Magic Hans
28th-March-2005, 12:50 PM
Having recently seen a couple of examples of line dancing, I am now very confused as to what makes a particular dance a particular type.
It seems to me that a particular dance (style) might be defined or identified by one of two things. The mood of the music (inevitably effecting the mood of the dance) or techinique, eg footwork, posture, hand positioning.
The first type of dancing I learned (successfully!) was African, but it could have been:
Ballroom, Latin, Belly, Morris (Border, Cotswold or North-West), Line, American Indian, Chinese, Japenese, Swing, Argentine Tango, Jazz, Arab (Whirling Dirvish), Indian, Blues, Irish, Step clogging, tap, Scottish folk, English folk, English/French medieval, Cossack, Merengue, Mongolian, Hip-hop, Disco, Circle, Flamenco, Jewish, any other folk, Ceilidh, Lindy, etc, etc, etc.
These dance styles seem to associated with music styles, again from around the world, tango being one that sticks in my mind. However, people seem to dance different dances to different music styles. Clearly it's possible to jive, or lindy to a salsa or merengue track. Would it not change it's styling though?? I have certainly seen morris dancing to Jazz!! :eek:
Clearly, I am very biased to West music and so, western type dances and styles.
So, where so these various names and denominations come from? Do they always make sense? How do they describe the dance? [Or do they?] Is everything getting so mixed up that it's impossible to tell??
Discuss!!
It seems to me that a particular dance (style) might be defined or identified by one of two things. The mood of the music (inevitably effecting the mood of the dance) or techinique, eg footwork, posture, hand positioning.
The first type of dancing I learned (successfully!) was African, but it could have been:
Ballroom, Latin, Belly, Morris (Border, Cotswold or North-West), Line, American Indian, Chinese, Japenese, Swing, Argentine Tango, Jazz, Arab (Whirling Dirvish), Indian, Blues, Irish, Step clogging, tap, Scottish folk, English folk, English/French medieval, Cossack, Merengue, Mongolian, Hip-hop, Disco, Circle, Flamenco, Jewish, any other folk, Ceilidh, Lindy, etc, etc, etc.
These dance styles seem to associated with music styles, again from around the world, tango being one that sticks in my mind. However, people seem to dance different dances to different music styles. Clearly it's possible to jive, or lindy to a salsa or merengue track. Would it not change it's styling though?? I have certainly seen morris dancing to Jazz!! :eek:
Clearly, I am very biased to West music and so, western type dances and styles.
So, where so these various names and denominations come from? Do they always make sense? How do they describe the dance? [Or do they?] Is everything getting so mixed up that it's impossible to tell??
Discuss!!