Dance
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The dance or the dance is an art where the movement of the body is used, usually with music, as a form of expression and social interaction for entertainment purposes. and artistic.
It is the static and moving movement that occurs in space and time that is performed with a part and the entire body of the performer, with a certain beat or rhythm as an expression of individual feelings or symbols of culture and society. Dance is also a form of communication. Non-verbal language is used among human beings where the dancer or dancer expresses feelings and emotions through gestures and movements. It is mostly done to music, be it a song, piece of music, or tones.
The first to recognize dance as an art were the Greeks, who dedicated a muse to it in their mythology: Terpsichore. Its practice was linked to the cult of the god Dionysus and, along with poetry and music, it was an indispensable element of Greek tragedy, where catharsis put the individual in relationship with the gods; although also among the Greeks dance fulfilled a function of communication and social cohesion.
Within dance there is choreography, which is the art of creating dances. The person who creates choreographies is known as a choreographer. The dance can be danced with a varied number of dancers, ranging from solitary, in pairs or groups; but the number will generally depend on the dance to be performed and also on its objective, and in some more structured cases, on the idea of the choreographer.
History
Dance has been evolving over time. Since prehistoric times, human beings have had the need to communicate bodily with movements that express feelings and moods. Some cave paintings found show drawings of dancing figures, which are associated with illustrations of rituals. These first rhythmic movements also served to ritualize important events (births, deaths, weddings).
In Egypt the dances were led by the pharaohs, in Greece, dance rituals dedicated to the Gods of the Greek pantheon were performed, these dances are recognized today as the origins of contemporary Western theater, in Rome, the dance formed part of the processions, festivals and celebrations in the years 150 a. c.
In principle, the dance had a ritual component, celebrated in ceremonies of fertility, hunting or war, or of a diverse religious nature, where one's own breathing and heartbeat served to give the dance a first cadence.
During the Middle Ages, the church rejected the dance, considering it inciting sexual promiscuity. Over the years, the dances were reincorporated and used within the northern tribes in Christian cults.
In 1661, Louis XIV of France authorized the first Royal Academy of Dance. In the following centuries the Ballet was given free of charge.
Dance and music
Many early forms of music and dance have been created and performed together. This development has continued to be linked through time with dance/music forms such as: Waltz, Tango, Disco, Salsa, Electronica, Rap and Hip-Hop. Some musical genres have a parallel dance form, such as baroque music and baroque dance; while others, such as classical music and classical ballet, have developed separately.
Although the dance is often accompanied by music, it can also be presented independently or provide its own accompaniment (tap). The genre of music used in the dance will not necessarily carry the same style; The dance can be carried out without the music, the dancer will move with her own rhythm or with the one suggested by the choreographer.
Rhythm
Rhythm and dance are deeply linked in history and practice. American dancer Ted Shawn wrote; "The conception of rhythm that underlies all dance studies is something we could talk about forever, without exhausting the subject". A musical rhythm requires two main elements; first, a regularly repeating pulse (also called a "tiempo" or "tactus") that sets the tempo and, second, a pattern of accents and rests that sets the character of the measure or basic rhythmic pattern. The basic pulse is about the same duration as a single step or gesture.
Dances generally have a characteristic tempo and rhythmic pattern. The tango, for example, is typically danced in 2 x 4 time at approximately 66 beats per minute. The basic slow step, called "slow," lasts for a while, so that a full "right-left" equals a 2 x 4. The basic forward and backward walk of the dance is counted like this - "slow-slow" - while many additional figures are counted "slow - fast-fast".
Just as musical rhythms are defined by a pattern of strong and weak beats, repetitive body movements often depend on alternating "strong" and "weak". Given this left-right, front-back, and up-down alternation, along with the bilateral symmetry of the human body, it is natural that many dances and much music are expressed in double and quadruple meter. Since some of these movements require more time in one phase than the other, such as the longer time required to lift a hammer than to strike, some dance rhythms are naturally expressed using triple meter. Occasionally, as for example in Balkan folk dances, dance traditions rely heavily on more complex rhythms. Also, complex dances composed of a fixed sequence of steps always require phrases and melodies of a certain fixed length to accompany that sequence.
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The very act of dancing, the steps themselves, generate an "initial skeleton of rhythmic pulses" which must have preceded any separate musical accompaniment, while the dance itself, as much as the music, requires timing in the same way that the utilitarian repetitive movements of walking, dragging, and digging acquire, as they are refined, something of the quality of the dance.
Hence, the musical accompaniment arose in the most ancient dance, so that the ancient Egyptians attributed the origin of the dance to the divine Athotus, who is said to have observed that music accompanying religious rituals made the participants move rhythmically and bring these movements to a proportional measure. The same idea, that dance arises from musical rhythm, is found in Renaissance Europe in the works of the dance master Guglielmo Ebreo da Pesaro, who speaks of dance as a physical movement that arises from and expresses the spiritual movement inward, from according to the "measures and perfect concordances of harmony" that reach the human ear, while, before, Mechthild of Magdeburg, clinging to the dance as a symbol of the holy life foreshadowed in the words of Jesus: "I played the flute and you did not dance", writes;
I can't dance unless you lead me. If you want me to jump high, sing and I will jump, in love and from love to knowledge and from knowledge to ecstasy above all human sense.
In fact, the famous treatise on dance "Orchésographie" Thoinot Arbeau's 16th century 16th century begins with definitions of more than eighty different percussion rhythms.
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As shown above, dance has been performed throughout the centuries as a response to music, but, as Lincoln Kirstein pointed out, it is at least as likely that early music arose from dance. Shawn agrees, stating that dance "was the first art of the human race, and the matrix from which all other arts arose" and that even the & #3. 4; metric in our current poetry is the result of the accents necessary for bodily movement, since dancing and recitation were performed simultaneously", a claim somewhat supported by the common usage of the term "pie" to describe the fundamental rhythmic units of poetry.
Scholes, not a dancer but a musician, offers support for this view, stating that the music's steady beats of two, three, or four beats to the bar, its even and balanced phrases, regular cadences, contrasts, and repetitions, can all be attributed to the "incalculable" of dance over music.
Émile Jaques-Dalcroze, primarily a musician and teacher, recounts how a study of the physical movements of pianists led him "to the discovery that rhythmic musical sensations require the development of muscular response and nervous system of the whole organism" a special training designed to regulate nervous reactions and effect a coordination of muscles and nerves "and ultimately to look for the connections between the art of music and the art of dance ", which he formulated in his system of eurythmy. He concluded that "musical rhythm is only the transposition into sound of movements and dynamisms that express emotions spontaneously and involuntary".
Therefore, although certainly, as Shawn states, "it is quite possible to develop dance without music and... music is perfectly capable of standing on its own without the help of dance ", however, the "two arts will always be related and the relationship can be profitable with both dance and music ", the precedence of one art over the other is a moot point. The common ballad measures of hymns and folk songs take their name from the dance, as does the carol, originally a round dance. Many purely musical pieces have been referred to as " waltz " or " minuet ", for example, while many concert dances have been produced that are based on abstract musical pieces, such as the "2 and 3-Part Inventions", the "Violin Concerto of Adams" and the ballet "Andantino". Similarly, poems are often structured and named after dances or musical works, while dance and music have drawn their conception of "measure" or "meter" of poetry.
Shawn endorses Dalcroze's claim that while the art of musical rhythm consists of differentiating and combining durations of time, pauses, and accents "according to physiological law," 34;plastic rhythm" (that is, dance) "is to designate movement in space, to interpret long time values by slow movements and short ones by fast movements, regulate pauses by their various successions and express sound accents in their multiple nuances by additions of body weight, by muscle innervations ".
However, Shawn points out that the musical time system is "an artificial, man-made thing... a fabricated tool, while rhythm is something that has always existed and is not man-dependent at all& #34;, being "continuously flowing time that our human minds cut into convenient units," suggesting that the music could be revived through a return to the values and perception of time of dance.
The American dancer of the early XX century century, Helen Moller, simply stated that "it is rhythm and form more than harmony and color what, from the beginning, has united music, poetry and dance in an indissoluble union".
Types of dance
The definitions that constitute dance depend on social, cultural, aesthetic, artistic and moral factors; as well as functional range of motion to virtuoso techniques.
Each dance, regardless of style, has one thing in common: it involves flexibility and movement of the body, as well as good physical condition. There were many types of dances and dance genres, these are generally classified into three large groups:
- Popular or folk dances. They are those that are based on the transmission of traditional culture.
- Classical dances. They are a product inherited from ancient times, mainly in the classical period of medieval antiquity, but which has undergone changes over time until reaching our days, like ballet.
- Modern dances. They are generally practiced by young people and carry a whole type of social identity through the way of understanding life and even dressing: like Funky, break dance, rock and roll.
Dance studies
In the 1920s, dance studies (dance practice, critical theory, musical analysis, and history) began to be regarded as academic disciplines. Today these studies are an integral part of the arts in many universities and liberal arts programs.
At the end of the 20th century, practical knowledge was recognized as equal to academic knowledge; this led to the emergence of investigative practices. A wide range of dance courses are available, including:
- Professional practice: interpreting and technical skills, teaching.
- Research practice: choreography and performance.
- Ethnocoreology, which covers aspects related to dance: anthropology, cultural studies, gender studies, area studies, post-colonial theory, ethnography, etc.
- Dance therapy or dance therapy.
- Dance and technology: new media and high-performance technologies.
- Analysis of the Laban movement and somatic studies.
Academic degrees are available, from bachelor's to doctoral degrees and other postdoctoral fellowships.
Approaches
Theatrical
Concert dance, like opera, generally depends, for its large-scale form, on a dramatic narrative structure. The movements and gestures of the choreography are primarily intended to mimic the personality and goals of the characters and their role in the plot. These theatrical requirements tend to involve longer and freer movements than are typical in non-narrative dance styles. On the other hand, white ballet, developed in the 19th century, allows for rhythmic dance interludes that became ballets fully & #34;no plot" in the 20th century and that allowed fast and rhythmic dance steps such as those of the petit allegro. A well-known example is the Dance of the Swan Chicks in the second act of Swan Lake.
Ballet developed from 16th- and 17th-century French and Italian court drama productions, and for some time the dancers performed dances developed from those known in the musical suite, all defined by definite rhythms, closely identified with each dance. These appeared as character dances in the era of romantic nationalism.
Ballet achieved widespread fashion in the Romantic era, accompanied by a larger orchestra and grander musical conceptions that did not lend themselves easily to rhythmic clarity, and by dance that emphasized dramatic mime. A broader concept of rhythm was needed, what Rudolf Laban calls "rhythm and form" of movement that communicates character, emotion, and intent, while only certain scenes required the exact timing of step and music essential to other styles of dance, so that, to Laban, modern Europeans seemed utterly incapable of grasping the meaning of "primitive rhythmic movements", a situation that began to change in the XX century with productions such as The Rite of Spring by Igor Stravinsky with its new rhythmic language that evokes primal feelings from a primitive past.
Indian classical dance styles, such as ballet, are often in dramatic form, so there is a similar complementarity between narrative expression and 'pure' dance. In this case, the two are defined separately, although they are not always performed separately. The rhythmic elements, which are abstract and technical, are known as nritta. However, both this and the expressive dance (nritya) are closely linked to the rhythmic system (tala). Teachers have adapted the spoken rhythmic mnemonic system called bol to the needs of dancers.
Classical Japanese dance and theater styles such as Kabuki and Noh, like Indian dance and theater, distinguish between narrative and abstract dance productions. The three main categories of kabuki are jidaimono (historical), sewamono (domestic), and shosagoto (dance pieces). Similarly, Noh distinguishes between Geki Noh, based on plot advancement and action narration, and Furyū Noh, dance pieces involving acrobatics, stage props, multiple characters, and elaborate stage action.
Participatory and social
Social dances, those intended for participation rather than an audience, can include various forms of mime and storytelling, but are typically set much closer to the rhythmic pattern of the music, so terms like waltz and polka are often used. They refer both to musical pieces and to the dance itself. The rhythm of the dancers' feet can even form an essential part of the music, as in tap dancing. African dance, for example, has its roots in fixed basic steps, but can also allow for a high degree of rhythmic interpretation: the feet or trunk set the basic pulse while the shoulders, knees or head pick up cross-rhythms. the best dancers simultaneously giving plastic expression to all the elements of the polyrhythmic pattern.
Choreography and elements of dance
Choreography (literally "dance writing", also called dance composition). From the Greek words "χορεία" (circle dance, Korea) and "γραφή" (writing). It is the art of creating structures in which movements occur; the term composition can also refer to the navigation or connection of these movement structures. The resulting movement structure can also be considered as the choreography. The people who create the choreography are called choreographers.
The elements (movements) and specific characteristics of a dance are used to elaborate a choreography, and from them new movements can be invented to create new choreographies. Choreography is also used in special situations, such as cinematography, theater, musicals, concerts, performances, events and artistic presentations.
Elements that make up the dance
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Dance is made up of various basic elements that are interrelated, managing to convey emotions to the public and to the dancer himself.
- Body movement
- Ritmo
- Corporal expression
- Facial expression
- Space
- Style
The predominant use of one or the other element is not always even; in certain dances the rhythm predominates, in others the use of space, in others the style, etc. It is important to note that according to the type and genre of dance, the use of one element or another will be accentuated. Within the dance, new genres and variants are being created by creating new choreographies and in this way they are diversifying.
When dance is manifested with a certain intention, different from what pure dancing is or like the aesthetic balance that is classical ballet, it can be complemented with what can be called “non-dancing additionals”. These are: mime, symbolic gesture, song and word.
Psychology of dance
From beginning to end what has been the history of dance has been seen within the traditional methods for the preparation of a dancer, but throughout this time the teachers have realized that these methods do not always stop the best prepared for the dance student. For this reason, it is important to see the advances that have been made in sports science and psychology in order to have more understandable information, applying psychology in the teaching of dance and to be able to give better performance to students of this discipline., just like it will give us a better overview for the mental preparation that dance entails.
Pyramid of scenic attitude
This is what the dancers experience during their performance, leading them to a stage attitude, caused by the changes made by the dancer in order to perform at their best. At the base is motivation, then self-confidence, consequently intensity and finally concentration.
Motivation
Motivation is when a person finds by some means a way to satisfy some need and thus creates a better disposition or increase for the performance of said action.
There are some situations where it can be observed that the dancer has it all (extension, technique, strength); however, they do not reach their maximum. On the other hand, we find other situations of dancers who find it more difficult, meaning that they lack the talent but manage to obtain a higher level.
Self-confidence
This is the second level in terms of the stage attitude pyramid, being one of the most influential levels in dance performance; as well as an integral part of the psychological performance program. This confidence within the dance will be identified by the solid faith that the dancer obtains at the moment of learning and performing a certain technique or when representing a role. Therefore, a dancer should never be limited to teaching technical and artistic skills, so they should be shown confidence in the ability to execute said technique.
Intensity
It is when the time to perform arrives, referring to the degree of psychological preparation that the dancer will have prior to their performance. This is characterized by the various evolutions that they will present in the physiological state, such as heartbeat, blood pressure, adrenaline production and even fear. Dancers can witness it in both a positive and negative way.
Concentration
The maximum point of the scenic attitude pyramid. On certain occasions it is the least understood; however, he is the one who tunes the dancers into their performance. This is the ability you have towards one thing over a long period of time.
Dance in other applications
Dance is also incorporated into sports, such as gymnastics, figure skating on ice or rollers, synchronized swimming and rhythmic gymnastics, as well as kata, of martial arts, which can be associated as a type of dance. On the other hand, it is also used as a metaphorical literary figure, for example, when describing the movement of inanimate objects: the leaves danced with the wind. Likewise, dance also plays a communicative role within the behavior patterns of animals, such as the dance of bees, or some species of birds such as the Magnificent Rifle, in which the male dances to attract birds. the female to mating (this is known as courtship).
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