Dancing
Shay Conley
11/09/2011
Research Paper
Dancing
“Fun.” “ Flowing.” “ Elegant.” “Wild.” “Graceful.“ “Beautiful.” These are all words describing a body movement to the rhythm and beats of music. “Dancing is your pulse, your heartbeat, your breathing. It’s the rhythm of your life. It’s the expression in time and movement, in happiness, joy, sadness and envy.” ( “What is the Meaning of Dancing“) Dancing can be done with a partner or alone. The origins, styles, and important forms of dance show a wonderful form of self expression and social interaction. Dancing originated from different cultures, and dates back to as far as the earliest records of humankind. It was used in celebrations such as good hunting, fertility, and rituals. When culture and civilization processed, dancing took upon many different forms and became more structural. Different cultures created the different types of styles of dancing. “Waltzing evolved from European influence, and Spanish and Latin American cultures gave us the salsa and cha-cha dancing styles.” (Shaddy) Most of our dancing techniques comes from European culture. “Tap is probably the most popular of all American dance forms and its roots are a hybrid of Slave and Irish Clog dancing. Step dancing, which combined rhythmic taps and shuffles to create a lively and dynamic dance, came to America from the British Isles. The cotillion comes to us from England, though it traveled through France before coming to America. Designed as a dance for four couples, the cotillion became a tour de force in the ballroom in the 1770 's. “ (Willberg 2 ) Free form dancing is probably one of the most popular types of dancing in the world. There is no guidelines or instructions to it, but simply just the movements of your body to the beat of a song. There is no right or wrong way to moving to free form dancing. It’s the beat of a song that brings out the motions inside of you. Dancing was important
11/09/2011
Research Paper
Dancing
“Fun.” “ Flowing.” “ Elegant.” “Wild.” “Graceful.“ “Beautiful.” These are all words describing a body movement to the rhythm and beats of music. “Dancing is your pulse, your heartbeat, your breathing. It’s the rhythm of your life. It’s the expression in time and movement, in happiness, joy, sadness and envy.” ( “What is the Meaning of Dancing“) Dancing can be done with a partner or alone. The origins, styles, and important forms of dance show a wonderful form of self expression and social interaction. Dancing originated from different cultures, and dates back to as far as the earliest records of humankind. It was used in celebrations such as good hunting, fertility, and rituals. When culture and civilization processed, dancing took upon many different forms and became more structural. Different cultures created the different types of styles of dancing. “Waltzing evolved from European influence, and Spanish and Latin American cultures gave us the salsa and cha-cha dancing styles.” (Shaddy) Most of our dancing techniques comes from European culture. “Tap is probably the most popular of all American dance forms and its roots are a hybrid of Slave and Irish Clog dancing. Step dancing, which combined rhythmic taps and shuffles to create a lively and dynamic dance, came to America from the British Isles. The cotillion comes to us from England, though it traveled through France before coming to America. Designed as a dance for four couples, the cotillion became a tour de force in the ballroom in the 1770 's. “ (Willberg 2 ) Free form dancing is probably one of the most popular types of dancing in the world. There is no guidelines or instructions to it, but simply just the movements of your body to the beat of a song. There is no right or wrong way to moving to free form dancing. It’s the beat of a song that brings out the motions inside of you. Dancing was important
Cited: Herrick, Jack. “How to Dance” Wikihow.com. Readingirl. October 12, 2011. Web. November 06, 2011. Shaddy, Wade. “Dance Research Paper Topics.” EHow.com. N.P. February 22, 2011.Web. November 4, 2011. “What is the Meaning of Dancing.” Wordpress.com. Katamaridance, March 06, 2007. Web. November 04, 2011. Willberg, Kriota. “ An Invitation to Dance.” Americanantiquarian.org. Meade, Meghan. 2007. Web. November 06, 2011.