History: Dancing

Learn about the History of Dancing

History does not actually depict when dance first started, but it is quite possible that dance may have been around since the beginning of mankind. Of course, we have no idea what dances looked like in the earliest of times. One of the earliest records of dancing in European culture was described by Homer in the "Iliad." Many different passions were expressed by the art of dancing among the early Greeks. There was a dance called the Furies which represented the emotions of complete and utter terror by those who witnessed the dance.

Greek sculptors actually studied dancers in order to examine the attitude of the dancers and convey it by their sculptures. Aristotle, the well-known Greek philosopher, equated dancing with poetry. He believed that the rhythm of the dancers, expressed in the form of their gestures could depict feelings of passion, manners and other actions. The Natya Shastra is an early Indian document on which the classical Indian dance, the "Bharathanatyam" is based. Dancing has been used for many different occasions throughout history. It is most often used at social functions, but has been used throughout history for various religious rituals in many different cultures. There is evidence of dancing even in prehistoric documents.

Dancing was prevalent in early times as a means of celebrations or gatherings and is often associated with royalty, such as a ball to commemorate a celebration of a king and queen, or prince and princess.

Many different forms of dance have existed throughout history, such as ballroom, social, folk, square-dancing, religious and experimental forms. A dance that has evolved in the Western World is the Theatrical dance, which is now known as ballet. Ballet first evolved during the Renaissance in France in the late 1500's. The styles of dance that were prevalent in the 18th and 19th centuries were the court dances and Romantic dances. Ballet had become popular by the 1700's when it migrated from the French court to the Paris Opera. Ballet's basic concept of a composite form was preserved by director Lully, who believed that ballet was a very important element of dance. During that time, ballet flourished throughout the European continent. This dance replaced the artificiality of the court dance and conveyed that art should aspire to imitate nature.

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