important ceremony, even as part of their religion. Some cultures honor their ancestors through dance. Dances may celebrate important events, such as a birth, graduation, or marriage. A dance might be used to help work go faster, as in the Japanese rice-planting dance.
In some cultures a shaman, or healer, might dance to cure an illness. Some societies use dance to reach a state of trance so the dancers can perform acts of strength or courage, such as dancing on hot coals.
DANCING FOR FUN
We may gather together and dance simply for fun. Many countries have group dances-folk dances-that are passed down through generations.
Social dances encourage two people to dance together. These dances come and go: A new dance may be very popular one year, and out of fashion the next. In the 1800s, couples glided through a waltz or polka. Young people kicked up their heels doing the Charleston in the 1920s. Teenagers spun and swung to the 1940s jitterbug. Couples did not even have to touch hands for the 1960s dance craze, the twist. Disco dancing, popular in the 1970s, and today’s hip-hop are also social dances.
HOW LONG HAVE PEOPLE DANCED?
Dance probably has been around about as long as people have. Cave paintings thousands of years old show what look like dancing figures. Dancers appear in the art of ancient Egypt and Greece. Through dance, societies asked their gods for good crops or bravery in battle.
Hundreds of years ago the Christian church frowned upon dancing. But farmers and villagers still danced for fun. Many of these dances developed into folk dances. Ballet grew out of dances at the royal courts of France and Italy in the 1500s and 1600s.
Drama, acrobatics, and music are combined with dance in many cultures. People added makeup, costumes, and masks to turn dance into theater. These performances tell a story using movements rather than words.
HOW WILL DANCE CHANGE IN THE FUTURE?
Dance constantly evolves, or changes. People seek new forms of expression. Cultures borrow from one another, and from the past. Latin American dance blends Spanish and Native American styles. African and Asian dances influence dance in Europe and North America.
Like our ancestors long ago, we dance for important ceremonies. And like our ancestors, we also dance for the joy of movement, to express our emotions, and to share music and fun.

Ballet Dance

Raise your arms and bring your fingers together over your head. Now lift one foot, point your toes, and strike a pose. You are doing ballet. Ballet is a form of dance with graceful steps and arm movements as well as leaps and spins.
We also use the word ballet to describe a story performed to music, using ballet dance techniques. Ballet performances include not only dance and music but also costumes and scenery. Some of the most popular ballets are Swan Lake, The Nutcracker, and The Sleeping Beauty.
HOW ARE BALLET DANCERS TRAINED?
Girls who study ballet generally begin by age eight to ten. Boys often start later. Ballet training is hard work. Ballet students must develop strength, balance, and flexibility as well as grace. They must learn a set of movements and gestures. Girls also learn to dance on their toes. They usually begin pointe (tip-of-the-toes) work after three years of training.
All ballet students practice five basic positions of the feet. These five positions form the basis of almost all ballet steps. All of these positions are performed with the legs turned outward at the hip. The feet should be able form a straight line on the floor.
The turned-out position gives a dancer a more pleasing “line.” Line has to do with the placement of the dancer’s body, in motion and at rest. All parts of the dancer’s body must be placed in the correct position to achieve good line. Training can improve a dancer’s line. Good line gives a dancer the greatest stability and ease of movement. It also makes the dancer’s body seem light in weight.
All dancers take daily classes to keep their bodies flexible and strong. Most classes begin with warm-up exercises at the barre, a railing that dancers hold onto for support. The second part of the class consists of slow exercises that develop balance and fluid (flowing, not jerky) motion. After this, dancers practice quick movements, such as small jumps and leg extensions, and then large steps, turns, and leaps.
WHO CREATES BALLETS?
Ballet dancers work with their bodies to perform the movements in a ballet and achieve dramatic effects. The choreographer is the person who decides what movements the dancers will execute.
The choreographer chooses a story or theme for the ballet. He or she also decides on the music. Sometimes, the choreographer uses music that is already written. Sometimes, music is composed specifically to accompany a new ballet. Choreographers may create ballets for specific dancers. In that case, they try to show off what these dancers do best.
WHY SO MUCH FRENCH?
The language of ballet-its rules and steps-developed over centuries. The steps were first named in France, and they have kept their French names. For example, when the body spins on one foot, the step or movement is called a pirouette. This French word once meant a spinning top. A pas de deux, meaning “step for two,” is a dance for two dancers. En pointe, on the tip of the toes, comes from French words meaning “on point.”