Dance

Dance is an art form, consisting of sequences of body movements with aesthetic and often symbolic value, either improvised or purposefully selected.

It often tells a story, perhaps using mime, costume and scenery, or it may interpret the musical accompaniment, which is often specially composed and performed in a theatre setting but it is not a requirement.

It has been proposed that before the invention of written languages, dance was an important part of the oral and performance methods of passing stories down from one generation to the next.

The American dancer Ted Shawn wrote; "The conception of rhythm which underlies all studies of the dance is something about which we could talk forever, and still not finish.

[16] Given this alternation of left-right, of forward-backward and rise-fall, along with the bilateral symmetry of the human body, many dances and much music are in duple and quadruple meter.

The idea that dance arises from musical rhythm, was found in renaissance Europe, in the works of the dancer Guglielmo Ebreo da Pesaro.

Shawn concurs, stating that dance "was the first art of the human race, and the matrix out of which all other arts grew" and that even the "metre in our poetry today is a result of the accents necessitated by body movement, as the dancing and reciting was performed simultaneously"[14] – an assertion somewhat supported by the common use of the term "foot" to describe the fundamental rhythmic units of poetry.

[23] The early-20th-century American dancer Helen Moller stated that "it is rhythm and form more than harmony and color which, from the beginning, has bound music, poetry and dancing together in a union that is indissoluble.

Ballet reached widespread vogue 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 emphasised dramatic mime.

A broader concept of rhythm was needed, that which Rudolf Laban terms the "rhythm and shape" of movement that communicates character, emotion and intention,[32] while only certain scenes required the exact synchronisation of step and music essential to other dance styles, so that, to Laban, modern Europeans seemed totally unable to grasp the meaning of "primitive rhythmic movements",[33] a situation that began to change in the 20th century with such productions as Igor Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring with its new rhythmic language evoking primal feelings of a primitive past.

Japanese classical dance-theatre styles such as Kabuki and Noh, like Indian dance-drama, distinguish between narrative and abstract dance productions.

African dance, for example, is rooted in fixed basic steps, but may also allow a high degree of rhythmic interpretation: the feet or the trunk mark the basic pulse while cross-rhythms are picked up by shoulders, knees, or head, with the best dancers simultaneously giving plastic expression to all the elements of the polyrhythmic pattern.

Indian classical music provides accompaniment and dancers of nearly all the styles wear bells around their ankles to counterpoint and complement the percussion.

The dances of Sri Lanka include the devil dances (yakun natima), a carefully crafted ritual reaching far back into Sri Lanka's pre-Buddhist past that combines ancient "Ayurvedic" concepts of disease causation with psychological manipulation and combines many aspects including Sinhalese cosmology.

Hindu epics such as the Ramayana, Mahabharata and also the Panji became the inspiration to be shown in a dance-drama called "Sendratari" resembling "ballet" in the western tradition.

Ballet developed first in Italy and then in France from lavish court spectacles that combined rhythm, drama, poetry, song, costumes and dance.

Professional dancers began to take the place of court amateurs, and ballet masters were licensed by the French government.

Early pioneers of what became known as modern dance include Loie Fuller, Isadora Duncan, Mary Wigman and Ruth St. Denis.

Brazilian Samba, Argentinian tango, and Cuban salsa are internationally popular partner dances, and other national dances—merengue, cueca, plena, jarabe, joropo, marinera, cumbia, bachata and others—are important components of their respective countries' cultures.

[49] Certain dance genres, such as capoeira, and body movements, especially the characteristic quebradas or pelvis swings, have been variously banned and celebrated throughout Latin American history.

The professional life of a dancer is generally one of constantly changing work situations, strong competitive pressure and low pay.

To lead a successful career, it is advantageous to be versatile in many styles of dance, have a strong technical background and to use other forms of physical training to remain fit and healthy.

Dance competitions are an excellent setting to build connections with industry leading faculty members, adjudicators, choreographers and other dancers from competing studios.

Oftentimes, competitions will take place in a professional setting or may vary to non-performance spaces, such as a high school theatre.

The People's Republic of China, for example, developed a formula for dance diplomacy that sought to learn from and express respect for the aesthetic traditions of recently independent states that were former European colonies, such as Indonesia, India, and Burma, as a show of anti-colonial solidarity.

Ballet is notable for the risks of injury due to the biomechanics of the ankle and the toes as the main support for the rest of the movements.

Research indicates that dancers do have greater difficulty controlling their eating habits as a large quantity strive for the art-form's ideal body mass.

Common scenarios include dancers abusing laxatives for weight control and end up falling into unhealthy eating disorders.

[65] In North America, eating disorders present a significant public health challenge, with an estimated 10% of young girls affected.

Studies concluded that dancers overall have a three times higher risk of developing eating disorders, more specifically anorexia nervosa and EDNOS.