Dancing Through Time

People have always had an innate ability to move to music, to listen to a beat and move their bodies and souls in what we call dance. Dance has been around for thousands of years. It was used as a means of healing, as a part of rituals, as entertainment, and much more.

Dance is particularly hard to trace back as it doesn't always leave physical artifacts behind, but archeologists found traces of dance from prehistoric times, such as the Bhimbetka rock shelters paintings in India from 9,000 years ago, and the Egyptian tomb paintings depicting dancing figures that date back to 3300 BCE. In Egypt, priests and priestesses performed dances resembling stories of the gods. They expressed themselves in a way that maybe speaking couldn't, much like the way dancers do now. (http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/plaintexthistories.asp?historyid=ab82)

Hieroglyphics of dancing
http://www.bencourtney.com/ebooks/dance/

Since then, dance has become more well-known and important to society. More genres and types of dance were invented, such as tap, ballet, lyrical, jazz, contemporary, hip hop, and ballroom. Some of these types of dance are still newish today, while others are older, more respected, like ballet.

Ballet originated in the 15th century, in the Renaissance courts of France and Italy. In any celebratory occasion, like the birth of an heir or an important marriage, called for a court dance. Everyone would be taught these dances growing up because they were a large part of society. The dances became more detailed, with many variations of them popping up, because choreographers started changing them slightly, making them apt to different occasions. (http://www.dancetutors.co.uk/TheHistoryBallet.html)

The first ballet school, called Academie Royale de Danse (Royal Academy of Dance), was founded by King Louis XIV in 1661. In this ballet school, the five positions of the feet were created, which is still very relevant to ballet today. Jean‐Baptiste Lully, another prominent dancer of that school, can be credited with opening the Paris Opera Ballet. He also started including women in ballet, which is a large advancement as before that, ballet was primarily performed by men.(http://www.balletaustin.org/education/documents/HistoryofBalletHandoutsforStudents.pdf)

Ballet kept advancing and changing after that. One of the most prominent changes was the invention of pointe shoes. Pointe shoes are special shoes made for dancing on the toes, mostly worn by women. This made dancing ballet more equal between men and women, as before that ballet was dominated by men. Marie Taglioni is known as the first ballerina to dance en pointe. (You go, Marie Taglioni, you go!) (http://www.dance-enthusiast.com/features/view/Marie-Taglioni-The-Instant-Ballerina-2010-03-23)

Marie Taglioni
http://www.balletaustin.org/education/documents/HistoryofBalletHandoutsforStudents.pdf

Later, in the 1800s, classic Russian ballet took off with choreographer Marius Petipa. This was the time of more challenging, full length-ballets with women usually the leads. This also included a pas de deux, which is a dance between the male and female leads. The women started wearing tutus, giving them more freedom compared to the long skirts they previously had to wear. Some of the ballets created during this time are still being performed, including The Sleeping Beauty, Swan Lake, and the ballet my studio and I are performing soon, The Nutcracker. (http://www.russianballethistory.com/diaghilevchoreographers.htm)

Dance has been a huge part of the lives of many people, all throughout time. It has helped people express themselves in ways that they couldn't without dance. Dance is a respected form of art that is beautiful to those watching, and invokes a variety of emotions. As dancers we hope that we can help you relate to the emotions that the dances  aim to create. (Observation Oct 9)