CONTEMPORARY DANCE

• Contemporary dance is a style of expressive dance that combines elements of several dance genres
including modern, jazz, lyrical and classical ballet.

• Contemporary dancers strive to connect the mind and the body through fluid dance movements.

• The term “contemporary” is somewhat misleading: it describes a genre that developed during the mid-
20th century and is still very popular today.

• Contemporary dance stresses versatility and improvisation, unlike the strict, structured nature of ballet.

• Contemporary dancers focus on floor work, using gravity to pull them down to the floor.

• Contemporary dance can be performed to many different styles of music.

• Pioneers of contemporary dance include Isadora Duncan, Martha Graham, and Merce Cunningham
because they broke the rules of the strict forms of ballet.

• Duncan's style was uniquely her own.

• Graham moved into what is now known as modern dance.

• Cunningham is spoken of as the father of contemporary dance.

MODERN DANCE
• Modern Dance, tradition of theatrical dance unique to the 20th century.

• Modern dance is considered to have emerged as a rejection of, or rebellion against, classical ballet.

• Modern dance originated in Europe, by 1930 the United States had become the center for dance
experimentation.

• The history of modern dance may be divided into three periods—one beginning about 1900, one about
1930, and one after World War II ended in 1945.

• Early Modern period (c. 1880–1923)

• Central Modern period (c. 1923–1946)

• Late Modern period (c. 1946–1957)

• The modern dance styles does not have set rules. Modern dancers often create their own dance routines
using their emotions and moods, but on the other hand, many performances are choreographed.

• Modern dancers prefer a more relaxed and free style of dancing. While ballerinas try to be light on their
feet, modern dancers use body weight to increase movement.

BALLROOM DANCE
• The term 'ballroom dancing' is derived from the word ball which in turn originates from the Latin
word ballare which means 'to dance' (a ball-room being a large room specially designed for such dances).
• Ballroom dance is a set of partner dances, which are enjoyed both socially and competitively around the
world.

• Ballroom dance may refer, at its widest definition, to almost any type of partner dancing as recreation.

• Ballroom dance was social dancing for the privileged, leaving folk dancing for the lower classes.

• Modern ballroom dance has its roots early in the 20th century, when several different things happened
more or less at the same time.

• The first was a movement away from the sequence dances towards dances where the couples moved
independently.
 • The second was a wave of popular music, such as jazz.

• Ballroom dance competitions are regulated by each country in its own way.

• In competitive ballroom, dancers are judged by diverse criteria such as poise, the hold or frame, posture,
musicality and expression, timing, body alignment and shape, floor craft, foot and leg action, and
presentation.

• "Ballroom dance" refers most often to the ten dances of International Ballroom (or Standard)
and International Latin, though the term is also often used interchange with the five International
Ballroom dances

BALLROOM DANCE- COMPETITIVE DANCES

STANDARD/SMOOTH
1. WALTZ

 Waltz began as a country folk dance in Austria and Bavaria in the 17th century.

 In the early 19th century it was introduced in England.

 It was the first dance where a man held a woman close to his body.

 Sway is also used on the second step to make the step longer and also to slow down the momentum by
bringing the feet together.

 Waltz is performed for both International Standard and American Smooth.

2. VIENNESE WALTZ

 Viennese waltz originated in Provence area in France in 1559 and is recognized as the oldest of all
ballroom dances.

 It was introduced in England as German waltz in 1812 and became popular throughout the 19th century by
the music of Josef and Johann.

 Viennese Waltz music is quite fast.

 Slight shaping of the body moves towards the inside of the turn and shaping forward and up to lengthen the
opposite side from direction.

 Viennese waltz is performed for both International Standard and American Smooth.

3. TANGO

 Tango originated in Buenos Aires in the late 19th century.

 Modern Argentine tango is danced in both open and closed embraces which focuses on the lead and follow
moving in harmony of the tango's passionate charging music.

 Ballroom tango, however, is a dance with a far more open frame, often utilizing strong and staccato
movements.

 Ballroom tango, rather than Argentine tango, is performed in international competition.

FOXTROT

 The foxtrot is an American dance, believed to be of African-American origin.

 Fox was rapidly trotting step to ragtime music.

 The dance therefore was originally named as the “Fox’s trot”.

 The foxtrot can be danced at slow, medium, or fast tempos depending on the speed of the jazz or big band
music.

 The dance is flat, with no rise and fall like the waltz.

 Foxtrot is performed for both International Standard and American Smooth.

5. QUICKSTEP

 The quickstep is an English dance and was invented in the 1920s as a combination of faster tempo of
foxtrot and the Charleston.

 It is a fast moving dance, so men are allowed to close their feet and the couples move in short steps.

 Quickstep includes the walks, runs, chasses, and turns of the original foxtrot dance, with some other fast
figures such as locks, hops, and skips.

 Quick step is performed as an International Standard dance.

LATIN/RHYTHM
1. PASODOBLE

 The pasodoble originated from Spain and its dramatic bullfights.

 The dance is mostly performed only in competitions and rarely socially because of its many choreographic
rules.

 The lead plays the role of the matador while the follow takes the role of the matador's cape, the bull, or
even the matador.

 Pasodoble is performed as an International Latin dance.

2. SPANISH BOLERO

 The Spanish bolero was developed in the late 18th century out of the seguidilla, and its popularization is
attributed to court dancers such as Sebastián Cerezo.

 It became one of the most popular ballroom dances of the 19th century and saw many classical adaptations.

 A Cuban music genre of the same name, bolero, which became popular in the early 20th century, is
unrelated to the Spanish dance.

3. CUBAN BOLERO

 Although Cuban bolero was born as a form of trova, traditional singer/songwriter tradition from eastern
Cuba, with no associated dance, it soon became a ballroom favorite in Cuba and all of Latin America.

 The dance most commonly represents the couple falling in love.

 Modern bolero is seen as a combination of many dances: like a slow salsa with contra-body movement of
tango, patterns of rhumba, and rise and fall technique and personality of waltz and foxtrot.

 Bolero can be danced in a closed hold or singly and then coming back together.

 It is performed as an American Rhythm dance.

4. SAMBA

 Samba is the national dance of Brazil.

 The rhythm of samba and its name originated from the language and culture of West African slaves.

 In 1905, samba became known to other countries during an exhibition in Paris.

 In the 1940s, samba was introduced in America through Carmen Miranda.

 International Ballroom Samba is danced with a slight bounce which is created through the bending and
straightening the knee.

 It is performed as an International Latin dance, although most of its modern development has occurred
outside Latin America.

5. RHUMBA

 Rhumba came to the United States from Cuba in the 1920s and became a popular cabaret dance
during prohibition.

 Rhumba is a ballroom adaptation of soncubano and bolero (the Cuban genre) and, despite its name, it rarely
included elements of Cuban rumba.

 An important characteristic of rhumba is the powerful and direct lead achieved through the ball of the foot.

 Rhumba is performed for both International Latin and American Rhythm.

6. MAMBO

 Mambo was developed as an offshoot of danzón, the national dance of Cuba, in the late 1930s by Orestes
López and his brother Cachao, of Arcaño y sus Maravillas.

 They conceived a new form of danzón influenced by son cubano, with a faster, improvised final section,
which allowed dancers to more freely express themselves, given that danzón had traditionally a very rigid
structure.

 In the 1940s, Dámaso Pérez Prado transformed the mambo from the charanga into the big band format, and
took it to Mexico and the United States, where it became a "dance craze".

7. CHA-CHA-CHA

 Cha-cha-cha (sometimes called cha-cha in the US) was developed by Enrique Jorrín in the early 1950s, as a
slower alternative to mambo.

 Cha-cha-cha is a flirtatious dance with many hip rotations and partners synchronizing their movements.

 is performed for both International Latin and American Rhythm.

8. EAST COAST SWING

 Swing in 1927 was originally named the Lindy Hop named by Shorty George Snowden.

 There have been 40 different versions documented over the years; most common is the East Coast swing
which is performed in the American Smooth (or American Rhythm) only in the U.S. or Canada.

 The East Coast swing was established by Arthur Murray and others only shortly after World War II.

 Swing music is very lively and upbeat and can be danced to jazz or big band music.

 The swing dancing is a style with lots of bounce and energy.

 East Coast swing is performed as an American Rhythm dance.

9. JIVE

 The jive is part of the swing dance group and is a very lively variation of the jitterbug.

 Jive originated from African American clubs in the early 1940s.

 During World War II, American soldiers introduced the jive in England where it was adapted to today's
competitive jive.
 In jive, the man leads the dance while the woman encourages the man to ask them to dance.

 Jive is performed as an International Latin dance.

CHEERDANCE/CHEERLEADING
• Cheerleading is an activity in which the participants (called "cheerleaders") cheer for their team as a form
of encouragement.

• It can be performed to motivate sports teams, to entertain the audience, or for competition.

• Competitive routines typically range anywhere from one to three minutes, and contain components
of tumbling, dance, jumps, cheers, and stunting.

• Cheerleading originated in the United States, and remains predominantly in America, with an estimated 1.5
million participants in all-star cheerleading.

• The global presentation of cheerleading was led by the 1997 broadcast of ESPN's International
cheerleading competition, and the worldwide release of the 2000 film Bring It On.

• Cheerleading began during the late 18th century with the rebellion of male students.

• In the 1860s, students from Great Britain began to cheer and chant in unison for their favorite athletes at
sporting events.