Dance

Transcript

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Dance is movement of the body that is rhythmically and culturally patterned. Depending on the genre and intention, people dance in groups, pairs, or on their own. Dance can be a social part of devotional or ritual activity. It can also be choreographed and performed as art or entertainment. Meaning in dance is found in the stylistic and structural manipulation of the elements of space, rhythm, and dynamics, and the human body's physical control. As human behavior, dance draws on motoric, perceptual, cognitive, emotional, and social capacities. It is cultural, providing a means for people sharing and communicating identity, beliefs, and social structures.

Dance has been a part of human activity since antiquity and may confer evolutionary advantages such as group unity and sexual selection. Before written language, dance enabled the communication of myths and stories between generations. Social, field, festival, and military dances, processions, and mummeries continued through the Middle Ages. European pre-classic dance forms included the pavane and galliard with their sequencing by the music's composers being based on contrast in tempo, time signature, and character. The classic form refers to pointes, skirts, and the five positions of the feet in ballet codified by Pierre Beauchamp in the court of Louis XIV.

Forerunners to modern dance were Isadora Duncan and Ruth St. Denis. At a time when women were disenfranchised, Duncan, Mary Wigman, and St. Denis discarded the conventions of Victorian costume, synthesized movement, and expression, and sought individuality. The pioneers of modern dance, intentionally challenging and defying the rules and codes of classical ballet, its patriarchy and romanticism, include Martha Graham, Doris Humphrey, and Mary Wigman. Post-structuralism, cultural studies, and critical theory in the late 20th century have been dominant paradigms for researching dance. Cognitive neuroscience investigates processes of action observation using dance and dancers as models of expertise.