To express their overwhelming emotions and feelings, expectations and hopes, our ancient ancestors used rhythmic ritual dances. With the development of man himself and the social environment that surrounded him, more and more different dances appeared, becoming more and more complex and sophisticated. Today, even specialists will not be able to indicate the name of the types of dances - all performed by people for centuries. However, the dance culture, having gone through centuries, is actively developing. On the basis of folk and classical, new and modern styles and trends appear.
What it is?
Before considering what types of dances can be, let's clarify, but what is it really like? The most short-lived and most complicated of the forms of art in which the human body and its plastic capabilities are used to create a unique image is dance.
It is impossible without the personality of the artist and music. The performer, starting from the content of a musical work, builds a “picture” of the dance and embodies his vision and sensory perception in motion. This action can be used as a way of social communication and self-expression, competitive sports discipline and part of a religious cult, as well as an indicative form of art that is constantly evolving and changing. All new styles and forms, different types of dances appear in it, the diversity of which even experts perplexes.
Appearance story
The very first dances of people were ritual, performed by them in the hope of a successful hunt or a plentiful harvest, healing a sick person or victory in a war. Over time, rhythmic movements were generalized, which served as the beginning of the formation of ethnic art, which each of its peoples has its own characteristics and traditions.
The whole variety of dance steps came from the main types of human movements - running, walking, jumping, swinging and twisting. Over time, the following types of
folk dances appeared: everyday (for themselves), as well as performed parades - cult and stage.
Main directions
Among the various dance styles and trends that exist today, we can name the following, the most popular and famous:
- Ballet:
● classic;
● romantic;
● modern.
- Ethnic (folk) dances, reflecting the essence and rituals, traditions and rites of certain peoples. Among them, the following groups are distinguished:
● European;
● Asian (Eastern);
● African;
● Latin American.
In each of them there are various types of folk dances: group, individual, pair and others.
- Historical - these are dances popular in past eras and performed today, for example, ballo, contradance, polonaise and others.
- Ballroom, including two main programs: European and Latin American. Here is the name of the types of dances included in the latin program:
● Jive, also called West Coast Swing or Lindy;
● rumba;
● samba;
● paso doble;
● cha-cha-cha.
The following types of dances are performed in the standard European program:
● Argentinean tango;
● quickstep, or quick foxtrot;
● Viennese waltz;
● a slow waltz, in which the trajectory of the dancers, unlike the Viennese, is not limited to a circle, but can vary;
● foxtrot, characterized by wavy and slow, smooth and gliding movements.
- Dance Sport.
- Modern dances are divided into appearing:
● in the early to mid XX century;
● from the middle of the XX to the beginning of the XXI century:
- club:
- street.
In this article, we will consider in more detail what types of dances are in modern choreographic art.
Beginning and middle of the 20th century
A similar division into two stages, not by chance. According to many performers of the beginning of the last century, dance as a form of art was to reflect a new reality, and not adhere to the "frozen" in time canons of old ballet schools. At this time, there are such choreographic directions, popular today as:
- Free dance.
- Modern.
- Butoh.
- Contemporary (contemp).
- Jazz Modern.
Let us dwell in more detail on each of them, since they had a great influence on the formation and development of many styles and directions of modern dance art.
Free dance
First of all, this is the performer’s special worldview, formed under the influence of Nietzsche’s ideas. The performer, denying the canonical rules of ballet choreography, sought to combine dance and real life, manifesting himself as a liberated spirit of creativity. It is on the basis of free style that such trends as modern and butoh, jazz modern and contemporary were born and developed.
Modern
Arose at the beginning of the century, this dance direction is very popular today and is one of the leading in the western choreographic school.
Like free
dance, Art Nouveau denies any ballet norms and seeks to embody various forms on the stage, using new original methods. It is characterized by semantic fullness, a wide range of movements, high jumps and flexibility, “broken” postures and movements unusual for ballet choreography, various twists.
Contemporary dance
It is quite reasonable to say that such popular styles in the late 19th and early 20th centuries as free dance and modernism served as the basis for the formation of such a direction as contemporary music (contemporary music). This dance, as an art form, invites the dancer to demonstrate, through various choreographic styles, as fully as possible in improvisation all his internal emotions and resources.
Jazz Modern
The main feature of this direction is the combination of jazz improvisational rhythms and energy, coordination and work with the body and breath of the modernist, as well as the movements inherent in the classical ballet school. Thus, the body of a jazz modernist dancer becomes another musical instrument that displays melody through the plastics of its own body.
Buto
This is one of the youngest dance techniques that appeared in Japan in the fifties of the XX century. Buto, despite its rather long existence, remains today the most difficult for people of the Western world to understand. It is based on the cultural, philosophical, religious and aesthetic values of the Land of the Rising Sun. This dance seeks to show the earthliness of the ordinary life of an ordinary person, as well as to comprehend and demonstrate the body and its capabilities in space and time.
Modern dance of the late XX and early XXI centuries
The whole variety of contemporary dances to us can, of course, conditionally be divided into two large groups:
Which are considered street and which are club ones? How do they differ? Let's get it right.
Street dance
Hip-hop and Krump, popping and locking, break-dance and C-walk - all this is the name of the types of dances that were “born” not on stage venues and in choreographic studios, but on the streets and in the courtyards of megalopolises, discos and clubs.
Most of them are based on hip-hop. In the
street style, the performer is not limited to any form and can safely improvise and experiment, creating an individual and unique pattern of movements, as well as interact with other dancers as well as with the public. In the “pure” form, they are extremely rare, and for the most part they began to be performed in clubs and not on the streets, which is why they often fall into the club category. Here are the most popular and common destinations:
- New style (NewStyle).
- Krump is short for Kingdom Radically Uplifted Mighty Praise, meaning "Empire of Absolute Power of Spiritual Praise."
- Locking
- Popping
- LA-Style.
- Crip walk (C-walk).
- R&B.
- Brakedance.
- Hip-Hop (Hip-Hop).
Club dancing
This is a temperamental, vibrant and incredible mixture of a variety of modern styles that allows you to express yourself in motion. Everyone, as they say, is "by ear" the name of the types of dances in this direction:
- Tectonic or electro dance.
- Jazz-Funk (jazz-funk).
- House (house).
- Jumpstyle (jumpstyle).
- Melbourne shuffle (shuffle).
- Waacking
- Go-go (club go).
- Square dance (square dance).
- DnBstep.
- Ragga (ragga) and many others.
It is impossible to list all types of dances. The list of names of modern styles and trends is constantly changing and supplemented. Today, dancing is not only a plastic art, but also a fairly common sport.
Dance Sport
If in earlier times dances were perceived only as a form of art, then the complication of technical and choreographic performance requirements led to the need for excellent physical fitness for those who do this. Today, the main types of sports dancing are, above all, ballroom. Their feature is the performance by partners of a set of certain mandatory movements and figures to a predetermined music. The ballroom sports dances evaluated at the competitions consist of three parts: obligatory, original and arbitrary.
Over time, more and more new musical and choreographic styles and directions appear. And now, such modern types of sports dancing, such as break or locking, jump style or pole dance (pole dancing), are attracting more and more fans from different age groups. To participate in competitions in these areas, athletes need not only excellent choreographic, but also physical training. For those who do not seek to win international competitions, but try to maintain their own body in good shape, we can recommend fitness classes in various dance techniques. Twerk, high heels, go-go, strip plastic, belly dance, zumba, sexy R&B, ragga, buty dance - these are the most popular types of dances among the fair sex . Girls are attracted to them not only the opportunity to adjust the figure, but also to improve the plastic and increase their own self-esteem.