Dance- Suzi :)

There are many forms of dance in the world. There is ballet, flamenco, contemporary, jazz, hip-hop, cultural dances, and dances that portray religion. Dance to a lot of people is just moving bodies in ways that our body was never meant to be in. Although to people, such as me, in the dance world agree it is moving our body, but its how we do it. Us dancers have to show expression and our passion just through a simple plié (bending the knees). Dancers use most of their expression by telling a story. Stories are most commonly used in ballet.

In ballet, stories or ballets include “Swan Lake”, “The Nutcracker”, “Sleeping Beauty”, and so on. Since there is not any talking in ballet, the story must be told through arm movements, which are similar to miming, and they also use facial expressions. Another important detail about ballet is the technique. Technique is basically the key to ballet. It includes stretching the feet, keeping the body lifted, using the plié, and the most important is turnout (which is a lot harder than it looks). A dancer must think of all of these at the same time in order to perfect the movement. Another form of dance that includes a lot of work and technique is flamenco.

Flamenco originated from the gypsies in India. When the gypsies migrated to Spain, they decided they enjoyed it there more than they’re home because of the climate. With flamenco the dancers use some footwork but mostly to travel around the stage. The art uses mostly the arms, hands, and most of the upper body. If you were to see a professional flamenco performance, you would notice the dancers in the back yelling towards the ones dancing. In the background, they are not upset with the dancer, they are simply encouraging the dancer to keep going. One form of dance that barely has any technique is contemporary or modern.

In modern the only technique or “rules” is to keep your bottom in and lengthen the body, unless instructed so. The famous modern dancers include Martha Graham (who is considered the mother of modern dance), Paul Taylor, Isadora Duncan, and many others. Modern started in the early 1900s as a rebellion against formal dance, such as ballet. When modern first started it was unacceptable to viewers except for its followers. Instead of the body being in an upright position, it can be bent in different ways and jumping into the air like a maniac. Even standing on stage doing finger push-ups would be considered modern! Modern soon became a famous art form and is probably the second largest form danced, if not the largest.

Besides dancing, it a dancers’ job to make their movements look easy and to me that is a true dancer.