DANCE

Dance has played a large part in life. We used to and still do dance in many different ways. People perform dances to entertain, express feelings, tell stories, and much more. It is also breathtaking to see ballet or exhilarating to see a tap dance. People who don't know about dance are missing out. So for those of you missing out and everyone else, we are going to teach you everything to our knowledge about dance.

Folk-Folk dancing is a form of social dancing. Folk has become part of the customs of people. Well-known folk dances are square dancing, the Irish jig, and the polka. Most folk dances develop in small villages of people. Folk dances are usually past down fro generation-to-generation. Folk dances usually have tones of history buried in their pasts. Folk is a very fun dance to perform.





Disco and Hip Hop- Most disco dances have strong roots in Swing, Samba, Cha Cha, Mambo, Meringue, Fox Trot and Tango. The Hustle is believed to be originated in New York in 1970. The Hustle had gone through many variations in the 70s. There were line dances for groups of Hustler, and partnership dances for partners of course. The partnership dances included the basic Hustle, Latin, Tango and Spanish Hustle. There was also Street, the most popular of all the partnership dances. Street was also called Three-count, or Swing Hustle. Street originated in California as the Street Hustle by skaters in Venice and Malibu.

Hip Hop dance is performed to funk, rap, RnB, or hip hop music. Most hip hop emphasizes power moves. Break dancing, a form of hip hop uses acrobatics and gymnastics. There are many shuffles and sweeps. One popular move is the “Pop N Lock”. Hip hop has been around for a while but is now getting popular in dance studios for young girls and boys.







Waltz and Polka-During the beginning of the 18th century was when waltz was first starting to be made up. But yet even though it started that long ago it didn’t reach the United States until 1834.

A description of what you would see if you were to watch people dance this glorious dance would be; colorful flowing ball gowns smooth steps elegant music with strong melodies. Waltz is danced with a ¾ melody along with a strong first beat. When you dance the waltz you are moving and gliding in a lively way with a conspicuous manner.

Polka is a couple dance that is defined as a vivacious dance. Polka is of bohemian origin. A kind of funny thing about polka is it was made by a little girl one day in 1834. The little girl had just done for her own entertainment. It must be great entertainment because it is still around today. Polka is said to be around for a long long time.





Tap and Salsa- Tap is said to be a truly American art form. Origins of tap dance can be traced back to antebellum south when a group of African American slaves who adept at coping Irish jigs, Virginia reels and Lancashire clogging, and made up their own dance mixed with some African style rhythms. The shoes vary. The can have hard toes or soft toes. They can have many heights in heels. They always have a metal tap on the bottom of the toe and heel. But now it’s making its way back into this world. After years tap died It is now making its way back into the world.

Not a lot is known of the history of Salsa but a few things. These are some of those few things known about its history. Salsa is made up of a lot of Latin and afro-Caribbean dances. Salsa is similar to mambo because they both have a pattern of six steps that are danced over eight counts of music. It is also known that New York created the term salsa.

If you listen to today’s Salsa music you can hear the base of son’. You can also hear Cumbia, Guaracha, and you will also hear the Merengue built in the rhythm of different songs. Salsa can very from one place to another. In New York they added more instruments and in other parts of the world they have change a lot of other things too.




Ballet and Pointe-Ballet is a form of dance that uses the body to tell a story express feeling, or just reflect music. Ballet dances have to have technique, discipline, skill, and flexibility. It was formed in Western Europe during the Renaissance.

Ballet was a man’s sport. Women couldn’t participate in the way men could, that was mainly because of their clothes. The men got to wear tights to make it easier for them to move. Women had to wear heavy wigs and huge headdresses. They also had to wear heavy skirts, shoes with heels. Don’t forget their tight corsets that made it really hard to breath.

Pointe is a variation of ballet that has you dancing on the very tip of your toes. The shoes you wear have hard toes. Pointe shoes are still made of the same material they were made of in the early 1700s. Pointe shoes are made of leather, burlap, paper, glue and nails.

Most people can’t start Pointe until they are about 11 or 12. Your ankles have to be fully developed or you may suffer deformation. Pointe is almost always hard for people to learn. People usually start out doing ballet before they start Pointe.







Jazz and Swing-After World War 1 when all of the solders came home every one wanted to socialize with each other so what better to do than go out for a night of dancing. What type of dance was better for this occasion than Jazz.

Jazz has many origins New Orleans, St. Louis, Memphis and Kansas City are just a few places Jazz has originated from. But New Orleans is said to be the most important of its origins.

The first jazz bands contained a rhythm section” consisting of a string bass, drums, and a guitar or banjo. It also had a melodic section consisting of a trombone, a clarinet, and sometimes even a violin. Years later, jazz was taken over by large orchestras a "society jazz band" contained fifteen or more musicians. Today, there is a renewed interest in the "big band" era, even though the music has very little to do with real jazz.

Swings history dates back to the 1920s, with the discovery of the lindy hop and the jitter bug came the development of Swing.

Swing dancing is one of Americas favorite past times. Even though it is a great American past time in other parts of the world very little of it is known. Once swing earned its place many different forms of it started to form. Here are just a few of those styles.



Savoy swing- A style of swing from New York Savory Ballroom in the 30s and 40s.

Lindy-a smoother looking type of swing

West coast swing- a style of swing that needs nimble feet. It was most popular in California night clubs in the 1930s and 402.

Whip- a style of swing that is most popular in Houston Texas. Whip emphasizes moves spinning the partner in between moves.



Those are just a few of the many styles of swing.



Lyrical and Acro-Lyrical is a mix of jazz and ballet. The music usually has a person singing, apposed to just music. Body movement like in many other dances is used to express feeling. Lyrical dancing is usually danced to slow music. It is a very beautiful form of dance.

Dancing Acro style is almost like a sport. It consists of tumbling, dance and acrobatic skills. Acro was made by the federal of sports acrobatics. Acro can be a hard style of dance to learn if you haven’t already learned acrobatic skills. But all in all people who have done Acro say it’s a fun and great experience.

So i guess this is all and i hope you like it. Cassandra here by the way.

Saturday, October 18, 2008