Dances

Of America.

Dance has always been a part of our culture and heritage. The earliest of tribes and communities are found to have records of dances that can be dated back 30,000 years.

Various forms of dances have merged with evolution and modernization and evolved into various different genres across the planet. Based on its choreography and style of performance, it is used to convey different emotions and aesthetics. The style of dance is very significant depending upon its place of origin. It depicts their rules and culture, symbolising their community.

Multiple styles of dances of American origin have gradually gained a lot of popularity globally. They have been progressively adopted by theatrical performance practices and international dance arenas. Giving birth to renowned dances like tap dance and hip hop, America has had a pool of social and theatrical dancing styles.

The many of the popular dance forms of American origin are:

Hip Hop Dance

Adapted from the street style performances accompanied by the hip hop music, hip hop dance is a freestyle dance involving a wide range of techniques that primarily belong to the breakdance category.

Originally created in the 1970s, this informal dance gained popularity by featuring on television and in movies. This dancing style accompanied by jazz music is called "jazz-funk", which has gained recent popularity and has become an integral part of pop culture.

Swing Dance

Originating in Harlem during the early 1930s, swing dance involves the swing style performance of jazz music. Out of its many varieties, the Lindy Hop is one of the most popular ones.

It is a quick and fast-paced dance for couples, having rhythmic tossing and flipping of dancers holding hands while standing at a certain spot. Encouraging fast and reverse movement, swing dance includes the Jitterbug, Lindy Charleston, and Balboa and Lindy Hop as its popular categories of performances.

Jazz Dance

With its roots in the 17th century, the jazz style has emerged from African American dances' culture. It is an improvisation and amalgamation of ballet, tap and jazz music with the African American style dance.

Also referred to as vernacular or Broadway jazz, it includes jumps and turns requiring a fit and straight posture for strict execution. This requires a strong foundation of technicality, which enables a dancer to focus on the style and aspect of performance. This performance can also find similarities in the background with ballet.

The Foxtrot

Evolving since the 1930s, the Foxtrot is an elegant, romantic and beautiful style of performance consisting of continuous and long flowing movement all across the dance floor, accompanied by heavy band music. It has no sudden jerk or movements and requires a smooth, delicate execution.

This style of performing art can find similarities in waltz and ballroom dancing, which is very commonly practiced by dancers today. It can be performed slow or fast, depending upon its execution and timing. The quick question is called the Foxtrot and the slower one is called the Slowfox.

Modern Dance

The modern dance art form originated during the beginning of the 20th-century. It rejects the constraints and rules of classical dance techniques like ballet. It has no formalities or regulations which a dancer has to follow. The choreographer is given complete creative independence.

It expresses independent emotions to serve strictly for entertainment purposes rather than formal and analytical ones. Unlike traditional dance techniques, it is not set on costume or style of music. Anything that suits its purpose can be used for execution.