Netherlands VWO 4 (bovenbouw, 2e fase) Arts: dance

1. Dancing and history

Dancing · Historical development of dance

• Dance: Elements, Choreography and Forms – Dance is movement of the body, in space and time, with energy, used to express feelings, tell stories or celebrate. Every dance can be described with four elements: Body (what moves), Space (where: levels, directions, pathways), Time (when: tempo, rhythm, pause) and Energy (how: sharp or smooth, strong or light). Choreography is the art of arranging movement using devices such as motif, repetition, canon, unison, contrast and formations. Good performers train technique, safety and expression, and good audiences describe, analyse, interpret and judge what they see. Dance forms, from classical and folk to ballet and hip-hop, grow out of their culture and history.
• History of Dance: How Dance Changed Through the Ages – People have always danced. In ancient times, dance was part of ritual and community life, often in a circle. In the Middle Ages and Renaissance, courts used slow dances in lines and couples to show good manners. In the Baroque age, Louis XIV started a dance academy and ballet moved onto the stage with turned-out feet. The 1800s brought Romantic and classical ballet: pointe shoes, tutus and story ballets like Giselle and Swan Lake. In the 1900s modern dancers broke the rules with bare feet and natural movement, and today contemporary, street and fusion styles mix ideas from the whole world. Ethnochoreology studies folk dances inside their culture.