• Dance (from French danser, perhaps from Frankish) is a sport and art form

that generally refers to movement of the body, usually rhythmic and to music,
[1] used as a form of expression, social interaction or presented in a spiritual
or performance setting. Dance is also used to describe methods of non-verbal
communication (see body language) between humans or animals (bee dance,
patterns of behaviour such as a mating dance), motion in inanimate objects
(the leaves danced in the wind), and certain musical forms or genres. In sports,
gymnastics, figure skating and synchronized swimming are dance disciplines
while martial arts kata are often compared to dances.
•
• Definitions of what constitutes dance are dependent on social, cultural,
aesthetic, artistic and moral constraints and range from functional movement
(such as folk dance) to virtuoso techniques such as ballet. Dance can be
participatory, social or performed for an audience. It can also be ceremonial,
competitive or erotic. Dance movements may be without significance in
themselves, such as in ballet or European folk dance, or have a gestural
vocabulary/symbolic system as in many Asian dances. Dance can embody or
express ideas, emotions or tell a story.

• Dancing has evolved many styles. Breakdancing and Krumping are related to
the hip hop culture. African dance is interpretive. Ballet, Ballroom, Waltz, and
Tango are classical styles of dance while Square and the Electric Slide are
forms of step dances.
• Every dance, no matter what style, has something in common. It not only
involves flexibility and body movement, but also physics. If the proper
physics is not taken into consideration, injuries can and are likely to occur.
• Choreography is the art of creating dances. The person who creates (i.e.,
choreographs) a dance is known as the choreographer.
•

• Dancing and music

• Many early forms of music and dance were created and performed together.
This paired development has continued through the ages with dance/music
forms such as: jig, waltz, tango, disco, salsa, electronica and hip-hop. Some
musical genres also have a parallel dance form such as Baroque music and
Baroque dance whereas others developed separately: classical music and
classical ballet.
• Although dance is often accompanied by music, it can also be presented
independently or provide its own accompaniment (tap dance). Dance
presented with music may or may not be performed in time to the music
depending on the style of dance. Dance performed without music is said to be
danced to its own rhythm.
• Dance competitions
• A dance competition is an organized event in which contestants perform
dances before a judge or judges for awards and, in some cases, monetary
prizes. There are several major types of dance competitions, distinguished
primarily by the style or styles of dances performed. Major types of dance
competitions include:
• Competitive dance, in which a variety of theater dance styles—such as acro,
ballet, jazz, hip-hop, lyrical, and tap—are permitted.
• Open competitions, which permit a wide variety of dance styles. A popular
example of this is the TV program So You Think You Can Dance.
• Dancesport, which is focused exclusively on ballroom and latin dance.
Popular examples of this are TV programs Dancing with the Stars and Strictly
Come Dancing.
• Single-style competitions, such as highland dance, dance team, and Irish
dance, which only permit a single dance style.
• Today, there are various dances and dance show competitions on Television
and the Internet.
• Dance occupations
• There are different careers connected with dancing: Dancer, dance teacher,
dance sport coach, dance therapist and choreographer.
• Dancer
• Dance training differs depending on the dance form. There are university
programs and schools associated with professional dance companies for
specialised training in classical dance (e.g. Ballet) and modern dance. There
are also smaller, privately owned dance studios where students may train in a
variety of dance forms including competitive dance forms (e.g. Latin dance,
ballroom dance, etc.) as well as ethnic/traditional dance forms.
• Professional dancers are usually employed on contract or for particular
performances/productions. The professional life of a dancer is generally one of
constantly changing work situations, strong competition pressure and low pay.
Professional dancers often need to supplement their income, either in dance
related roles (e.g., dance teaching, dance sport coaches, yoga) or Pilates
instruction to achieve financial stability.
• Dance teachers
• Dance teacher and operators of dance schools rely on reputation and
marketing. For dance forms without an association structure such as Salsa or
Tango Argentino they may not have formal training. Most dance teachers are
self employed.
• Dancesport coaches
• Dancesport coaches are tournament dancers or former dancesports people, and
may be recognised by a dance sport federation.
• Choreographer
• Choreographers are generally university trained and are typically employed for
particular projects or, more rarely may work on contract as the resident
choreographer for a specific dance company. A choreographic work is
protected intellectual property. Dancers may undertake their own
choreography.
• Ballet is a formalized type of performative dance, the origins of which date
lay in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century French courts, and which was further
developed in England, Italy, and Russia as a concert dance form. The early
performances preceded the intervention of the proscenium stage and were
presented in large chambers with the most of the audience seated on tiers or
galleries on three sides of the dancing floor. The early ballet dancers were not
as highly skilled as they are now. It has since become a highly technical form
of dance with its own vocabulary. It is primarily performed with the
accompaniment of classical music. It has been influential as a form of dance
globally and is taught in ballet schools around the
 • the world, which use their own cultures and societies to inform the art. Ballet
dance works (ballets) are choreographed, and also include mime, acting, and
are set to music (usually orchestral but occasionally vocal).
• Classical ballet
• Classical ballet is the most formal of the ballet styles; it adheres to traditional
ballet technique. There are variations relating to area of origin, such as
Russian ballet, French ballet, and Italian ballet.
• Neoclassical ballet
• Neoclassical ballet is a ballet style that uses traditional ballet vocabulary but is
less rigid than the classical ballet.
• Contemporary ballet
• Contemporary ballet is a form of dance influenced by both classical ballet
and modern dance
• Breakdance, breaking, b-boying is a street dance style that evolved as part of
the hip hop movement among African American and Puerto Rican youths in
Manhattan and the South Bronx of New York City during the early 1970s. It is
normally danced to electro or hip hop music, often remixed to prolong the
breaks, and is a well-known hip hop dance style. Breakdancing involves the
elements of toprock, downrock, freezes, and power moves. A breakdancer,
breaker, b-boy or b-girl refers to a person who practices breakdancing.
Breakdancing may have begun as a building, productive, and a constructive youth
culture alternative to the violence of urban street gangs.[1] Today, breakdancing
culture is a discipline somewhere between those of dancers and athletes.

• Tango is a musical genre and its associated dance forms that originated in
Buenos Aires, Argentina and Montevideo, Uruguay, and spread to the rest of
the world soon after that.
• Early tango was known as tango criollo, or simply tango. Today, there are
many tango dance styles, including Argentine Tango, Uruguayan Tango,
Ballroom tango (American and International styles), Finnish tango and vintage
tangos. What many consider to be the authentic tango is that closest to that
originally danced in Argentina and Uruguay, though other types of tango have
developed into mature dances in their own right.
• Different styles of Tango are:

• Tango Argentino
• Tango Oriental (uruguayo)
• Tango Canyengue
• Tango Liso
• Tango Salon
• Tango Orillero
• Tango Milonguero (Tango Apilado)
• Tango Nuevo (New Tango)
• Show Tango (also known as Fantasia)
• Ballroom Tango
• Finnish Tango
 • Dances from Latin America
• Latin dance typically includes dances originating in Latin America and the
Caribbean islands such as cha cha cha, rumba, samba, salsa, mambo, danza,
merengue, tumba, bachata, cumbia, and bolero. Some dance instructors also
include tango and Argentine tango in this list, although these differ from the
rest in their style. In Argentina tango is not considered folk dance as is the
case with dances like chacarera, gato, escondido and zamba. Typical Bolivian
folk dances are morenada, kullawada, llamerada, caporales and the recently
created tinku. In Colombia one of the typical dances is the cumbia, not to be
mistaken with Argentine cumbia, a popular music genre influenced by
Caribbean reggae and ska.
• The second is a more formal usage, to describe a category of International
style ballroom dances, also called Latin American dances or International
Latin. It consists of the following five dances: rumba, samba, paso doble, cha-
cha-cha, jive.
• Cha-cha-cha dance
• Cha-cha-cha is the name of a Latin American dance of Cuban origin.[1] The
name may also be spelled chachachá.
•
• Cha-cha-cha may be either danced to authentic Cuban music, or Latin Pop or
Latin Rock. The music for the international ballroom cha-cha-cha is energetic
and with a steady beat. The Cuban cha-cha-chá is more sensual and may
involve complex polyrhythms . Styles of cha-cha-cha dance may differ in the
place of the chasse in the rhythmical structure. The original Cuban and the
ballroom cha-cha-cha count "two-three-chachacha".Some other styles of
dance, such as Country/western may count "one-two-chachacha" or
"chachacha-three-four.

• Salsa is a dance for Salsa music created by Spanish-speaking people from the
Caribbean and their immigrant communities in the US. Salsa dancing mixes
African and European dance influences through the music and dance fusions.
• Salsa is normally a partner dance, although there are recognized solo forms,
line dancing (suelta), and Rueda de Casino where groups of couples exchange
partners in a circle. Salsa can be improvised or performed with a set routine.
• The name "Salsa" is the Spanish word for sauce, connoting (in American
Spanish) a spicy flavor.
• The dance steps currently being danced to salsa music come from the son, but
were influenced by many other Cuban dances such as Mambo, Cha cha cha,
Guaracha, Changüí, Palo Monte, Rumba, Abakuá, Comparsa and sometimes
even Mozambique. Solo salsa steps are called "Shines", a term taken from Tap
dancing. It also integrates swing steps. Salsa can be a heavily improvised
dance.
Rumba is a family of percussive rhythms, song and dance. It originates in Cuba as a
combination of the musical traditions of Spanish colonizers and of Africans brought
to Cuba as slaves. It is secular, with no religious connections. The details of how it
developed are not fully known.
• Jazz dance is an umbrella term that can refer to several related dance styles.
All of them are connected via common roots, namely tap, ballet, jazz music,
and African-American rhythms and dance.
• Although jazz dance can be performed its traditional form, it is often
influenced by other dance styles such as acro, ballet, contemporary, lyrical,
and hip hop. In turn, many other dance styles are influenced by jazz dance.
•
• Belly dance (Arabic: ‫ )رقص شرقي‬is a Western term for a traditional Egyptian
dance genre known as raqs sharqi (‫ ;رقص شرقي‬literally "oriental dance") or
sometimes raqs baladi (‫ ;رقص بلدي‬literally "dance of country", and so "folk"
dance). It is also sometimes called "Middle Eastern Dance" in the United
States, "danse du ventre"[1], or by the Turkish term Çiftetelli .
• The "true origin" is unclear but may be Egypt or India.
• Today there are two forms of Oriental belly dance; the first is called raqs
baladi, a social dance performed for fun and celebration by men and women
of all ages, usually during festive occasions such as weddings and other social
gatherings. The second form, the more theatrical and the more popular in the
West today, is called raqs sharqi. Like raqs baladi, raqs sharqi is performed
by both male and female dancers.

• Dance-pop is a style of electronic dance music and a subgenre of pop music

that evolved from disco, circa 1981, that combines dance beats with a
pop/R&B song structure. Because there is such an emphasis on fully-formed
songs in dance-pop, it is often viewed as a separate classification unto itself
apart from pure dance music [1]. Dance-pop is also closely related to the teen
pop and Eurodance movements in the mid- 80s and late 1990s, the rise of boy
bands and girl groups, and the reintroduction of the vocoder and similar such
innovations.
• Modern Dancers Today:
• Modern dancers use dancing to express their innermost emotions, often to get
closer to their inner-selves. Before attempting to choreograph a routine, the
modern dancer decides which emotions to try to convey to the audience. Many
modern dancers choose a subject near and dear to their hearts, such as a lost
love or a personal failure. The dancer will choose music that relates to the
story they wish to tell, or choose to use no music at all, and then choose a
costume to reflect their chosen emotions.