Why is the study of dance history important free essay sample

To fully understand the history of dance we must look at what dance means to us today in our every day lives. How does dance influence what you do on a day to day basis, how has it shaped who you’ve come to be. I see dance today as both an art form, and something used socially to draw people together usually for celebratory purposes. Living in New York gives you the opportunity to come across various forms of dance. You could be taking the train and encounter break dancers giving you a performance, expressing themselves in order to survive. You could go to virtually any park in the city and encounter spontaneous dance shows of people showcasing their talents to the public. You also run into many informal versions of dance that still allow people a form of expression indoors, whether its at a party, a club, a theater, school, at home. All these versions of dance we encounter everyday and they shape our everyday lives. We as a society rely on dance as a form of entertainment, making a living, gathering socially, self expression, celebration, even can be used as a form of argument or protest. For some dance plays some of these larger roles and for some the latter, yet I can with confidence say dance plays a role in everyone’s lifetime, and therefore we should find importance in its study. This is why I think the study of dance history is important. Studying how dance has become such a vital part to our everyday lives, finding when and where its made the biggest social and political impacts. How each and every culture we encounter encounters dance in their lives as well. Dance seems to me to be a universal experience for everyone; it may not be any one form of dance, but dance itself that can bring us together. It also helps us understand what influences are in our forms of more modern dance, did these moves just appear or have they adapted from other historical forms of danced and have helped evolve into a new form of dance. Do modern day dances pull influences from past cultural dances. One form of dance that really grew fast, that is performed both professionally, and in our own homes, that truly can be seen as a realistic form of expression is hip-hop. Hip-hop and its influence on our ideas of personal identity Hip-hop has helped form ideas about race and class, in a time period that was also politically reforming these ideas. Hip-hop originated in New York in the 1960’s and 70’s in New York, more specifically in areas of financial squalor, and mainly originated form African American people. It could be seen as way for people to express themselves. Hip-hop wasn’t formed racially specific though, in a sense anyone who could do the dance would it wasn’t a way to show that one race was better than another. It was just a form of dance that became popularized because it didn’t require any formal training to be good at it, you could perform virtually anywhere and everywhere and it would still be considered a form of art, your audience didn’t have to be in a theater. This shows that any class of people whether you had money or not could be good at this. Hip-hop was a dance for everyone not one specific group or race or class, it was basically for anyone who was good at dancing to show people just how good they were. Another aspect of hip hop that was culturally different in the identity of people was that it had no set moves or restrictions. It was mainly freestyle, with influences form many other dances, and often used as a form of competition. Hip-hop really gained ground and popularity in the 80’s and 90’s. The reason that hip-hop became more of a universal dance, one that didn’t have to be seen as racially specific, is because in a sense it was a nonviolent way to bring on a new cultural beginning where equality was beginning to take place, society had to recognize that things would be different, Hip-hop grew because of its diversity, it included influence from all forms of dance, whether it was from Latin forms such as salsa or even more popularized dance from white culture such as ballet, it brought together all forms of dance into one. It helped a generation of young poor people a way to express what they were going through and to fight against it in an artistic expression. It was a more harsh aggressive form of dance, that helped bring on and shape a new era. With it it brought a new sense of American culture, influencing many one the way they act, dress, and communicate in social settings. It formed many peoples identities by giving them something they could identify with. Something that could culturally bring people together. Diedre Sklar,wrote an article in the DCA (Dance Critics Association) news, titled â€Å"Five Premises for a Culturally Sensitive Approach to Dance†. The very first premise, is the one I can connect most to hip-hop. â€Å"Movement knowledge is a kind of cultural knowledge,† hip-op movement is a cultural knowledge of the time period. A dance that shows the progression of broken down barriers and the submergence of the celebration of diversity. â€Å"All movement must be considers as an embodiment of cultural knowledge, a kinesthetic equivalent, that is not quite equivalent, to using the local language. Movement is an essential aspect of culture that has been undervalued and under examined and even trivialized. † We can consider hip-hop â€Å"an embodiment of cultural knowledge† because of when, where and how it emerged and became popularized. Hip-hops emergence out of less fortunate African American communities in the Bronx and Brooklyn just after a time period where there was much more racial segregation a time where you could not always verbally express yourself and speak out. It was a way of showing that even though you haven’t had the best opportunities or you cant reach people on a larger level verbally you could hit them at the heart of the streets through your movement. A movement that ties all influences of other dances together, in turn bringing different cultures other than African Americans into the popularization of hip-hop. It was a way to show how American culture itself was beginning to change, beginning to accept others, although I cannot say we are fully there, hip-hop has definitely has had a great influence on this change though. This leads me too believe that hip-hop can be seen as a culturally significant dance in the west. Although seemingly very different than some traditional dances, that have a set movement, and set steps, as well as dances that have some religious purpose, hip-hop in its own way creates a sort of tradition and influence on society like these dances do to their specific groups. Upon reading the article â€Å"An Anthropologist looks at ballet as a form of ethnic dance† by Joann Kealiinohomoku, I found myself applying this to the idea of hip-hop as an ethnic dance. In this article she argues that by current definitions of ethnic dance, and current definitions of dance ballet should be considered an ethnic dance not something seen universally. We are given a definition of ethnic â€Å"a group which holds in common genetic, linguistic, and cultural ties with special emphasis of cultural tradition. † Applied to dance this can be given to describe any number of forms of dances across the world whether it be hip-hop, salsa, or even line dancing. Hip-hop’s special emphasis is American cultural tradition, born out of a new age and out of poverty it brings together that generation of people and still continues to tie together this generation, often young adults. It is a form of western expression and creativity, although you wouldn’t conventionally consider it an ethnic dance; because it isn’t to speak to the gods or some part of religious ceremony; but by our definitions we have come to recognize it is indeed an ethnic dance. Kealiinohomoku states â€Å"every group has had its own unique history and has been subject to both internal and external modifications. The internal modifications of hip-hop could depend on new moves, new people, the area in the country at which it is being performed, the music being danced too. Some of the external modifications can be society, the media, and how the dance itself is being viewed by the world. Hip-hop is still alive and thriving today, but it does not necessarily follow the same movements form which it first originated. Hip-hop music in the 1970’s and 80’s certainly doesn’t match the modern day music we currently attribute to hip-hop although there are similarities in beat and subject matter. Hip-hop though is still popularized as a form of freestyle dance competition where merit is based on spontaneity and talent, rather than following a set choreographed list of movement. It allows for the culture to have more of an artistic expression in dance to form identities of yourself through your movement, rather than just the story or emotion tied to the movement. Dance in the entertainment industry used to be a predominately white industry, with virtually no African American influence. There were very few if any popularized African American dancers among the North American society. One of those few was Juba, he had mastered the art form of African American step/tap dancing and drew many of his influences form dances slaves passed from generation to generation. He was one of the â€Å"blackface minstrels† that would perform with white minstrels in shows and were to be considered exotic forms of dance (Winter). This type and many other types of dances that originated out of this era have a great influence on hip-hop. Before this time it was rare to see such performances by African Americans, but during this era there was such a movement at the heart of the streets that it became popularized by all ethnicities. The different step dances, tribal dances, street dances, and even ballet can be seen in te movements of hip-hop dancers, drawing their inspiration from all types of dances in American culture and centralizing it collectively into one singular form of dance known as hip-hop. The fact that Hip-hop is still continuing to be popularized today shows how universally strong it has influenced the culture of American society and has in turn become America’s form of ethnic dance. This in turn, is essentially why it is important to study the history of dance in order to understand where and how we came from the past to where we are today and how it influenced our current cultural experiences with dance. Some of the same moves we currently use today are influenced by the moves of past generations.