THE dance was born with the first human beings.
Through the movement of the body, the heartbeat, walking, human beings created dance as a form of expression.
Through the paintings found in caves, we know that men and women have danced since prehistory.
Dance is an artistic expression that uses the body as an instrument. Just as the painter uses brushes and canvas to create his pictures, the dancer uses the body.
Present in all peoples and cultures, the dance can be performed in groups, pairs or solos. Through dance, joy, sadness, love and all human feelings are expressed.
The origin and evolution of dance
primitive dance
We call primitive dance that which arises spontaneously and is practiced by a community. It is usually a dance used to celebrate a specific ritual such as the harvest or the arrival of a season of the year.
In indigenous cultures, dance is used at parties or to prepare for war. It is also used in rites of passage, such as early adulthood.
millenary dances
In ancient civilizations, such as the Egyptian or Mesopotamian, dance had a sacred character, being one more way of honoring the gods. This type of dance survives to this day in countries like India and Japan.
In ancient Greece, dance also had a ritual character, being used in the cults of the gods. One of the dances most described in antiquity was the one used for the parties of the Minotaur or the god of wine, Bacchus.
Dance in Western Europe
With the expansion of Christianity in Europe, dance loses its sacred character. The morality of Christianity placed the body as the source of sin and thus needed to be controlled.
Therefore, unlike other arts, dance does not enter churches and is restricted to popular festivals and celebrations in castles. Basically, we can differentiate two types of dancing in the Middle Ages: in pairs, in a circle or in chains.
It will be this type of ball that will give rise to court dances and later, to ballet, as we understand it today.
Dance in the Renaissance (secs. XVI and XVII)
Dance in the Renaissance begins to gain status as an art, with manuals, specialized teachers and, above all, people who are dedicated to studying it.
It was in Italy that the word “balleto” appeared. Through the marriage of the Florentine princess Maria de Medici to the King of France, Henry IV (1553-1610), this type of dance reached France. Maria de' Medici (1575-1642) introduced the “balleto” in the French court. There, the word would be transformed into ballet and would gain prominence as a worthy art to be practiced by the court.
Later, at the court of King Louis XIV (1638-1715), the first dramatized ballets began, with choreography, costumes and narrating a story with a beginning, middle and end. It is important to highlight that this king used ballet to affirm his figure as an absolutist monarch.
In the Sun King's court, the composer Jean-Baptiste Lully (1632-1687) stands out, who wrote music for the choreographies and director of the Royal Academy of Music.
Knowing how to dance becomes fundamental in the education of nobles. The best known dances were the minuet, the gavote, the zarabanda, the allamande and the giga.
At the end of the 18th century, in Austria and in the German Empire, the waltz appeared. Initially, the dance causes a scandal, as it is the first time that couples dance holding each other and facing each other. This rhythm will spread throughout Europe and arrive in Brazil with the arrival of the Portuguese court.
To this day, the waltz is present at debutante balls and weddings.
Dance in Romanticism (century. XIX)
In the nineteenth century, with the emergence of the romantic artistic movement, ballet was consolidated as a form of artistic expression.
With the rise of the bourgeoisie and the construction of the great theaters, ballet leaves the halls of palaces to become a spectacle. Also in opera, another important artistic expression at that time, it was practically mandatory to include a dance number.
However, it will be at the Russian court that ballet will reach the peak of artistic creation. Composer Piotr Ilitch Tchaikovsky (1840-1893), author of works such as “Swan Lake” and “The Nutcracker”, marked the creation of romantic ballets.
At the end of the 19th century, the former American colonies began to create their own reinterpretation of European music and dance. In this way, gospel singing arises in the United States; the crying and the samba, in Brazil; it's the tango, in Argentina and Uruguay.
Modern Dance (century. XX)
Modern dance will be the break from classical ballet promoted at the turn of the 19th to the 20th century.
With the growth of cities and the expansion of industries, part of society no longer identified with that type of classical ballet spectacle. Names such as Isadora Duncan (1878-1927) emerged, one of the first to break with the rigid movements, the tutus costumes, and the grandiose scenarios.
Isadora Duncan preferred simple clothes, dispensed with scenery and danced barefoot. Her work opened up several possibilities for new languages in contemporary dance.
Contemporary Dance (century. XX and XXI)
Contemporary dance is all that created from the 60s, in the 20th century.
Continuing the experiments of modern dance, contemporary creators mix theater and dance, do away with the figure of the soloist, and provide greater equality between men and women on stage.
There are groups that even dispense with music in their choreographies. The search for new languages is fundamental for contemporary dance.
See too:What is dancing?
The history of dance in Brazil
Dance in Brazil is the result of the fusion between indigenous, African and Portuguese customs.
The way Indians and Africans moved was quite different from what Europeans knew. Enslaved Africans danced to honor their orixás and that way of moving the body scandalized the Portuguese.
One of the dances created in the 19th century by enslaved blacks was the "umbigada". This consisted of a couple approaching with body movements until they lightly touch the hip.
Another dance made in Brazil was the maxixe. At this ball, couples hugged and took little jumps. This was a popular genre that conquered composers such as Ernesto Nazareth and Chiquinha Gonzaga.
In Northeast Brazil, one of the most outstanding dances is the Frevo. This is characterized by a fusion between the march, the maxixe and steps of capoeira.
Did you like it? There are more texts on this subject for you:
- History of Dance in Brazil
- African Dances
- folk dances
- Louis XIV, King Sun
