3. The World of Dance

The twenty-first century began for many countries like America, Asia, the Middle East, and Europe with a dance cultural boom.⁷ In the International Encyclopedia of Dance it is said that each country uses steps and movements borrowed from other countries. American dance, for example, in the beginning was a hybrid of old-world technique with new environmental and social trends, including Irish, Scotch-Irish, German steps.⁸ Step dance was popular first in Europe and then in America, and foot-stomping dance, created by African step dances, became the American dance form, tap. And all these types of dance are the best example of hybridization.⁹

European dance culture experienced its greatest development from the nineteenth till the twenty-first century. In the early of 1800s from Europe the waltz, round dancing, polka, the quadrille, and mazurka were brought by new waves of eastern European immigrants and reflected the new public representation of dance in the USA.¹⁰

Dils and Cooper write: “every dance reveals its own aesthetic and cultural mooring within both its basic movement vocabulary and the stylistic or compositional elements that serve the frame of movement”.¹¹ Furthermore, Navack argues that dance represents a form of meaning and action, and it may shape part of our definition of physical virtuosity or our perception of meaning in movement.¹²

3.1 Changes in time – changes in styles

The meaning of the word “Dance” comes from the old French; it means to move rhythmically usually to music, using prescribed or improvised steps and gestures. ¹³ Initially dances were a form of entertainment in the 1800s and 1900s. More modern forms of dance exist since the 1700s in Europe, but according to historical data, dance appeared in 3300 BCE.¹⁴ Dance styles mirrored the changes in social and economic development, technologies and fashions. It was referred to as “social dancing”¹⁵. According to Ian Driver, the author of A Century of Dance, social dancing can be defined as “a marriage between popular music and contemporary style.¹⁶ He states that the most popular social dance, especially in America, was known as Waltz and was fist introduced through aristocracy. The Tango and Polka were also popular. In 1910-1920s appeared styles, such as the Tango and Henry Fox’s Fox trot. It was the start of “animal dances”.¹⁷ After the World War 1 many people threw out the old dance styles that reminded them of life during war. As a result, the Fox Trot and “animals dances” died down.

By the 1920s women began to feel as though they needed to be seen as equal hard workers with voices. To show they disgust toward the societal views of women, they begin to loosen up, to “shake their torsos and throw their legs and arms in the air”. ¹⁸ Another group of people seeking expanded rights were African American, who created Ragtime. Driver claims that they kept this dance style hidden in “juke-joints” or night clubs. The steps came from traditional African dances and rhythms, such as hip and pelvis movements.¹⁹ According to Driver, some popular dances that came from this time were tap, the Charleston, Shuffle Along, the Cake Walk, Buzzard Lope, Black Bottom, and the Grind.²⁰ Most of the Ragtime Dancing changed to Jazz. The end of the Ragtime was in 1929 when stock market crashed. New forms of entertainment were created all over America during the Depression. According to Driver, one well known type of dance that people enjoyed was Comic Dancing. Charlie Chaplin and Ray Bolger were two of the most popular comic dancers of their time.²¹As written in the Morris Dickstein book, many Latin, African, and Indian dances taught people, the Cha Cha, Mambo, Rumba, Meringue, the Polka, the Lindy, and more.²²

In 1941 just before World War 2 broke out, Swing dancing became the popular passive time for many people as they waited for their loved ones to come back. New steps developed, such as the Jitterbug, Quicksteps, and the Lindy Hop.²³

The big jazz bands created a new style of dancing called Swing, depending on where people were located the swing dance style changed. The “Boogie Woogie, Shag, Double Swing, were some other fun types of swing dances.²⁴ When the 1960s arrived, the Rock n’ Roll dance style and music became popular.²⁵ Another dance style was invented during 1970-1979 was the Disco, it became popular in movies and night clubs, but the public lost their interest in the disco after 1980s. People wanted to create their own style and be known as individuals.²⁶ Peggy Whitely mentions that new technology created a whole new technological world to the music. The songs had more “electronic” sound. Rock and rap music brought new sounds to the radio. Different societal groups joined together to express themselves, creating new steps. African Americans focused on rap, hip hop movements, and street dancing.²⁷ People were coming up with their own hidden dance choreography, creating steps, styles. Some popular faces that appeared on MTV were Madonna, Paula Abdul, and Michael Jackson. Some of the new dances shown were The robot, break dancing, the Moonwalk, and hip hop.²⁸ Urban dancing was created, which is a type of street dance that became very popular in America.

A variety of dances were introduced in 2000-2012: Hip Hop, Ballet, Latin Dancing, House dancing, Crip Walking, Krumping, Popping, Locking.²⁹ According to Helen Thomas all these styles emerged from black American culture, because black music was viewed traditionally as subversive, the cries of moral outrage.³⁰