Dance

Dance is often called a form of art and can be defined as continues and mentally organised (body) movement that contains an expressive character, sometimes directed towards others, -- in for example; a theatrical piece, or during a courtship ritual -- and sometimes directed inwards, -- in order for the dancer to enter different emotional states or experience a spiritual/meditative feeling or connection -- Dance is often accompanied by music, and the rhythms of music are used to coordinate movement. Social establishments where dance often gets practised are theatres, nightclubs, dancehalls, and dance classes.

The ritualised forms of dance can be called entertainment, communication, prayer, courtship, meditation or art, depending on both the context and the situation. A voodoo dance ceremony could be structurally very different from a waltz dance. Where a waltz has one set of clearly defined rules, voodoo dance has a completely different set of rules, or lacks those rules and only connects body movement to preconceived meaning through ceremony. This makes a definition of dance more difficult then specific existing dances because they transcend them.

The human body is the most common tool used for dance, but puppets, animals, instruments and animations can also act out dance.

Dance can be loosely divided into three categories:

• Performance
• Social
• Ritual

There are dance forms that cross over into more than one category. Folk dance, for example, a type of social dance, has elements that have become mainstream ballroom. Ballet is normally considered exhibition dancing but is practiced by millions as a hobby.

Performance dance

Ballet

Probably the most easily recognised Western performance dance, due to the unique costuming, the use of classical music and the pointe technique, in which ballerinas (female dancers) are require to dance while balanced on their toes.

See the full article at ballet.

Social dance

Ballroom

See the full article at ballroom dance

Discotheques / Nightclubs

There have long been communal occasions at which dance featured prominently. One of these was the 'dance hall' that became popular in the early to middle part of the twentieth century. The styles of dance practiced in dance halls included ballroom, latin, jazz and swing.

In the latter part of the twentieth century, the dance hall evolved, along with the music being danced to, becoming louder and larger.

In the 1970s, the arrival of popular amplified dance-oriented music saw the traditional dance hall evolve to become much more technological including synchronized lighting used in ways not seen before. Such places were called 'discotheques'. Their popularity in the mid to late 1970s saw the style of music played there being referred to as 'disco' music.

Disco as a musical form suffered from a lack of popular credibility in the 1980s, but the music form, and the venues for dancing to it, simply evolved again into various forms of modern dance music styles -- such as techno, house, garage and handbag -- with the nomenclature for the venue involved shifting from 'discotheque' to 'nightclub'.

Ritual dance

Warrior dance

• The Maori warriors have a specialized dance accompanied by loud, rhythmic chanting, used to intimidate the foe. New Zealand sports teams sometimes use a version of this before games.
• American Indians also used warrior dances.