1.3.2.2: Dance

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Page ID: 117890

Lori-Beth Larsen
Central Lakes College

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Dance is a performing art form consisting of purposefully selected sequences of human movement. This movement has aesthetic and symbolic value, and is acknowledged as dance by performers and observers within a particular culture. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoire of movements, or by its historical period or place of origin.

An important distinction is to be drawn between the contexts of theatrical and participatory dance, although these two categories are not always completely separate; both may have special functions, whether social, ceremonial, competitive, erotic, martial, or sacred/liturgical. Other forms of human movement are sometimes said to have a dance-like quality, including martial arts, gymnastics, cheerleading, figure skating, synchronized swimming, marching bands, and many other forms of athletics. https://en.Wikipedia.org/wiki/Dance

Read the following three articles. Can you answer this question? What do you think? Why do humans dance?

Why Do Humans Dance? By Denise Chow - Assistant Managing Editor March 22, 2010

https://www.livescience.com/8132-humans-dance.html#:~:text=According%20to%20the%20study%2C%20dancing,have%20had%20an%20evolu tionary%20advantage.&text=Dancers%20are%20more%20symmetrical%2C%20research%20has%20s hown.

Why Do Humans Dance? Kimerer L LaMothe Ph.D.

Reflections on a quintessential human experience

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/what-body-knows/201503/why-do-humans-dance

Why do we like to dance--And move to the beat?

Columbia University neurologist John Krakauer busts a move and rolls out an answer to this query: September 26, 2008

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/experts-dance/

Humans may be good at dancing, but that does not mean the skill is unique to us

By Melissa Hogenboom: 9 January 2017

http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20170106-where-did-the-ability-to-dance-come-from

There are various reasons people dance. Dance has three purposes:

Ceremonial

Recreational

Artistic

Dance is created and performed with a specific purpose.

As we take a look at various dance performances on the Ted Playlist, we can answer the following questions.

Why do people dance?
What are the characteristics of a ceremonial dance?
What are the characteristics of a recreational dance?
What are the characteristics of a dance created for the purpose of artistic expression?
Can a dance or style have more than one purpose? To what extent does kinesthetic communication differ from other disciplines?
When does dance heal and when does it hurt?
How is dance present in everyday life?
How is dance used to solve problems?
What can best be communicated through dance?
Are there limits to dance as a medium of expression?
To what extent is dance creative and to what extent is it deliberately ritualized?

Ted Dance Playlist