Ballroom dance is a set of partner dances, which are enjoyed both socially and competitively around the world. Because of its performance and entertainment aspects, ballroom dance is also widely enjoyed on stage, film, and television.
Ballroom dance may refer, at its widest, to almost any type of social dancing as recreation. However, with the emergence of dancesport in modern times, the term has become narrower in scope. It usually refers to the International Standard and International Latin style dances (see dance categories below). These styles were developed in England,[1] and are now regulated by the World Dance Council (WDC). In the United States, two additional variations are popular: American Smooth and American Rhythm.
There are also a number of historical dances, and local or national dances, which may be danced in ballrooms or salons. Sequence dancing, in pairs or other formations, is still a popular style of ballroom dance.[2]
History of Ballroom Dance
The term 'ballroom dancing' is derived from the word ball, which in turn originates from the Latin word ballare which means 'to dance' (a ball-room being a large room specially designed for such dances). In times past, ballroom dancing was social dancing for the privileged, leaving folk dancing for the lower classes. These boundaries have since become blurred, and it should be noted even in times long gone, many ballroom dances were really elevated folk dances. The definition of ballroom dance also depends on the era: balls have featured popular dances of the day such as the Minuet, Quadrille, Polonaise, Polka, Mazurka, and others, which are now considered to be historical dances.
Early Modern Age
The first authoritative knowledge of the earliest ballroom dances was recorded toward the end of the 16th century, when Jehan Tabourot, under the pen name "Thoinot-Arbeau", published in 1588 his Orchésographie, a study of late 16th-century French renaissance social dance. Among the dances described were the solemn basse danse, the livelier branle, pavane, and the galliarde which Shakespeare called the "cinq pace" as it was made of five steps.[3]
Toward the latter half of the 17th century, Louis XIV founded his 'Académie Royale de Musique et de Danse', where specific rules for the execution of every dance and the "five positions" of the feet were formulated for the first time by members of the Académie. Eventually, the first definite cleavage between ballet and ballroom came when professional dancers appeared in the ballets, and the ballets left the Court and went to the stage. Ballet technique such as the turned out positions of the feet, however, lingered for over two centuries and past the end of the Victoria era.[3]
Victorian Era
The waltz with its modern hold took root in England in about 1812; in 1819 Carl Maria von Weber wrote Invitation to the Dance, which marked the adoption of the waltz form into the sphere of absolute music. The dance was initially met with tremendous opposition due to the semblance of impropriety associated with the closed hold, though the stance gradually softened.[3] In the 1840s several new dances made their appearance in the ballroom, including the Polka, Mazurka, and the Schottische. In the meantime a strong tendency emerged to drop all 'decorative' steps such as entrechats and ronds de jambes that had found a place in the Quadrilles and other dances.Early 20th century
Modern ballroom dance has its roots early in the 20th century, when several different things happened more or less at the same time. The first was a movement away from the sequence dances towards dances where the couples moved independently. This had been pre-figured by the waltz, which had already made this transition. The second was a wave of popular music, such as jazz, much of which was based on the ideas of black musicians in the USA. Since dance is to a large extent tied to music, this led to a burst of newly invented dances. There were many dance crazes in the period 1910–1930.
Later, in the 1930s, the on-screen dance pairing of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers influenced all forms of dance in the USA and elsewhere. Although both actors had separate careers, their filmed dance sequences together, which included portrayals of the Castles, have reached iconic status.[5] Much of Astaire and Rogers' work portrayed social dancing, although the performances were highly choreographed (often by Astaire or Hermes Pan), and meticulously staged and rehearsed.[6]
More about Ballroom Dance
Main article: Dancesport
Ballroom dance competitions are regulated by each country in its own way. There are about 30 countries which compete regularly in international competitions. There are another 20 or so countries which have membership of the WDC and/or the IDSF, but whose dancers rarely appear in international competitions.[9] In Britain there is the British Dance Council, which grants national and regional championship titles, such as the British Ballroom Championships, the British Sequence Championships and the United Kingdom Championships. In the United States, amateur dance proficiency levels are defined by USA Dance (formerly United States Amateur Ballroom Dance Association, USABDA).
Ballroom dancing competitions in the former USSR also included the Soviet Ballroom dances, or Soviet Programme. Australian New Vogue is danced both competitively and socially. In competition there are 15 recognised New Vogue dances, which are performed by the competitors in sequence. These dance forms are not recognised internationally, neither are the US variations such as American Smooth, and Rhythm. Such variations in dance and competition methods are attempts to meets perceived needs in the local market-place.
Internationally, the Blackpool Dance Festival, hosted annually at Blackpool, England, is considered the most prestigious event a dancesport competitor can attend.
Formation dance is another style of competitive dance recognised by the IDSF. In this style, multiple dancers (usually in couples and typically up to 16 dancers at one time) compete on the same team, moving in and out of various formations while dancing.
Elements of competition
Medal tests
Medal examinations for amateurs enable dancers' individual abilities to be recognized according to conventional standards. In medal exams, which are run by bodies such as the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing (ISTD), each dancer performs two or more dances in a certain genre in front of a judge. Genres such as Modern Ballroom or Latin are the most popular. Societies such as the ISTD also offer medal tests on other dance styles (such as Country & Western, Rock 'n Roll or Tap). In some North American examinations, levels include Newcomer, Bronze, Silver, Gold and Championship; each level may be further subdivided into either two or four separate sections.Dances
In the United States and Canada, the American Style (American Smooth and American Rhythm) also exists. The dance technique used for both International and American styles is similar, but International Ballroom allows only closed dance positions, whereas American Smooth allows closed, open and separated dance movements. In addition, different sets of dance figures are usually taught for the two styles. International Latin and American Rhythm have different styling, and have different dance figures in their respective syllabi.
Others dances sometimes placed under the umbrella "ballroom dance" include Nightclub Dances such as Lindy Hop, West Coast Swing, Nightclub Two Step, Hustle, Salsa, and Merengue. The categorization of dances as "ballroom dances" has always been fluid, with new dances or folk dances being added to or removed from the ballroom repertoire from time to time, so no list of subcategories or dances is any more than a description of current practices. There are other dances historically accepted as ballroom dances, and are revived via the Vintage dance movement.
In Europe, Latin Swing dances include Argentine Tango, Mambo, Lindy Hop, Swing Boogie (sometimes also known as Nostalgic Boogie), and Disco Fox. One example of this is the subcategory of Cajun dances that originated in Acadiana, with branches reaching both coasts of the United States.
Ballroom/Smooth dances are normally danced to Western music (often from the mid-twentieth century), and couples dance counter-clockwise around a rectangular floor following the line of dance. In competitions, competitors are costumed as would be appropriate for a white tie affair, with full gowns for the ladies and bow tie and tail coats for the men; though in American Smooth it is now conventional for the men to abandon the tailsuit in favor of shorter tuxedos, vests, and other creative outfits.
Latin/Rhythm dances are commonly danced to contemporary Latin American music, and, with the exception of a few traveling dances (e.g., Samba and Paso Doble), couples do not follow the line of dance but perform their routines more or less in one spot. In competitions, the women are often dressed in short-skirted latin outfits while the men are outfitted in tight-fitting shirts and pants, the goal being to emphasize the dancers' leg action and body movements.
Courtesy : Wikipedia
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BBOY
B-boying or breaking is a style of street dance that originated among African American and Puerto Rican youths in New York City during the early 1970s.[2]:125, 141, 153[3] Fast to gain popularity in the media, the dance spread worldwide especially in South Korea, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Russia, and Japan. While diverse in the amount of variation available in the dance, b-boying consists of four kinds of movement: toprock, downrock, power moves, and freezes. B-boying is typically danced to hip-hop and especially breakbeats, although modern trends allow for much wider varieties of music along certain ranges of tempo and beat patterns.
A practitioner of this dance is called a b-boy, b-girl, or breaker. Although the term "breakdance" is frequently used to refer to the dance, "b-boying" and "breaking" are the original terms. These terms are preferred by the majority of the pioneers and most notable practitioners.
HISTORY OF BBOY
History
Many elements of b-boying can be seen in other antecedent cultures prior to the 1970s. Concerning martial arts, b-boy pioneers Richard "Crazy Legs" Colon and Kenneth "Ken Swift" Gabbert, both of Rock Steady Crew, cited James Brown and Kung-Fu films as influences to b-boying.[21][22] Many of b-boying's more acrobatic moves, such as the flare, show clear connections to gymnastics. An Arab street dancer performing acrobatic headspins was recorded by Thomas Edison in 1898.[23] However, it was not until the 1970s that b-boying developed as a defined dance style.
Beginning with DJ Kool Herc, Bronx-based DJs would take the rhythmic breakdown sections (also known as the "breaks") of dance records and prolong them by looping them successively. The breakbeat provided a rhythmic base that allowed dancers to display their improvisational skills during the duration of the break. This led to the first battles – turn-based dance competitions between two individuals or dance crews judged with respect to creativity, skill, and musicality. These battles occurred in cyphers – circles of people gathered around the breakers. Though at its inception the earliest b-boys were "close to 90 percent African-American", dance crews such as "SalSoul" and "Rockwell Association" were populated almost entirely by Latino Americans.
Uprock
A separate but related dance form which influenced breaking is uprock also called rocking or Brooklyn rock. Uprock is an aggressive dance that involves two dancers who mimic ways of fighting each other using mimed weaponry in rhythm with the music.[15] Uprock as a dance style of its own never gained the same widespread popularity as breaking, except for some very specific moves adopted by breakers who use it as a variation for their toprock.[24]:138 When used in a b-boy battle, opponents often respond by performing similar uprock moves, supposedly creating a short uprock battle. Some dancers argue that because uprock was originally a separate dance style it should never be mixed with breaking and that the uprock moves performed by breakers today are not the original moves but imitations that only show a small part of the original uprock style.[25]It has been stated that breaking replaced fighting between street gangs.[13] On the contrary, some believe it a misconception that b-boying ever played a part in mediating gang rivalry. Both viewpoints have some truth. Uprock has its roots in gangs.[24]:116, 138 Whenever there was an issue over turf, the two warlords of the feuding gangs would uprock. Whoever won this preliminary battle would decide where the real fight would be.[26]
MORE ABOUT BBOY
Terminology
The terminology used to refer to b-boying (break-boying) changed after promotion by the mainstream media. Although widespread, the term "breakdancing" is looked down upon by those immersed in hip-hop culture. Purists consider "breakdancing" an ignorant term invented by the media[6]:58[4] that connotes exploitation of the art[6]:60[4] and is used to sensationalize breaking. The term "breakdancing" is also problematic because it has become a diluted umbrella term that incorrectly includes popping, locking, and electric boogaloo,[6]:60[7] which are not styles of "breakdance", but are funk styles that were developed separately from breaking in California.[8] The dance itself is properly called "breaking" according to rappers such as KRS-One, Talib Kweli, Mos Def, and Darryl McDaniels of Run-DMC.[9]The terms "b-boy" (break-boy), "b-girl" (break-girl), and "breaker" are the original terms used to describe the dancers. The original terms arose to describe the dancers who performed to DJ Kool Herc's breakbeats. DJ Kool Herc is a Jamaican-American DJ who is responsible for developing the foundational aspects of hip-hop music. The obvious connection of the term "breaking" is to the word "breakbeat", but DJ Kool Herc has commented that the term "breaking" was slang at the time for "getting excited", "acting energetically" or "causing a disturbance".[10] Most breaking pioneers and practitioners prefer the terms "b-boy", "b-girl", and/or "breaker" when referring to these dancers. For those immersed in hip-hop culture, the term "breakdancer" may be used to disparage those who learn the dance for personal gain rather than for commitment to the culture.[6]:61 B-boy London of the New York City Breakers and filmmaker Michael Holman refer to these dancers as "breakers".[4] Frosty Freeze of the Rock Steady Crew says, "we were known as b-boys", and hip-hop pioneer Afrika Bambaataa says, "b-boys, [are] what you call break boys... or b-girls, what you call break girls."[4] In addition, co-founder of Rock Steady Crew Santiago "Jo Jo" Torres, Rock Steady Crew member Marc "Mr. Freeze" Lemberger, hip-hop historian Fab 5 Freddy, and rappers Big Daddy Kane[11] and Tech N9ne.[12] use the term "b-boy".[4]
| Source | Quote | Citation |
|---|---|---|
| Richard "Crazy Legs" Colon; Rock Steady Crew |
"When I first learned about the dance in '77 it was called b-boying... by the time the media got a hold of it in like '81, '82, it became 'break-dancing' and I even got caught up calling it break-dancing too." | [4] |
| Action; New York City Breakers |
"You know what, that's our fault kind of... we started dancing and going on tours and all that and people would say, oh you guys are breakdancers – we never corrected them." | [4] |
| Santiago "Jo Jo" Torres; Rock Steady Crew |
"B-boy... that's what it is, that's why when the public changed it to 'break-dancing' they were just giving a professional name to it, but b-boy was the original name for it and whoever wants to keep it real would keep calling it b-boy." | [4] |
| NPR | "Breakdancing may have died, but the b-boy, one of four original elements of hip hop (also included: the MC, the DJ, and the graffiti artist) lives on. To those who knew it before it was tagged with the name breakdancing, to those still involved in the scene that they will always know as b-boying, the tradition is alive and, well, spinning." | [13] |
| The Boston Globe | "Lesson one: Don't call it breakdancing. Hip-hop's dance tradition, the kinetic counterpart to the sound scape of rap music and the visuals of graffiti art, is properly known as b-boying." | [5] |
| The Electric Boogaloos | "In the 80's when streetdancing [sic] blew up, the media often incorrectly used the term 'breakdancing' as an umbrella term for most the streetdancing [sic] styles that they saw. What many people didn't know was [that] within these styles, other sub-cultures existed, each with their own identities. Breakdancing, or b-boying as it is more appropriately known as, is known to have its roots in the east coast and was heavily influenced by break beats and hip hop." | [14] |
| Jorge "Popmaster Fabel" Pabon | "Break dancing is a term created by the media! Once hip-hop dancers gained the media's attention, some journalists and reporters produced inaccurate terminology in an effort to present these urban dance forms to the masses. The term break dancing is a prime example of this misnomer. Most pioneers and architects of dance forms associated with hip-hop reject this term and hold fast to the original vernacular created in their places of origin. In the case of break dancing, it was initially called b-boying or b-girling." | [15] |
| Benjamin "B-Tek" Chung; JabbaWockeeZ |
"When someone says break dancing, we correct them and say it's b-boying." | [16] |
| Timothy "Popin' Pete" Solomon; Electric Boogaloos |
"An important thing to clarify is that the term 'Break dancing' is wrong, I read that in many magazines but that is a media term. The correct term is 'Breakin', people who do it are B-Boys and B-Girls. The term 'Break dancing' has to be thrown out of the dance vocabulary." | [17] |
| Excerpt from the book New York Ricans from the Hip Hop Zone | "With the barrage of media attention [breaking] received, even terminology started changing. 'Breakdancing' became the catch-all term to describe what originally had been referred to as 'burning', 'going off', 'breaking', 'b-boying', and 'b-girling'... Even though many of hip hop's pioneers accepted the term for a while in the 1980s, they have since reclaimed the original terminology and rejected 'breakdance' as a media-fabricated word that symbolizes the bastardization and co-optation of the art form." | [7] |
| Hip-Hop Dance Conservatory | "Breaking or b-boying is generally misconstrued or incorrectly termed as 'breakdancing.' Breakdancing is a term spawned from the loins of the media's philistinism, sciolism, and naïveté at that time. With no true knowledge of the hip-hop diaspora but with an ineradicable need to define it for the nescient masses, the term breakdancing was born. Most breakers take great offense to the term." | [18] |
| Jeff Chang | "During the 1970s, an array of dances practiced by black and Latino kids sprang up in the inner cities of New York and California. The styles had a dizzying list of names: 'uprock' in Brooklyn, 'locking' in Los Angeles, 'boogaloo' and 'popping' in Fresno, and 'strutting' in San Francisco and Oakland. When these dances gained notice in the mid-'80s outside of their geographic contexts, the diverse styles were lumped together under the tag 'break dancing.' | [19] |
| American Heritage Dictionary | *"b-boy (bē′boi′) n. A man or boy who engages in b-boying. [b-, probably short for BREAK (from the danceable breaks in funk recordings from which turntablists make breakbeat music to which b-boying is done ) + BOY.]" | [20] |
Worldwide expansion
Brazil
Ismael Toledo was one of the first b-boys in Brazil.[27] In 1984, he moved to the United States to study dance.[27] While in the U.S. he discovered breaking and ended up meeting b-boy Crazy Legs who personally mentored him for the four years that followed.[27] After becoming proficient in breaking, he moved back to São Paulo and started to organize b-boys crews and enter international competitions.[27] He eventually opened a hip-hop dance studio called the Hip-Hop Street College.[27]South Korea
B-boying was first introduced to South Korea by American soldiers shortly after its surge of popularity in the U.S. during the 1980s, but it was not until the late 1990s that the culture and dance really took hold.[28] 1997 is known as the "Year Zero of Korean breaking".[19] A Korean-American hip hop promoter named John Jay Chon was visiting his family in Seoul and while he was there, he met a crew named Expression Crew in a club. He gave them a VHS of a Los Angeles b-boying competition called Radiotron. A year later when he returned, Chon found that his video and others like his had been copied and dubbed numerous times, and were feeding an ever-growing b-boy community.In 2002, Korea's Expression Crew won the prestigious international b-boying competition Battle of the Year, exposing the skill of the country's b-boys to the rest of the world. Since then, the Korean government has capitalized on the popularity of the dance and has promoted it alongside Korean culture. R-16 Korea is the most well-known government-sponsored b-boy event, and is hosted by the Korean Tourism Organization and supported by the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism.
Japan
Shortly after the Rock Steady Crew came to Japan, b-boying within Japan began to thrive. Each Sunday b-boys would perform breaking in Tokyo's Yoyogi Park.[29] One of the first and most influential Japanese breakers was Crazy-A, who is now the leader of the Tokyo chapter of Rock Steady Crew.[29] He also organizes the yearly B-Boy Park which draws upwards of 10,000 fans a year and attempts to expose a wider audience to the culture.[30]Cambodia
Born in Thailand and raised in the United States, Tuy "KK" Sobil started a community center called Tiny Toones in Phnom Penh in 2005 where he uses b-boying, hip-hop music, and art to teach Cambodian youth language skills, computer skills, and life skills (hygiene, sex education, counseling). His orgranization helps roughly 5,000 youth a year. One of these youth include Diamond, who is regarded as Cambodia's first b-girl.[31][32]Dance elements
Toprock generally refers to any string of steps performed from a standing position. It is usually the first and foremost opening display of style, though dancers often transition from other aspects of breaking to toprock and back. Toprock has a variety of steps which can each be varied according to the dancer's expression (ie. aggressive, calm, excited). A great deal of freedom is allowed in the definition of toprock: as long as the dancer maintains cleanness, form and the b-boy attitude, theoretically anything can be toprock. Toprock can draw upon many other dance styles such as popping, locking, tap dance, or house dance. Transitions from toprock to downrock and power moves are called "drops".[33]
Downrock (also known as "footwork" or "floorwork") is used to describe any movement on the floor with the hands supporting the dancer as much as the feet. Downrock includes moves such as the foundational 6-step, and its variants such as the 3-step. The most basic of downrock is done entirely on feet and hands but more complex variations can involve the knees when threading limbs through each other.
Power moves are acrobatic moves that require momentum, speed, endurance, strength, and control to execute. The breaker is generally supported by his upper body while the rest of his body creates circular momentum. Some examples are the windmill, swipe, and head spin. Some power moves are borrowed from gymnastics and martial arts. An example of a power move taken from gymnastics is the Thomas Flair which is shortened and spelled flare in b-boying.
Freezes are stylish poses, and the more difficult require the breaker to suspend himself or herself off the ground using upper body strength in poses such as the pike. They are used to emphasize strong beats in the music and often signal the end of a b-boy set. Freezes can be linked into chains or "stacks" where breakers go from freeze to freeze to the music to display musicality and physical strength.
Suicides, like freezes, are used to emphasize a strong beat in the music and signal the end to a routine. In contrast to freezes, suicides draw attention to the motion of falling or losing control, while freezes draw attention to a controlled final position. B-boys or b-girls will make it appear that they have lost control and fall onto their backs, stomachs, etc. The more painful the suicide appears, the more impressive it is, but breakers execute them in a way to minimize pain.
B-boy styles
There are many different individual styles used in b-boying. Individual styles often stem from a dancer's region of origin and influences. However, some people such as b-boy Jacob "Kujo" Lyons feel that the Internet inhibits individual style. In an 2012 interview with B-Boy Magazine he expressed his frustration:
... because everybody watches the same videos online, everybody ends up looking very similar. The differences between individual b-boys, between crews, between cities/states/countries/continents, have largely disappeared. It used to be that you could tell what city a b-boy was from by the way he danced. Not anymore. But I've been saying these things for almost a decade, and most people don't listen, but continue watching the same videos and dancing the same way. It's what I call the "international style," or the "Youtube style."[34]B-boy Luis "Alien Ness" Martinez, the president of Mighty Zulu Kings, expressed a similar frustration in a separate interview three years earlier with "The Super B-Beat Show" about the top five things he hates in b-boying:
Oh yeah, the last thing I hate in breakin'... Yo, all y'all mother f*ckin' Internet b-boys... I'm an Internet b-boy too, but I'm real about my sh*t. Everybody knows who I am, I'm out at every f*cking jam, I'm in a different country every week. I tell my story dancing... I've been all around the world, y'all been all around the world wide web... [my friend] Bebe once said that sh*t, and I co-sign that, Bebe said that. That wasn't me but that's the realist sh*t I ever heard anybody say. I've been all around the world, you've been all around the world wide web.[35]Although there are some generalities in the styles that exist, many dancers combine elements of different styles with their own ideas and knowledge in order to create a unique style of their own. B-boys can therefore be categorized into a broad style which generally showcases the same types of techniques.
- Power: This style of b-boying is what most members of the general public associate with the term "breakdancing". Power moves comprise full-body spins and rotations that give the illusion of defying gravity. Examples of power moves include headspins, backspins, windmills, flares, airtracks/airflares, 1990s, 2000s, jackhammers, crickets, turtles, hand glide, halos, and elbow spins. Those b-boys who use "power moves" almost exclusively in their sets are referred to as "power heads" or power movers.
- Abstract: A very broad style of b-boying which may include the incorporation of "threading" footwork, freestyle movement to hit beats, house dance, and "circus" styles (tricks, contortion, etc.).
- Blowup: A style of b-boying which focuses on the "wow factor" of certain power moves, freezes, and circus styles. Blowups consist of performing a sequence of as many difficult trick combinations in as quick succession as possible in order to "smack" or exceed the virtuosity of the other b-boy's performance. This is usually attempted only after becoming proficient in other styles due to the degree of control and practice required in this type of dancing. The names of some of the moves are: airbaby, airchair, hollow backs, solar eclipse, reverse airbaby, among others. The main goal in blowup-style is the rapid transition through a sequence of power moves ending in a skillful freeze.
- Flavor: A style that is based more on elaborate toprock, downrock, and/or freezes. This style is focused more on the beat and musicality of the song than having to rely on "power" moves only. B-boys who base their dance on "flavor" or style are known as "style heads".
Downrock styles
In addition to the styles listed above, certain footwork styles have been associated with different areas which popularized them.[36]- Traditional New York Style: The original style of b-boying from the Bronx, based around the Russian Tropak dance, this style of downrock focuses on kicks called "CCs" and foundational moves such as 6-steps and variations of it.
- Euro Style: Created in the early 90s, this style is very circular, focusing not on steps but more on glide-type moves such as the pretzel, deadlegs, undersweeps and fluid sliding moves
- Canadian Style: Created in the late 90s, also known as the 'Toronto thread' style. Based upon the Euro Style, except also characterized by elaborate leg threads
Power versus style
Multiple stereotypes have emerged in the breaking community over the give-and-take relationship between technical footwork and physical power. Those who focus on dance steps and fundamental sharpness are labeled as "style-heads." Specialists of more gymnastics-oriented technique and form—at the cost of charisma and coordinated footwork—are known as "power-heads." Such terms are used colloquially often to classify one's skill, however, the subject has been known to disrupt competitive events where judges tend to favor a certain technique over the other.This debate however is somewhat of a misnomer. The classification of dancing as "style" in b-boying is inaccurate because every b-boy or b-girl has their own unique style developed both consciously and subconsciously. Each b-boy or b-girl's style is the certain attitude or method in which they execute their movements. A breaker's unique style does not strictly refer to just toprock or downrock. It is a concept which encompasses how a move is executed rather than what move is done.
Music
The musical selection for breaking is not restricted to hip-hop music as long as the tempo and beat pattern conditions are met. Breaking can be readily adapted to different music genres with the aid of remixing. The original songs that popularized the dance form borrow significantly from progressive genres of jazz, soul, funk, electro, and disco. The most common feature of b-boy music exists in musical breaks, or compilations formed from samples taken from different songs which are then looped and chained together by the DJ. The tempo generally ranges between 110 and 135 beats per minute with shuffled sixteenth and quarter beats in the percussive pattern. History credits DJ Kool Herc for the invention of this concept[24]:79 later termed the break beat.World championships
See also: Hip-hop dance#International competitions
- Battle of the Year (BOTY) was founded in 1990 by Thomas Hergenröther in Germany.[37] It is the first and largest international breaking competition for b-boy crews.[38] BOTY holds regional qualifying tournaments in several countries such as Zimbabwe, Japan, Israel, Algeria, Indonesia, and the Balkans. Crews who win these tournaments go on to compete in the final championship in Montpellier, France.[37] BOTY was featured in the independent documentary Planet B-Boy (2007) that filmed five b-boy crews training for the 2005 championship. A 3D film Battle of the Year: The Dream Team is scheduled for commercial release in January 2013. It was directed by Benson Lee who also directed Planet B-Boy.[39]
- B-Boy Summit is an international four-day conference founded in 1994 by b-girl Nancy "Asia One" Yu in San Diego, California.[40][41] The B-Boy Summit places a lot of emphasis on the history of hip-hop culture and breakers understanding the roots of where it came from.[40] For this reason, the conference includes a breaking competition, a talent showcase for rappers and DJs, and live paintings by graffiti artists so that "each element of Hip-Hop combine[s] together to make the cipher complete."[40] There's also competitions for lockers and poppers as part of the "Soul Fest" portion of the conference.[42]
- The Notorious IBE is a Dutch-based breaking competition founded in 1998.[43] IBE (International Breakdance Event) is not a traditional competition because there are not any stages or judges. Instead, there are timed competitive events that take place in large multitiered ciphers—circular dance spaces surrounded by observers—where the winners are determined by audience approval.[43] There are several kinds of events such as the b-girl crew battle, the Seven 2 Smoke battle (eight top ranked b-boys battle each other to determine the overall winner), the All vs. All continental battle (all the American b-boys vs. all the European b-boys vs. the Asian b-boys vs. Mexican/Brazilian b-boys), and the Circle Prinz IBE.[43] The Circle Prinz IBE is a b-boy knockout tournament that takes place in multiple smaller cipher battles until the last standing b-boy is declared the winner.[43] IBE also hosts the European finals for the UK B-Boy Championships.[44]
- Red Bull BC One was created in 2004 by Red Bull and is hosted in a different country every year.[45] The competition brings together the top 16 b-boys from around the world.[45] Six spots are earned through six regional qualifying tournaments. The other 10 spots are reserved for last year's winner, wild card selections, and recommendations from an international panel of experts. A past participant of the competition is world record holder Mauro "Cico" (pronounced CHEE-co) Peruzzi. B-boy Cico holds the world record in 1990s. A 1990 is a move in which a breaker spins continuously on one hand—a hand spin rather than a head spin. Cico broke the record by spinning 27 times.[46][47] A documentary based on the competition called Turn It Loose (2009) profiled six b-boys training for the 2007 championship in Johannesburg.[48] Two of these b-boys were Ali "Lilou" Ramdani from Pockémon Crew and Omar "Roxrite" Delgado from Squadron.
- Floor Wars is a three-on-three breaking competition founded in 1997 in Los Angeles. Later a similarly named competition was held in 2005 in Denmark. Eight top ranked international crews, referred to as the Great 8, are automatically invited to participate in the final. The other eight crews qualify for the final through regional tournaments.[49]
- R16 Korea is a South Korean breaking competition founded in 2007 by Asian Americans Charlie Shin and John Jay Chon.[50] Like BOTY and Red Bull BC One put together, Respect16 is a competition for the top 16 ranked b-boy crews in the world.[51] What sets it apart from other competitions is that it is sponsored by the government and broadcast live on Korean television and in several countries in Europe.[50] In 2011, R16 instituted a new judging system that was created to eliminate bias and set a unified and fair standard for the way b-boy battles should be judged.[52] With the new system, b-boys are judged against five criteria: foundation, dynamics (power moves), battle, originality, and execution. There is one judge for each category and the scores are shown on a large screen during battles so that the audience can see who is winning at any given moment.[53]
Courtesy : Wikipedia
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Hip-hop dance
refers to street dance styles primarily performed to hip-hop music or that have evolved as part of hip-hop culture. It includes a wide range of styles primarily breaking, locking, and popping which were created in the 1970s and made popular by dance crews in the United States. The television show Soul Train and the 1980s films Breakin', Beat Street, and Wild Style showcased these crews and dance styles in their early stages; therefore, giving hip-hop mainstream exposure. The dance industry responded with a commercial, studio-based version of hip-hop—sometimes called new style—and a hip-hop influenced style of jazz dance called jazz-funk. Classically trained dancers developed these studio styles in order to create choreography from the hip-hop dances that were performed on the street. Because of this development, hip-hop dance is practiced in both dance studios and outdoor spaces.
The commercialization of hip-hop dance continued into the 1990s and 2000s with the production of several other television shows and movies such as The Grind, Planet B-Boy, Rize, StreetDance 3D, America's Best Dance Crew, Saigon Electric, the Step Up film series, and The LXD, a web series. Though the dance is established in entertainment, including mild representation in theater, it maintains a strong presence in urban neighborhoods which has led to the creation of street dance derivatives turfing, krumping, and jerkin'.
1980s films, television shows, and the Internet have contributed to introducing hip-hop dance outside of the United States. Since being exposed, educational opportunities and dance competitions have helped maintain its presence worldwide. Europe host several international hip-hop competitions such as the UK B-Boy Championships, Juste Debout, and EuroBattle. Australia host a team-based competition called World Supremacy Battlegrounds and Japan host a two-on-two competition called World Dance Colosseum.
What distinguishes hip-hop from other forms of dance is that it is often freestyle (improvisational) in nature and hip-hop dance crews often engage in freestyle dance competitions—colloquially referred to as battles. Crews, freestyling, and battles are identifiers of this style. Hip-hop dance can be a form of entertainment or a hobby. It can also be a way to stay active in competitive dance and a way to make a living by dancing professionally.
HISTORY OF HIP-HOP DANCE
The history of hip-hop dance encompasses the people and events since the late 1960s that have contributed to the development of the early hip-hop dance styles: uprock, breaking, locking, roboting, boogaloo, and popping. Black and Latino Americans created uprock and breaking in New York City. Black Americans in California created locking, roboting, boogaloo, and popping—collectively referred to as the funk styles. All of these dance styles are different stylistically. They share common ground in their street origins and in their improvisational nature.
More than 40 years old, hip-hop dance became widely known after the first professional street-based dance crews formed in the 1970s in the United States. The most influential groups were Rock Steady Crew, The Lockers, and The Electric Boogaloos who are responsible for the spread of breaking, locking, and popping respectively. The Brooklyn-based dance style uprock influenced breaking early in its development. Boogaloo gained more exposure because it is the namesake of the Electric Boogaloos crew. Uprock, roboting, and boogaloo are respected dance styles but none of them are as mainstream or popular as breaking, locking, and popping.
Parallel with the evolution of hip-hop music, hip-hop social dancing emerged from breaking and the funk styles into different forms. Dances from the 1990s such as the Running Man, the Worm, and the Cabbage Patch entered the mainstream and became fad dances. After the millennium, newer social dances such as the Cha Cha Slide and the Dougie also caught on and became very popular.
Hip-hop dance is not a studio-derived style. Street dancers developed it in urban neighborhoods without a formal process. All of the early substyles and social dances were brought about through a combination of events including inspiration from James Brown, DJ Kool Herc's invention of the break beat, the formation of dance crews, and Don Cornelius' creation of the television show Soul Train.
MORE ABOUT HIP-HOP DANCE
Birth of breaking
Main article: B-boying
According to hip-hop activist Afrika Bambaataa[1] and b-boy Richard "Crazy Legs" Colón,[2] the purest hip-hop dance style, breaking (commonly called "breakdancing"), began in the early 1970s as elaborations on how James Brown danced to his song "Get on the Good Foot".[3]
People mimicked these moves in their living rooms, in hallways, and at
parties. It was at these parties that breaking flourished and developed
with the help of a young Clive Campbell. Campbell, better known as DJ Kool Herc, was a Jamaican-born DJ who frequently spun records at neighborhood teenage parties in the Bronx.[4] Jeff Chang, in his book Can't Stop Won't Stop (2005), a novel about the history of hip-hop culture, describes DJ Kool Herc's eureka moment in this way:In response to this revelation, Herc developed the Merry-Go-Round technique to extend the breaks—the percussion interludes or instrumental solos within a longer work of music.[6] When he played a break on one turntable, he repeated the same break on the second turntable as soon as the first was finished. He then looped these records one after the other in order to extend the break as long as he wanted: "And once they heard that, that was it, wasn't no turning back," Herc told Chang. "They always wanted to hear breaks after breaks after breaks after breaks." It was during these times that the dancers, later known as break-boys or b-boys, would perform what is known as breaking.[5]
- Herc carefully studied the dancers. "I was smoking cigarettes and I was waiting for the records to finish. And I noticed people was waiting for certain parts of the record," he says. It was an insight as profound as Ruddy Redwood's dub discovery. The moment when the dancers really got wild was in a song's short instrumental break, when the band would drop out and the rhythm section would get elemental. Forget melody, chorus, songs—it was all about the groove, building it, keeping it going. Like a string theorist, Herc zeroed in on the fundamental vibrating loop at the heart of the record, the break.[5]
Aside from James Brown and uprock, Chang writes that toprock was also influenced by "tap dance, Lindy hop, salsa, Afro-Cuban, and various African and Native American dances."[10][11] From toprock, breaking progressed to being more floor-oriented, involving freezes, downrock, head spins, and windmills.[12][note 1] These additions occurred due to influences from 1970s martial arts films,[14] influences from gymnastics, and the formation of dance crews[15]—teams of street dancers who get together to develop new moves, create dance routines, and battle other crews. One b-boy move taken from gymnastics is called the flare, which was made famous by gymnast Kurt Thomas and is called the "Thomas flair" in gymnastics.[16]
B-boys Jamie "Jimmy D" White and Santiago "Jo Jo" Torres founded Rock Steady Crew (RSC) in 1977 in the Bronx.[17] Along with Dynamic Rockers and Afrika Bambaataa's Mighty Zulu Kings, they are one of the oldest continually active breaking crews.[note 2] For others to get into the crew, they had to battle one of the Rock Steady b-boys—that was their audition, so to speak.[19] The crew flourished once it came under the leadership of b-boy Richard "Crazy Legs" Colón. Crazy Legs opened a Manhattan chapter of the crew and made his friends and fellow b-boys Wayne "Frosty Freeze" Frost[note 3] and Kenneth "Ken Swift" Gabbert co-vice presidents.[19] RSC did a lot to spread breaking's popularity beyond New York City. They appeared in Wild Style and Beat Street—1980s films about hip-hop culture—as well as in the movie Flashdance.[note 4] They also performed at the Ritz, at the Kennedy Center, and on the Jerry Lewis Telethon.[19] In 1981, the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts hosted a breaking battle between Dynamic Rockers and Rock Steady Crew.[22] The Daily News and National Geographic covered this event.[23] In 1982, their manager Ruza "Kool Lady" Blue organized the New York City Rap Tour, which featured Rock Steady Crew, Afrika Bambaataa, Cold Crush Brothers, the Double Dutch Girls, and Fab 5 Freddy.[24] This tour traveled to England and France, which spread hip-hop culture to these countries.[22][24] In 1983, they performed for Queen Elizabeth II at the Royal Variety Performance.[19] The following year, they recorded a song titled "(Hey You) The Rock Steady Crew", which was commercially released.[25] RSC now has satellite crews based in Japan, the United Kingdom, and Italy.[19]
Capoeira debate
Capoeira is an Afro-Brazilian martial art, described by hip-hop historian Jorge "Popmaster Fabel" Pabon of RSC as "a form of self defense disguised as a dance."[11] Its influence on breaking is disputed and debated; one side believes that breaking came from capoeira, while the other side denies this. Capoeira is hundreds of years older than breaking, and uprock is similar in purpose to capoeira in that both translate aggressive combat movements into stylized dance. Both breaking and capoeira are performed to music and, since both art forms are acrobatic, some moves look similar to each other. However, capoeira is more rule-oriented. One rule in capoeira is that a capoeirista's back can never touch the ground.[26][27] In contrast, a breaker's back is almost always on the ground, and the only rule in breaking is that you do not touch your opponent during a battle.[28]
"We didn't know what the f-ck no capoeira was, man. We were in the
ghetto! There were no dance schools, nothing. If there was a dance it
was tap and jazz and ballet. I only saw one dance in my life in the
ghetto during that time, and it was on Van Nest Avenue in the Bronx and
it was a ballet school. Our immediate influence in b-boying was James
Brown, point blank."
Richard "Crazy Legs" Colón;
Rock Steady Crew[2]
Rock Steady Crew[2]
Funk styles
While breaking was developing in New York, other styles of dance were developing in California. Unlike breaking, the funk styles—which originated in the 1970s in California—were not originally hip-hop dance styles: they were danced to funk music rather than hip-hop music, and they were not associated with the other cultural pillars of hip-hop (DJing, graffiti writing, and MCing).[34][35][36] The funk styles are actually slightly older than breaking due to fact that boogaloo and locking were developed in the late 1960s.[37][38]Locking and roboting
Main article: Locking
See also: Robot (dance)
Like breaking, the different moves within the funk styles occurred
due to the formation of crews. Don "Campbellock" Campbell created locking, and in 1973 founded The Lockers (originally called The Cambellock Dancers) in Los Angeles.[39][40]
Locking is characterized by consistently freezing or "locking" in place
while dancing. Campbell developed locking accidentally while pausing in
between dance moves when trying to remember how to do the Funky
Chicken.[41] He developed routines based on his new style using these pauses or "locks".[42]
Chang lists some of the other dance moves performed in locking,
including "...points, skeeters, scooby doos, stop 'n go, which-away, and
the fancies."[41]The Lockers made several appearances on Soul Train[43]—the song-and-dance television program featuring funk music, soul music, disco, R&B, and social dancing. They also appeared on The Carol Burnett Show,[44] The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, the The Dick Van Dyke Show, and Saturday Night Live.[11] Three original members of The Lockers were Toni Basil, who doubled as the group's manager; Charles "Charles Robot" Washington, a pioneer of roboting; and Fred "Mr. Penguin" Berry, who played the character of Rerun on the television show What's Happening!!.[45] Berry left the group in 1976 to be on the show and was replaced by street dancer Tony "Go-Go" Lewis.[45] After The Lockers disbanded, Tony Go-Go went on to open a locking school in Japan in 1985.[39]
Roboting comes from Richmond, California.[11] Before joining The Lockers, Charles Robot had his own dance crew called The Robot Brothers.[46] He was inspired in 1969 by a mime artist named Robert Shields, who would pantomime in front of the Hollywood Wax Museum where he worked.[47] On October 27, 1973, The Jackson 5 performed "Dancing Machine" on Soul Train, which popularized roboting,[48] but this was not the first time the dance had been performed on the show. Charles Robot had performed roboting on Soul Train two years earlier with his dance partner Angela Johnson.[49]
Boogaloo and popping
Main article: Popping
See also: Electric boogaloo
Boogaloo is both a style of dance and a style of music.[56] It started out as a fad dance, and several songs were released in the 1960s celebrating it including "Boogaloo Down Broadway", "My Baby Likes to Boogaloo", "Hey You! Boo-Ga-Loo", "Do the Boogaloo", "Boogaloo #3", "Sock Boogaloo", and "Boogaloo".[37][38] In response to this song-and-dance craze, Puerto Rican artists in New York City created a style of music called Bugalú (or Latin boogaloo) that combined mambo, soul, and R&B. Singer Joe Cuba was a pioneer of this style.[38][56]
Although boogaloo was already a fad dance and a music genre in the 1960s, it did not become a dance style until Boogaloo Sam learned it, expanded it, and started performing it in public venues.[57] He was influenced to expand boogaloo by cartoons; the 1960s social dances the Twist, the Popcorn, and the Jerk; and the movements of everyday people.[11][44] As a dance style, it is characterized by rolling hip, knee, and head movements as if the body has no bones.[57] Electric boogaloo is the signature dance style of The Electric Boogaloos.[58] It is a combination of boogaloo and popping.[57]
Popping is based on the technique of quickly contracting and relaxing muscles to cause a jerk in the dancer's body, referred to as a pop or a hit. In the developmental years of the dance when Boogaloo Sam was practicing it, he would say "pop, pop, pop" under his breath as he was popping his muscles to the music. This is how the dance received its name.[57] Popping is also an inadvertent umbrella term that includes several other illusory dance styles such as ticking, liquid, tutting, waving, gliding, twisto-flex, and sliding.[36][42][52] Most of these cannot be traced to a specific person or group and may have influences earlier than hip-hop. Earl "Snake Hips" Tucker was a professional dancer in the 1920s who appeared in the film Symphony in Black and performed at the Cotton Club in Harlem.[59][60] Since hip-hop did not exist in the 1920s his style was considered jazz, but his "slithering, writhing" movement foreshadowed waving and sliding.[61]
The most recognizable popping move is the moonwalk. In 1983, Michael Jackson performed the moonwalk—called the backslide in popping context[48]— on ABC's Motown 25 television special.[62] This performance popularized the moonwalk all over the world.[63] However, it was not the first time the backslide had been performed on television or on film. Cab Calloway performed the backslide in 1932,[64][65] and Bill Bailey performed it in the 1943 movie Cabin in the Sky and the 1955 movie Rhythm and Blues Revue.[66] In 1982, during a performance in London on Top of the Pops, street dancer Jeffrey Daniel performed the backslide during the song "A Night to Remember".[67][68]
In the 1970s, while Los Angeles was known for locking and Fresno was known for popping, several other cities in Northern California had their own local funk styles. Sacramento was known for a style called sac-ing, San Jose for dime stopping, and Oakland for snake hitting.[11] The San Francisco crew Granny and Robotroid incorporated stepping moves and JROTC rifle drill movements in their dancing to make a unique funk style called Fillmore strutting. This dance was named after the Fillmore district in San Francisco where Granny and Robotroid were from.[69] Granny and Robotroid performed on the Gong Show in 1976.[70] Although strutting had exposure on national television, it (and the rest of the localized funk styles) faded and never became mainstream.
Terminology
See also: B-boying#Terminology
When the movies Breakin' and Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo were released, all the styles of dance performed in those films were put under the "breakdance" label. In addition, Breakin was released outside the United States as Breakdance: The Movie.[71]
The media followed suit by calling all represented styles
"breakdancing", which caused a naming confusion among the general
public.[11][57][72] This was problematic for two reasons.The first reason is that "breakdancing" was originally called b-boying or breaking in the street.[72][73] A break is a musical interlude during a song—the section on a musical recording where the singing stops and the percussive rhythms are the most aggressive. When 1970s hip-hop DJs played break beats, dancers reacted to those breaks with their most impressive dance moves.[73][74] DJ Kool Herc coined the terms "b-boys" and "b-girls", which stands for "break-boys" and "break-girls."[73] To describe the movement, the suffix "ing" was added after the word identifying the dancer (b-boying) or the music beat (breaking).
The second reason this was problematic is that "breakdancing" became an inadvertent umbrella term among the general public for both breaking and the funk styles. The funk styles were created in California independent from breaking, which was created in New York.[34][36] They are called funk styles because they were originally danced to funk music and to give them a separate identity from breaking, which is traditionally danced to break beats.[75] According to Timothy "Popin Pete" Solomon, one of the original members of the Electric Boogaloos, and Raquel Rivera, author of the book New York Ricans from the Hip Hop Zone (2003), "breakdancing" is a media-coined term and incorrect.[76][77]
Dance crews
A dance crew is a team of street dancers who come together to develop new moves and battle other crews. As hip-hop culture spread throughout New York City, the more often breaking crews got together to battle against each other. It was during this time that the different dance moves within breaking developed organically.[15][note 5] All styles of hip-hop are rooted in battling,[78] and being a part of a crew was the only way to learn when these styles began because they were not taught in studios: they all started out as social dances.[79]:74 Forming and participating in a crew is how street dancers practiced, improved, made friends, and built relationships.[80] In breaking in particular, battling is how b-boys/b-girls improved their skill.[81]Aside from Rock Steady Crew, several breaking crews were active in the 1970s such as Mighty Zulu Kings, Dynamic Rockers, New York City Breakers, SalSoul, Air Force Crew, Crazy Commanders Crew, Starchild La Rock, and Rockwell Association. In the same way b-boy crews were active on the east coast of the United States spreading breaking throughout New York, funk crews were also active on the west coast spreading the funk styles throughout California. Aside from The Lockers and The Electric Boogaloos, other funk styles crews such as Medea Sirkas/Demons of the Mind, Black Messengers, The Robot Brothers, The Go-Go Brothers, Granny and Robotroid, and Chain Reaction were active during the 1970s performing on stage.[82]
Crews still form based on friendships and neighborhoods. For example, dance crew Diversity—formed in 2007[88]—consists of brothers and friends from Essex and London.[89] Crews also form for other reasons such as theme (Jabbawockeez), gender (ReQuest Dance Crew), ethnicity (Kaba Modern), and dance style (Massive Monkeys). In the 1970s, b-boy crews were neighborhood-based and would engage in battles held at local block parties called "jams".[90] Today crews can battle in organized competitions with other crews from around the world. New Zealand crew ReQuest won the Australian-based competition World Supremacy Battlegrounds in 2009 and the American-based competition Hip Hop International in 2009 and 2010.[91] On October 12, 2010, the Vietnamese Ministry of Culture, Sport, and Tourism presented the Certificate of Merit to dance crew Big Toe for winning a variety of international dance competitions.[92] Dance crews are more prevalent in hip-hop, but hip-hop dance companies do exist. Examples include Zoo Nation (UK), Culture Shock (USA), Lux Aeterna (USA), Boy Blue Entertainment (UK), Unity UK (UK), Bounce Streetdance Company (Sweden), and Funkbrella Dance Company (USA).
Courtesy : Wikipedia
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Ballet
is a type of performance dance that originated in the Italian Renaissance courts of the 15th century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread, highly technical form of dance with its own vocabulary based on French terminology. It has been globally influential and has defined the foundational techniques used in many other dance genres. Ballet may also refer to a ballet dance work, which consists of the choreography and music for a ballet production. A well-known example of this is The Nutcracker, a two-act ballet that was originally choreographed by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov with a music score by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.
Stylistic variations have emerged and evolved since the Italian Renaissance. Early variations are primarily associated with geographic origin. Examples of this are Russian ballet, French ballet, and Italian ballet. Later variations include contemporary ballet and neoclassical ballet. Perhaps the most widely known and performed ballet style is late Romantic ballet (or Ballet Blanc), which is a classical style that focuses on female dancers and features pointe work, flowing and precise acrobatic movements, and often presents the female dancers in traditional, short white French tutus.
Ballet dance works (ballets) are choreographed and performed by trained artists, and often performed with classical music accompaniment. Early ballets preceded the invention of the proscenium stage and were performed in large chambers with the audience seated on tiers or galleries on three sides of the dance floor. Modern ballets may include mime and acting, and are usually set to music (typically orchestral but occasionally vocal).
Ballet requires years of training to learn and master, and much practice to retain proficiency. It has been taught in ballet schools around the world, which have historically used their own cultures to evolve the art.
HISTORY OF BALLET
The history of ballet began in the Italian Renaissance courts of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. It quickly spread to the French court of Catherine de' Medici where it was further developed. The creation of classical ballet as it is known today occurred under Louis XIV, who in his youth was an avid dancer and performed in ballets by Pierre Beauchamp and Jean-Baptiste Lully. In 1661 Louis founded the Académie Royale de Danse (Royal Dance Academy) which was charged with establishing standards for the art of dance and the certification of dance instructors. In 1672, following his retirement from the stage, Louis XIV made Lully the director of the Académie Royale de Musique (Paris Opera) in which the first professional ballet company, the Paris Opera Ballet, arose.[5] This origin is reflected in the predominance of French in the vocabulary of ballet.
Despite the great reforms of Jean-Georges Noverre in the eighteenth century, ballet went into decline in France after 1830, though it was continued in Denmark, Italy, and Russia. It was reintroduced to western Europe on the eve of the First World War by a Russian company, the Ballets Russes of Sergei Diaghilev, who ultimately influenced ballet around the world. Diaghilev's company became a destination for many of the Russian-trained dancers fleeing the famine and unrest that followed the Bolshevik revolution. These dancers brought back to their place of origin many of the choreographic and stylistic innovations that had been flourishing under the czars.
In the 1950's the Ballets Africains de Guinee began to gain popularity using unconventional instruments. The company, founded by Keita Fodeba focused on themes from his native country of Africa using djembe drums, the kora (a harp), and a balafon (a xylophone).[6] When the country of Guinea became independent from 1958 President Ahmed Sekou Toure heavily supported the Africana Ballet movement and helped groups across the continent travel and arrange shows to spread African culture, causing African drums and dance to become very popular worldwide.[7]
In the 20th century, ballet had a strong influence on broader concert dance. For example, in the United States, choreographer George Balanchine developed what is now known as neoclassical ballet. Subsequent developments include contemporary ballet and post-structural ballet, seen in the work of William Forsythe in Germany. Also in the twentieth century, ballet took a turn dividing it[clarification needed] from classical ballet to the introduction of modern dance, leading to modernist movements[clarification needed] in both the United States and Germany.
STYLE AND MORE ABOUT BALLET
Classical ballet
Main article: Classical ballet
Neoclassical ballet
Main article: Neoclassical ballet
Neoclassical ballet is a ballet style that conforms to classical
ballet technique and vocabulary, but deviates from classical ballet
through such differences as unusually fast dance tempos and its addition
of non-traditional technical feats. Spacing in neoclassical ballet is
usually more modern or complex[clarify] than in classical ballet. Although organization[further explanation needed] in neoclassical ballet is more varied, the focus on structure[clarify] is a defining characteristic of neoclassical ballet.Tim Scholl, author of From Petipa to Balanchine, considers George Balanchine's Apollo in 1928 to be the first neoclassical ballet. Apollo represented a return to form in response to Sergei Diaghilev's abstract ballets.[clarification needed] Balanchine worked with modern dance choreographer Martha Graham, expanding his exposure to modern techniques and ideas, and he brought modern dancers into his company (New York City Ballet) such as Paul Taylor, who in 1959 performed in Balanchine's Episodes. During this time period[when?], Glen Tetley began to experimentally combine ballet and modern techniques.
Contemporary ballet
Main article: Contemporary ballet
Contemporary ballet is a form of dance influenced by both classical ballet and modern dance.
It employs the fundamental technique and body control (using abdominal
strength) principles of classical ballet but permits a greater range of
movement than classical ballet and may not adhere to the strict body
lines or turnout
that permeate classical ballet technique. Many of its concepts come
from the ideas and innovations of 20th century modern dance, including
floor work and turn-in of the legs. This ballet style is often performed
barefoot.George Balanchine is often considered to have been the first pioneer of contemporary ballet through the development of neoclassical ballet. One dancer who danced briefly for Balanchine was Mikhail Baryshnikov, an exemplar of Kirov Ballet training. Following Baryshnikov's appointment as artistic director of American Ballet Theatre in 1980, he worked with various modern choreographers, most notably Twyla Tharp. Tharp choreographed Push Comes To Shove for ABT and Baryshnikov in 1976; in 1986 she created In The Upper Room for her own company. Both these pieces were considered innovative for their use of distinctly modern movements melded with the use of pointe shoes and classically trained dancers—for their use of contemporary ballet.
Twyla Tharp also worked with the Joffrey Ballet company, founded in 1957 by Robert Joffrey. She choreographed Deuce Coupe for them in 1973, using pop music and a blend of modern and ballet techniques. The Joffrey Ballet continued to perform numerous contemporary pieces, many choreographed by co-founder Gerald Arpino.
Today there are many contemporary ballet companies and choreographers. These include Alonzo King and his company, Matthew Bourne who does a mixture of contemporary and classical ballet pieces with his company new adventuresAlonzo King's Lines Ballet; Complexions Contemporary Ballet, under the direction of Dwight Rhoden; Nacho Duato's Compañia Nacional de Danza; William Forsythe, who has worked extensively with the Frankfurt Ballet and today runs The Forsythe Company; and Jiří Kylián, currently the artistic director of the Nederlands Dans Theater. Traditionally "classical" companies, such as the Kirov Ballet and the Paris Opera Ballet, also regularly perform contemporary works.
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And many more,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_dances
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