Lesson 2:

Dancing Toward
the 21 st Century
Late 16th and 17th Centuries
Modern History
• A period in the history of dance in Italy, France, and England was pleasantly
deep and rich.
• In the late Renaissance and the Baroque periods, dancers and personalities
exerted remarkable influence as the builders of ballet.
• France became the forerunner in dance during this period.
• With Catherine de Medici’s transfer to France and the production of Le Ballet
Comique de la Reine in 1581, influence on dance began to transfer from the
Italian court to the French court.
• Male dancers played both male and female roles in court ballets.
• In 1681, Mila La Fontaine, the first female professional dancer produced by the
Academic Royalel de la Musique et de Dance, performed in Le trimphe de
L’Amour, the first ballet in which women took part. She was hailed as the queen
of the dance after the performance.
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The most significant ballets produced in the 17th century French court are the
following:

Ballet de la Nuit (1653)

Louis XIV portrayed the Sun King, after which he became known by that name.

Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme (1670)

This is Molière’s comedy play, which featured music and dance sequences.

Le Triomphe de L’Amour (1681)

A ballet created by Jean-Baptiste Lully, in which the first female dancers appeared.

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 18th Century
• Dance in ballroom and in theatrical performance
began to separate technically and aesthetically.
• With the establishment of the Paris Opera, both
male and female professional dancers were given
equal opportunity to take lead roles rather than just
character parts. During this period the professional
male dancers or danseurs nobles took the leading
roles in the ballets.
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 19th Century

• During the romantic era, the female dancers took the lead
roles in ballet performances. They appeared as winged,
unearthly beings such as nymphs and fairies.
• Meanwhile male dancers took the supporting roles in
romantic ballets, but offstage they continued as dance
masters and arranged the ballets.
• During this century, both males and females must strictly
follow the code of etiquette when attending a ball or they
will not be admitted.
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 Ballroom dances of the 19th century
Cotillion
• The cotillion, a forerunner of the American
square dance, had many figures that
required practice by the group. The
complexity of the dance made it a special
performance at a ball or a presentation by a
dance master at a recital hall.
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 Ballroom dances of the 19th century
Polonaise
• Involved partners dancing side by side behind a lead couple
and moving through various choral figures.
• Performed in triple time, it had one step that was repeated
throughout the dance. The dancers started with bows, then
they proceeded down the center of the room, creating two
columns from which they can change wheel places, from
squares or wee around, and moving forward or back. For
the final part of the routine, the dancers were led down the
middle of the hall.
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Quadrille
• The quadrille was performed in a stately manner and, later
on, in an accelerated one.
• The "Queen of London Society," Lady Sarah Jersey,
introduced the quadrille to English society at Almack's in
1815.
• The original figures were determined by the dancers, as in
a country dance.
• In 1818 dancing master Thomas Wilson explained some
50 movements and wrote instructions on how to combine
them into figures in his book Treatise on Quadrille
Dancing. 8
Waltz

• Many scholars believe that the waltz was derived

from the German landler and other Southern
German folk dances.
• It was performed in triple time by single couples in
close embrace and featured wild hopping,
stamping, and throwing of the female partner into
the air.
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Polka
• originated in Poland or the former Czechoslovakia, was a
popular social dance in the first part of the century.
• This half-step dance in 2/4 time was introduced in the
ballrooms of Prague in the 1830s. Dancing masters
brought it to Paris and it reached the stage in 1840. The
dance had five figures on the stage. By 1843 polka already
invaded the city and eventually swept Europe and the
United States. The dance entered English ballrooms by
1844.

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 20th Century
• The early part of the 20th century can be best described as a period
of "dance fever" wherein the young and old alike were not limited to
express their emotions through dance.
• With the introduction of ragtime, people were not afraid to show their
energetic movements such as skipping and running barefoot. Ragtime
is a type of music known for its syncopated melodic line and regularly
accented accompaniment played especially on the piano. Scott Joplin,
an African-American composer and pianist, created the influential
ragtime piece "Maple Leaf Rag" which made him famous among both
black and white societies.

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 20th Century
• After the first decade, the collaboration of
husband and wife, Vernon and Irene Castle,
transformed social dance from a set structure of
steps to a series of figures for couples. The castle
walk, ‘accompanied by the song "Castle Rag," was
performed in the close dance position with them
walking backward and the women moving forward,
then repeated in the open position
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• The tango is a highly sensual and erotic dance performed by a couple with
close body contact and direct eye contact. The increasing acceptance for the
dance reached Paris, Europe, London, and New York.

• In 1914 another animal dance was developed — the foxtrot.

• Arthur Carringford's famous two slow steps followed by four quick steps
gained popularity in society and were brought in dance halls. His stage
name was Harry Fox and he performed in New York vaudeville theaters

During the early 1920s, also known as the Jazz Age or the Roaring Twenties,
the Charleston, the Black Bottom, and the Lindy Hop were introduced.

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The Charleston

• originated in the harbor city of

Charleston, South Carolina
• can be performed solo, with a
partner, or with a group
• is usually performed in place, it
looks like normal walking. Its
simplicity made it easy for
performers to improvise

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 The Black Bottom

• originated in New Orleans and

has movements similar to the
Charleston.

• "The Original Black Bottom

Dance" was printed in 1919
and the dance became a fad in
American society in the mid-
20s.

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The Lindy Hop
• American dance that originated in Harlem, New York City
• combination of many dances such as jazz, tap, breakaway, and
Charleston
• It was sometimes referred to as a street dance because of its
improvisational and social nature

Latin dance and music have been identified as a fusion of American music styles. Dances
such as rumba, mambo, and cha cha cha from Cuba and samba from Brazil became
popular in America during the 1930s and 1940s, as they were popularized by movie
stars.

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The rumba
The mambo music
• considered the "grandfather of • comes from a very old tradition of
the Latin dances." Africa which consisted of
multifaceted rhythms
• dance that narrates love and
passion between a tough male • The word "mambo" was not
lover and a timid, mischievous initially a term for a dance, but
simply an Afro-Cuban name for
woman. With its sensual hip
polymetry or rhythm against
action movements and intense
rhythm.
sharp eye contact, it is
considered to be the Easiest • The mambo is the music of
voodoo and the music of the
ballroom dance.
people.
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The cha-cha-cha

• derived from the mambo and The samba

the swing.
• Like most Latin dances, the • has a distinct look and feel
dancers' feet remain close to because of its "samba bounce
the floor, the hips are relaxed action," 'a light, effortless, and
to allow free movement in the carefree movement from the
pelvic area, and the upper knees and ankles.
body shifts over the
supporting foot as the steps
are taken.

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 In 1950, after World War II, there was a shift from dance
bands to concerts in nightclubs. Most of the movements of
the teenagers were varied in steps and style but were still
swing-based.
Among the prevalent dances were the jitterbug or swing,
the Lindy, the rock n roll, and the boogie-woogie or Bop
• Bop was new then but was usually referred to as
Charleston-like steps danced in place, sometimes without a
partner.
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The bossa nova
• emerged in this decade and The boogaloo
earned its popularity in the early • The boogaloo gained its fame
1960s. through the songs "Boogaloo
• It is a Latin dance in 2/4 Blues" and "I Like It Like That."
syncopated time. It is a • The dance is a combination of
combination of samba rhythm
Latin, African American, rhythm
and jazz, resulting in a Latin and blues, rock 'n' roll, and soul
mix. music.
• Eydie Gorme recorded the first
bossa nova dance music entitled
"Blame it on the Bossa Nova."
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In the early 1960s, Chubby Checker first performed and introduced the
twist on American Bandstand. The twist was an expression of
individualism—there were no definite roles for men or women. 'The
dancers danced apart, stood in one place and twisted their hips from
side to side, pivoting on their feet. The movements were free and
provocative.

The British introduced the Mod dance and it was brought to

America in 1963. The "cool" narcissistic teenagers who rebelled
against the emotionalism of rock roll were among the first to
perform this dance. It was a free-flowing and jerky dance that
required a partner.

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 The psychedelic dance was introduced during the widespread use of
psychychedelic drugs in 1967 at Haight Ashbury, San Francisco. The dance was
experimental and Freeform in nature, affected by drug-induced exhibitionism.

The 1970s marked the dance bang as the disco clubs progressed from Europe
to the United States that featured African American and Latino artists and Disco
jocks created music from jazz, soul, and rhythm and blues.

In 1975 a Cuban dance that originated in New York City called the hustle
became popular and was used in the movie Saturday Night Fever. Since then
it became part of the American pop culture and kept its popularity for the
last two decades

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In the last two decades of the 20th century, choreographers and dancers
continued to explore new directions. Individual statements, revised old
themes, and stretching the medium through collaboration and technology
were the main focus.

In the 1980s there was a continuous innovation in social dances, while

western line dances gained their popularity throughout the 1990s. In
1983 the popularity of disco dance slowly declined. In 1990 disco came
back to be a part of pop and hip-hop dances again and its influence on
the said dances can still be seen and heard today

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The funk music started in the late 60s by James Brown, Jimi Hendrix, and
Earth, Wind and Fire introduced the 1970s funk rock. Lyrics became
more explicit in music synthesizers in the early 80s and from the mid-
80s to the 90s, funk rock and funk metal were popular among rock
artists. The era of funk nostalgia began in the mid-90s.

Popular fad dances emerged in the 80s and the 90s. Village People
performed the song YMCA in 1978. The group used cheerleading arm
positions to spell out the letters of the song.

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Macarena hit the Street dance began in California during the 70s and
US 100 song was performed both in nightclubs and on the streets.
charts for 60 It is associated with funk, breakdancing, and hip-hop.
weeks and The vernacular style, which is very common among
became the the urban communities, became the source of dance
dance craze battles as a substitute for street fighting. From this
among the youth informal dance battle known as jamming, it
with its arm transformed into a global event, an annual
movements and breakdance competition known as the Battle of the
hip swiveling. Year.

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