my dance experience essay

Essay on Dance

500 words essay on dance.

Dancer refers to a series of set of movement to music which we can either do alone or with a partner. Dancing helps us express our feelings and get active as well. If we look back at history, dance has been a part of our human history since the earliest records. Thus, an essay on dance will take us through it in detail.

My Hobby My Passion

Dance is my favourite hobby and I enjoy dancing a lot. I started dancing when I was five years old and when I got older; my parents enrolled me in dance classes to pursue this passion.

I cannot go a day without dance, that’s how much I love dancing. I tried many dance forms but discovered that I am most comfortable in Indian classical dance. Thus, I am learning Kathak from my dance teacher.

I aspire to become a renowned Kathak dancer so that I can represent this classical dance internationally. Dancing makes me feel happy and relaxed, thus I love to dance. I always participate in dance competitions at my school and have even won a few.

Dance became my passion from an early age. Listening to the beats of a dance number, I started to tap my feet and my parents recognized my talent for dance. Even when I am sad, I put on music to dance to vent out my feelings.

Thus, dance has been very therapeutic for me as well. In other words, it is not only an escape from the world but also a therapy for me.

Get the huge list of more than 500 Essay Topics and Ideas

Hidden Language of the Soul

Dance is also called the hidden language of the soul as we use it to express ourselves when words fall short. The joy which comes with dancing helps us get over our sorrow and adversity sometimes.

Moreover, it is simply a translator for our hearts. What is most important to remember is that dance is not supposed to be perfect. There is no right way of dancing, as long as your heart is happy, you can dance.

When we talk about dance, usually a professional dancer comes to our mind. But, this is where we go wrong. Dance is for anybody and everybody from a ballet dancer to the uncle dancing at a wedding .

It is what unites us and helps us come together to celebrate joy and express our feelings. Therefore, we must all dance without worrying if we are doing it right or not. It is essential to understand that when you let go of yourself in dance, you truly enjoy it only then.

Conclusion of the Essay on Dance

All in all, dance is something which anyone can do. There is no right way or wrong way to dance, there is just a dance. The only hard part is taking the first step, after that, everything becomes easier. So, we must always dance our heart out and let our body move to the rhythm of music freely.

FAQ of Essay on Dance

Question 1: Why is Dance important?

Answer 1: Dance teaches us the significance of movement and fitness in a variety of ways through a selection of disciplines. It helps us learn to coordinate muscles to move through proper positions. Moreover, it is a great activity to pursue at almost any age.

Question 2: What is dancing for you?

Answer 2: Dancing can enhance our muscle tone, strength, endurance and fitness. In addition, it is also a great way to meet new friends. Most importantly, it brings happiness to us and helps us relax and take a break from the monotony of life.

Customize your course in 30 seconds

Which class are you in.

• Travelling Essay
• Picnic Essay
• Our Country Essay
• My Parents Essay
• Essay on Favourite Personality
• Essay on Memorable Day of My Life
• Essay on Knowledge is Power
• Essay on Gurpurab
• Essay on My Favourite Season
• Essay on Types of Sports

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Download the App

• Dance Magazine
• Pointe Magazine
• Dance Teacher
• The Dance Edit
• Events Calendar
• College Guide
• Newsletters

How to Incorporate Your Dance Experience in Your College Essays

Of the many moving parts of a college application, the essay might be the most daunting. But consider yourself luckier than other applicants, because your dance experiences can only help you craft a winning essay—whether or not you’re planning to pursue a dance major.

If You’re Going to Major

If you’re gunning for a highly focused dance program, you might think that the audition is the most important component of your application. But don’t neglect to express your dance goals clearly in a general admissions or scholarship essay, says Megan Slayter, chair and associate professor of dance at Western Michigan University. “Just like any department across any university, we’re looking for good grammar, punctuation, and sentence structure,” she says. “Beyond strong written communication skills, we’re looking for your sense of identity as a dancer—that you know who you are and who you want to be as an artist, and why you think we can help you achieve that.”

Cite specific aspects of the college’s dance department that excite you—unique artistic or research resources, or a particular emphasis in the dance major that intrigues. But don’t just tell a university what you think they want to hear. “Over-the-top language that compliments our school doesn’t tell me about you,” Slayter says. “I question the authenticity of a student who tells me, ‘This is the best dance department ever and I can’t imagine being anyplace else!'”

If You’re Not Going to Major

Even if you don’t plan to major in dance, your years of dedication in the studio can show an admissions department why you’d be a great addition to their student body. “Your experience in dance has shaped who you are,” Slayter says. “Dance is a unique voice you can share with an admissions officer to talk about overcoming adversity, working hard to achieve your goals, and sharing a part of yourself with others.”

If you choose to focus on dance in your admissions essay, consider who’s reading your words—usually, non-dancers in the admissions department—and take care to translate your dance life to the language of college life. “Dance builds leadership skills, communication, collaboration, and creativity,” Slayter says. “For example, think about any time you’ve had a large, traveling spatial pattern onstage and have had to figure out who’s crossing up- and downstage. That’s problem-solving!” Brainstorm the skills you’ve built onstage and in rehearsals, and use your essay to prove how those experiences have prepared you for a successful college career—in or out of the studio.

A version of this story appeared in the November 2017 issue of Dance Spirit with the title “Essay All Day.”

Meet Ashley Wallen, Choreographer of Disney+’s “Descendants: The Rise of Red”

Join Us for 25 to Watch Live on July 29

You Could Win a Harlequin Ballet Barre and Dance Mat!

“SYTYCD” Week 10 Recap: And the Winner Is…

Benefits of Dancing Essay

• To find inspiration for your paper and overcome writer’s block
• As a source of information (ensure proper referencing)
• As a template for you assignment

If you’re exploring the importance of dancing, this essay can help you.

Dance is an art that refers to the movement of part of the body, some of the parts or the whole body, while keeping rhythmical to music (Luetzner). It is also referred to as a nonverbal form of communication as such movements can carry some massage. So that you see the benefits of dancing, this essay explores its importance in the human experience.

Dance as an art itself can be used to make expressions. The expressions can be either of joy, sorrow, warning or sometimes used for entertainment (Luetzner). In many parts of the world, dance can also be used to express talent or extra ordinary ability over others has in dance competitions.

Sense of unity

Dancing can be used as a symbol of unit. Among the several symbols of unity in different people in the world, such as taboos, cultures, songs, color and many others, dance is the most common way of expressing the sense of unity (Browning). In other words, dancing to a rhythm shows appreciation and acceptance despite the perspectives on can have.

Form of Exercise

This is because of the movements that are involved in dancing. It is proven that dancing can considerably improve one health by reducing the risk of some worse health conditions such as high blood pressure, weight gain and heart diseases (Browning). Just like any other exercise or sport, dancing has been incorporated in sports such as gymnastics, martial arts and figure skating (Luetzner).

Offers Mental and Physical Relaxation. A combination of music and a simple physical exercise are the most effectual way of setting one’s mind stress free. Dancing provides a quick and fun state that naturally relieves stress.

Form of Entertainment

Dancing and fun go hand in hand thus; it is the easiest way to happiness. Happiness can come from the activities one gets involves into will in dance groups, which include, making friends, dancing settings and of course learning new dance styles (Luetzner).

Source of Motivation and Inspiration

This is commonly in some games, competition and even sports such as basketball and football. The dancers can perform before, during the event and even on commercial breaks to keep both the fans and the participants motivated.

Source of Income

Dancing is a skill that if specialize can lead into career. So many professional dancers nowadays are able to form affiliates and make a living from training interested people and competitions (Browning).

Enhances education

Dancing is a major booster for both the old and the young. In children, dancing contributes a lot in terms of personal improvement hence enhancing their skills more so those necessary for better education. Research shows that dancing help in boosting self-esteem as well as confidence (Luetzner).

Social and political activity

Just like any other practice, dancing is also a social and political activity. The importance of dance is vividly understood during performance. As explained above, dance sends a message to the audience hence it is an important activity to the society at large.

Confidence Booster

Dancing being an exercise, it improves posture, strengthen muscles and bring out sense of them. Eventually, this state of body and mind eliminates doubts and fears and replaces them with confidence and thus good time (Luetzner).

Enhances Creativity

Lastly, d ance provides emotional outlet that helps a person to clearly reveal his or her feelings through coordinating body movement with music. It is this ability that translates back to the sense of creativity in the real world (Browning).

Works Cited

Browning, Sarah. The Importance of Dance . 2012. Web.

Luetzner Andreas. Benefits of Dance . 2012. Web.

• Miami Dance Project for Autistic Children
• Dance Education and Culture
• Dance and Mathematics Relationship
• African Dance Taught by Rujeko Dumbutshena
• Classical Dance: Term Definition
• Ruth St. Denis's Biography
• Survey of Contemporary Dances
• Hip Hop Dance
• History of Balinese Dancing Art
• Igor Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring
• Chicago (A-D)
• Chicago (N-B)

IvyPanda. (2019, June 4). Benefits of Dancing Essay. https://ivypanda.com/essays/importance-of-dance-in-human-experience/

"Benefits of Dancing Essay." IvyPanda , 4 June 2019, ivypanda.com/essays/importance-of-dance-in-human-experience/.

IvyPanda . (2019) 'Benefits of Dancing Essay'. 4 June.

IvyPanda . 2019. "Benefits of Dancing Essay." June 4, 2019. https://ivypanda.com/essays/importance-of-dance-in-human-experience/.

1. IvyPanda . "Benefits of Dancing Essay." June 4, 2019. https://ivypanda.com/essays/importance-of-dance-in-human-experience/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "Benefits of Dancing Essay." June 4, 2019. https://ivypanda.com/essays/importance-of-dance-in-human-experience/.

Dancing as my Passion

In this personal essay, the writer will share their journey and experiences with dancing, expressing why it is their passion. The essay will discuss how dancing has impacted their life, providing a sense of expression, freedom, and joy. It will reflect on the physical, emotional, and social aspects of dancing, and how it serves as a powerful form of communication and self-expression. Additionally, PapersOwl presents more free essays samples linked to Passion.

How it works

Dance is an art, in my word. Art is the window of my soul, is the tool for the communications with others, and the magic thing about dance is you can use the beauty of your body language to express your feeling and convey your message to the audience. Dance is the language hidden in the soul, every movement is a word, and it combine the dance to this beautiful poem. In fact, I have several years of dance experience of hip hop and Jazz, and I still think about this question all the time: “What changes has dancing brought to you?” And back to this class again, Mrs.

Tedford’s enthusiasm and energy of a dancer, let me have a passion for dancing again, and she gave us this quote: ‘Dance enables to find yourself and lose yourself at the same time’, I think dance can help you find yourself because it can help you to build your confidence, Through your body language to present a story, to show your inner belief. I think the biggest key point of dancing is that it can bring you great self-confidence. I have to say that in this world, self-confidence is very important for us. What kind of self-confidence a person possesses can really decide a lot. When you have self-confidence, you will gradually become a special success. Because when you have confidence, you will be interested in doing anything related to your success. You will take the initiative to do something that will benefit you, and you will do it well, because you have the confidence that you can do it well. Just like Mrs. Tedford told us, ‘the best dance education I understand is to help everyone find their own value in life. It’s enough to do what you like and live the life you want.’Everyone lives in this world has his own pursuit, and for dance, it is not only an art that can express your attitude and convey your thoughts, but also the best communication between people. Dance is such an amazing knowledge that can lead you to the right track, dance is so connected to our every life, for example, on the road to success, there will inevitably be some setbacks, I would like to say: don’t think success is worth joy. In fact, failure is also beautiful. Although when failure comes, we will unconsciously fall into frustration and pain, lose confidence and even think of giving up. But we often forget to reflect on ourselves and learn from experience. Just like dance, everything needs it to practice repeatedly every day, practice the dance move in front of the mirror, even though you are sweating, but because dancing brings you pleasure and belief, you have to stick to it anyway. In many cases, success is only a little bit short, but in the face of failure, all we can do is stand up and try again. In the garden of dance, we must pay immeasurable effort and use our sweat to water the flower, and the flower of success must blossom perfectly. When I stand on the stage, I think of the bitterness of learning dance. But because what dance brought to me these years, and I think maybe I am a flower in this art garden, which will blossom on the stage of success!

Cite this page

Dancing as My Passion. (2022, Jun 22). Retrieved from https://papersowl.com/examples/dancing-as-my-passion/

"Dancing as My Passion." PapersOwl.com , 22 Jun 2022, https://papersowl.com/examples/dancing-as-my-passion/

PapersOwl.com. (2022). Dancing as My Passion . [Online]. Available at: https://papersowl.com/examples/dancing-as-my-passion/ [Accessed: 22 Aug. 2024]

"Dancing as My Passion." PapersOwl.com, Jun 22, 2022. Accessed August 22, 2024. https://papersowl.com/examples/dancing-as-my-passion/

"Dancing as My Passion," PapersOwl.com , 22-Jun-2022. [Online]. Available: https://papersowl.com/examples/dancing-as-my-passion/. [Accessed: 22-Aug-2024]

PapersOwl.com. (2022). Dancing as My Passion . [Online]. Available at: https://papersowl.com/examples/dancing-as-my-passion/ [Accessed: 22-Aug-2024]

Don't let plagiarism ruin your grade

Hire a writer to get a unique paper crafted to your needs.

Our writers will help you fix any mistakes and get an A+!

Please check your inbox.

You can order an original essay written according to your instructions.

Trusted by over 1 million students worldwide

1. Tell Us Your Requirements

2. Pick your perfect writer

3. Get Your Paper and Pay

Hi! I'm Amy, your personal assistant!

Don't know where to start? Give me your paper requirements and I connect you to an academic expert.

short deadlines

100% Plagiarism-Free

Certified writers

Home — Essay Samples — Life — Lifestyle & Interests — Dance

Essays About Dance

Asamba dance: a cultural and historical examination, dance in the 1920s: a cultural revolution on the floor, made-to-order essay as fast as you need it.

Each essay is customized to cater to your unique preferences

+ experts online

Ballet: The Art and Science of Dance

About dance passion as important part of my life, dancing: the essentials & why it’s important to take it more seriously, mental and social benefits of dancing, let us write you an essay from scratch.

• 450+ experts on 30 subjects ready to help
• Custom essay delivered in as few as 3 hours

Dance Inspiration: Misty Copeland

An impact of dancing in life, a role of dancing in my life, the three categories in the culture of hip hop dance, get a personalized essay in under 3 hours.

Expert-written essays crafted with your exact needs in mind

The Impact of The Rite of Spring on Contemporary Dance

Neurological pain tolerance and dancers, the history of jazz dance in america, the art of ballroom dance and its complexity, collective identity and dance in modern urban society, dance exposes socio-political psychology, social media and its effects in the dance world, neoliberalism and the art of dancing, the handicapped and the disabled in ballroom dancing, an argument of the qualification of dancers as athletes, my first dance experience and lessons learned, mikhail nikolayevich baryshnikov: the story of ballet dancer, dance performance review: the rocky horror show, history of the performance of ballet and indlamu dance in south africa, the best music for ballroom dancing, the influence of martha graham on present day move, the symbolism of ballroom dancing, where to learn ballroom dancing, bollywood dancing history and origin, the biography of agnes de mille.

Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value.

The most popular types of dance are: ballet, ballroom, contemporary, hip hop, jazz, tap dance, folk dance, irish dance, modern dance, swing dance.

Fred Astaire, Michael Jackson, Carmen Amaya, Martha Graham, Patrick Swayze, Gillian Murphy, Margot Fonteyn, Michael Flatley, Isadora Duncan and many others.

Dancers are known to be disciplined, focused and high achievers who tend to be successful students and hard workers. Because of high physical demand on their bodies, most professional dances retire from dancing during their mid-30s. Researches prove that dancing also reduces stress and tension for the mind and body. Dancers have better coordination, agility and flexibility.

Relevant topics

• Bucket List
• Healthy Lifestyle
• Superstition

By clicking “Check Writers’ Offers”, you agree to our terms of service and privacy policy . We’ll occasionally send you promo and account related email

No need to pay just yet!

We use cookies to personalyze your web-site experience. By continuing we’ll assume you board with our cookie policy .

• Instructions Followed To The Letter
• Deadlines Met At Every Stage
• Unique And Plagiarism Free

Plan Your Visit

• Things to Do
• Where to Eat
• Hours & Directions
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Accessibility
• Washington, D.C. Metro Area
• Guest Policies
• Historic Area
• Distillery & Gristmill
• Virtual Tour

George Washington

• French & Indian War
• Revolutionary War
• Constitution
• First President
• Martha Washington
• Native Americans

Preservation

• Collections
• Archaeology
• Architecture
• The Mount Vernon Ladies' Association
• Restoration Projects
• Preserving the View
• Preservation Timeline
• Primary Source Collections
• Secondary Sources
• Educational Events
• Interactive Tools
• Videos and Podcasts
• Hands on History at Home

Washington Library

• Catalogs and Digital Resources
• Research Fellowships
• The Papers of George Washington
• Library Events & Programs
• Leadership Institute
• Center for Digital History
• George Washington Prize
• About the Library
• Back to Main menu
• Harpsichord: 1793 Original and Nelly’s “New”
• Early American Music
• Early American Bands
• George Washington and Dance
• The Bull-Finch
• Dances of Colonial America
• How to Dance
• Francis Hopkinson
• Real Words to "Yankee Doodle"
• Star-Spangled Banner
• Social Change as Reflected in The Dancing Master
• Fiddle, Dance, and Sing With George Bush
• Ancient Fifes and Drums
• Levi Lovering and His Mode of Notes
• Music at Jamestown
• A March Allegedly Played at Yorktown
• On The Set of “The Last Of The Mohicans”

Estate Hours

9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

u_turn_left Directions & Parking

This section is broken into nine subsections, dealing with different aspects of dancing and dance music, and including significant detail on the more important dance types. Adapted from Kate Van Winkle Keller and Charles Cyril Hendrickson, George Washington, A Biography in Social Dance , the section ends with a brief bibliography. These materials are of course presented in much greater depth in the book.

Dances of Washington's Time

Eighteenth-century social dance is a complex topic. Every occasion where dancing occurred looked different from most others. Important variables that affected the performance were the participants, the on-lookers, the reason for the gathering, the location, the temperature of the room, the hour of the day, and the amount and type of beverages everyone had been drinking. Each of these could change what dance types were selected and how they were actually performed.

A popular country dance might be selected in the spring of 1779 at an officers’ ball hosted by General Greene at the Artillery Park Ballroom in Pluckemin, New Jersey, with music provided by one of the American regimental bands. The same country dance might be chosen six months later in a private room of a ramshackle tavern in Sunbury, Pennsylvania where some of the same officers, a few local merchants, and their families, and a local fiddler might gather, hosted by the innkeeper himself. Patriotic toasts and minuets might open both occasions. The tunes and the figures might be the same, but there the similarities would probably end.

Dancing has always been a public expression of personal abilities. In the eighteenth-century, dance events were one of the few venues that brought men and women together in a social setting. There they could publicly display themselves and their families, and solidify friendships that could help with business or political dealings. Since marriages created or continued power dynasties, these dances were important as showcases for eligible partners. On the frontier, dancing after community corn husking certainly helped the romances of young people who spent their days on homesteads far distant from one another.

On plantations, African Americans weary from days of toil alone in the fields could gather in groups to relax with dances from their homeland across the sea. It was a chance to reaffirm themselves as a community. In all of these events, the participants enjoyed the pleasure of moving together in time, feeling a sense of oneness with each other, and relishing the physical release from daily pressures and cares. In addition, the musicians, showiest dancers, hosts, managers, and even the caterers gained in status, affecting local balances of power in small but significant ways.

In the century between 1660 and 1760, as the old court-directed society crumbled and the merchant class gained in size and power, the need to establish a social order that all would recognize became urgent. A heavy burden fell on the obtaining and display of consumer goods to define differences. Domestic architecture, clothing, dining customs, and material goods served these functions. In addition, physical demeanor played an increasingly important role. Dance was the art that filled this need, serving the elite well. Instruction in manners, genteel behavior, and movement created visible and portable signs of personal and commercial achievement. Where seventeenth-century sumptuary laws had kept newcomers at bay in the past, a new code of conduct developed that did not require legislation. The test of a gentleman was whether he had the time to absorb the mounting intricacies of taste, grace, fashion, and elegance. The eighteenth-century aesthetic of austerity and nonchalance was considerably harder to emulate than seventeenth-century opulence and bravado.

The “Rules of Civility” that Washington copied out show how real the layers of his society were. In these rules, every social encounter was assessed; participants ranked each other and acted appropriately. As you can see in the rules below, walking and talking with someone in a building or in the street had an etiquette that if mishandled could give insult:

57th In walking up and Down in a house, only with One in Company if he be Greater than yourself, at first give him the Right hand and Stop not till he does and be not the first that turns, and when you do turn let it be with your face towards him, if he be a Man of Great Quality, walk not with him Cheek by Joul but Somewhat behind him.

The depth of a bow was important.

26th In Pulling off your Hat to Persons of Distinction . . . make a Reverence, bowing more or less according to the Custom of the Better Bred, and Quality of the Person.

Frontier and plantation communities were small and tightly knit. Everyone knew everyone else and there was no need to engage in one-ups-man ship. It was in larger population areas that dance came to be used as a badge of membership. Like paper money, gentility was presumed to stand for tangible social assets and was generally accepted at face value. The dance floor was the place where a person’s command of the attributes of gentility: costume, manners, movement grace, and ease, were put to the ultimate and most public test. In 1776, John Adams both acknowledged and decried this display as the “exterior and superficial accomplishments of gentlemen upon which the world has foolishly set so high a value” (Cary Carson 271).

Dance fashions were set by cultivated urban societies as expressions of social status. Enterprising dance professionals devised appropriate movement vehicles to satisfy these needs. Successful dances were promoted as “the latest” or “the most fashionable,” and they displayed the performers to best advantage. Dancing teachers reaped financial gains from the sale of public classes, private lessons, and pre-ball review events. That these lessons and public perception were important is reinforced by William Turner’s advertisement to newly wealthy merchants of Boston in the boom times before the war. In 1774, having just returned from London where he gathered the latest dance fashions, he offered private lessons to “grown gentlemen and ladies, & assures the utmost secrecy shall be kept till they are capable of exhibiting in high taste” (Boston Evening Post May 30, 1774). Tomlinson begins his treatise called The Art of Dancing Explain’d (London, 1735) saying

Let us imagine ourselves, as so many living Pictures drawn by the most excellent Masters, exquisitely designed to afford the utmost Pleasure to the Beholders.

In the eighteenth-century, dance was meant to be enjoyed as much by the audience as by the participants. As Cary Carson points out, taste and gentility were sought after and acquired after diligent application and validated only by open demonstration. (Carson 272, 656) Life, in a way, was theater. It needed a setting, props and an audience, and it was full of aspiring imitators. Rules and standards helped to distinguish the genuine article from the counterfeit.

Main Dance Types

Two dance types, the French minuet and the English country dance, became the staple of eighteenth-century ballrooms in much of the western world, from Moscow to Philadelphia and Mexico City. Ideally suited for performance by dancers of varying skills and abilities, each offered a distinct structure that was fairly easy to learn. Like thorough-bass technique in music, by which fairly simple compositions could be realized in different ways by musicians of varying skills, these dances could be embroidered by their performers to suit their skills and the occasion on which they were being danced. Masters could create new dances every year; composers wrote new tunes. Printers had increasingly cheaper methods by which to reproduce these effusions and the public bought them eagerly.

By 1752, a sufficiently large market had developed that Nicholas Dukes prepared an expensive eighty-three page engraved book with detailed diagrams for the most common country dance figures and the basic figures of the minuet. In his introduction, he explained his purpose.

Though I propose Chiefly to Treat on the different parts of the figuring of Country Dances, yet first of all I will take the Liberty to acquaint every Gentleman or Lady who is desirous of performing Country dances, in a Genteel, free, & easy manner, the necessity they are under of being first duly Qualified in a Minuet; that beautifull dance being so well calculated and adapted as to give room for every person to display all the beauties & Graces of the body which becomes a genteel Carriage. As this dance is the Ground work of all other dancing, I thought it my duty to recommend ye knowledge of it.

The menuet ordinaire or ballroom minuet was the chief dance of ceremony and ritual. Devised in the 1660s for the French court, it was a dramatic and powerful dance. Using one of several standard step-sequences and a specific floor pattern, it left some latitude for individualization through ornamentation. Alone on the floor with their concentration on each other and moving with four steps in six beats, two dancers move on a symmetrical track using the entire dance space. Honors to partner and the company open and close the dance. The remainder of the dance consists of parallel passes across the floor and one- and two-hand turns.

The minuet has a complex basic step, but it is not a string of different steps as in other composed dances like gavottes or allemandes. The challenge of the minuet is the smooth execution with one’s partner, something akin to ice-dancing. It is hard to do so that it looks easy, which, of course, is the desired effect. The minuet became a ritual of the ballroom for the entire eighteenth century. A symbol of precedence and power, the first minuet was performed by the leading man and most important lady present while the rest of the company watched. It served to remind everyone of his or her position within the group. Balls at court often consisted of nothing but minuets as the clamor to be seen attracted more and more dancers.

In America, minuets opened most formal occasions, the Governor, senior military officer, leading merchant, or the host of the event dancing with the most senior ladies present. That the minuet was daunting echoes from account after account of frightened dancers, trembling knees, and laughable performances. It is no wonder that everyone relaxed when the minuets were over and the country dances could begin.

Country Dance

The best-documented group dance of the period is the eighteenth-century version of the English country dance, arranged for “as many couples as will” standing in lines, partner-facing partner. The figures of over 25,000 dances were published with their music in English books between 1700 and 1830 and many more in Ireland and Scotland and Holland. The figures for over 2,800 dances appear in American collections handmade or published between 1730 and 1810. Most of these dances appear to be of English origin or inspiration; several of the collections are direct copies of English books. Democratic rather than hierarchical, each country dance is constructed so that after one repetition of the figures, the leading couple is in second place and repeats the figures with the next one or two couples. This progression continues down through the entire line and back up, until the leading couple is again at the top and each couple in the set has had a turn leading the dance.

Before 1680, Americans probably danced earlier forms of the English country dance using familiar renaissance steps: the single, the double, and perhaps some steps from the galliard for the more energetic. Once the new French technique was introduced, the basic step became a smooth pas de bourrée, with a demi-coupé for setting and honors. Optional steps included pas de rigaudon (rigadoon), assemblé, balancé, chassé, contretemps, and pas de gavotte (Keller 18–20). For most occasions, deportment and performance style was still formal and presentational. Despite the informal-sounding name, country dances were not undisciplined romps.

At a ball or dancing party, the top couple in the set selected the dance. They not only had to know how the dance figures fit the music, but were responsible for selecting steps appropriate for the abilities of the dancers present, and, by their performance of the first round, the phrasing of steps and figures to the music, a daunting responsibility. Calling the figures as the dance progressed was not an American invention as is often claimed. In 1752 Nicholas Dukes suggests that the top couple might recite the names of the figures when they selected the dance of their choice (Dukes iv).

Public prompting was used in the late 1770s in London by Francis Werner who played on the harp and directed the figures at the same time (Werner title page). It did not become a wide-spread practice until the nineteenth century when the dancers no longer selected the dances to be performed and dance events drew less homogeneous companies.

Several other types of dance appeared in early American ballrooms, promoted by dancing masters to hold their pupils’ interest and by fashionable dancers who wished to keep one step ahead of the crowd. In the 1680s, possibly inspired by the English country dance and using many of the same figures, French dancing masters developed another type of country dance, terming it contredanse. For the next hundred years, as the English longways progressive dance with increasingly simpler figures became the favorite of middle-class ballrooms, the French type developed into a more and more complex, non-progressive dance, usually in closed set formation, suitable for the most elite dancers.

Lacking a clear notation system and, unlike the English country dance, too complicated to transmit in words, these did not become widely fashionable at first. In the 1760s, La Cuisse perfected a system of depicting the figures graphically and these interesting and challenging dances began to appear in print. Almost immediately, English dancers adopted a fairly basic type of French contredanse, the cotillon, anglicized as “cotillion.”

This dance was usually but not always performed in a square of four couples. A cotillion consisted of a number of standard verses called “changes” followed by a chorus that was distinctive to that particular dance. The changes were movements such as circles, hand-turns, hands-across, allemande turns, and rights-and-lefts (chain). The figure, or chorus, was repeated after each change. A cotillion might be performed with as many as eight or ten changes. They employed similar steps to those used in country dances, but usually in more complex combinations, a boon to dancing masters whose services were less needed as the country dances became simpler and simpler to meet the needs of a wider and wider consumer base.

Cotillions were introduced in America in the early 1770s. It is interesting to note that the longways English country dance type has remained in use to the present in New England, having been the fashionable group dance when much of that area was settled. In contrast, the cotillion was at its height of fashion in urban ballrooms between 1780 and 1810, a period during which many European migrants arrived in eastern cities, and many others left for new homes over the mountains. Ironically, it was the cotillion that was carried west and was the basis of traditional American square dancing, recently declared our “national folk dance” and far more associated with cowboy culture than the French ballrooms that gave it birth.

Hornpipes and Jigs

Among other dances in the new French style were those which came to be known as jigs and hornpipes—the names were used interchangeably at this time. These were free-form, display dances for one or two dancers. Early hornpipes were in 3/2, 6/8, or 2/4 meter, but by 1770 most were in 2/4. Such a dance was a personal routine created with step combinations and floor patterns particularly adapted to the skills of the soloist for whom or by whom it was constructed. It could be completely choreographed for a stage or ballroom performance or be entirely a product of personal improvisation, changing every time it was danced.

A hornpipe made famous by Pennsylvanian John Durang, a theatrical dancer active from the early 1780s, survives in a nineteenth-century description. The music and sketchy instructions for the steps were published by his son and employ both cultivated and vernacular dance movements (Durang 158). Durang’s drawings of himself dancing, such as that illustrated here, show that he used standard French techniques such as the foot positions and arms in opposition. Hornpipes and jigs were ubiquitous. All classes of people danced them in all sorts of places, from the opera stage to the back-water tavern, with differing results depending on the time and place. Period images show that routines by sailors in wharf-side pubs were quite different from the dances performed as a “Sailor’s Hornpipe” in professional theaters.

One type of impromptu vernacular jig for which descriptions survive had an extremely long and cross-cultural life. It was called a “cut-out jig,” “Virginia jig,” or “Negro jig” in eighteenth-century records and was probably derived from African-American roots. A very similar dance called “Red River Jig” was collected in the 1980s among the Gwich’in Athapaskan Indians who live in the sub-arctic borderlands between Alaska and Canada. This is a step dance performed by one couple on the floor at a time, with everyone else standing as interested spectators and getting ready for their own participation (Mischler 65-69). This same type of dance was observed by the Fletts in Kilberry, Scotland in the 1960s. There the floor would hold many dancers who cut in on one another.

the Everlasting Jig . . . was really a sort of romp. Partners would stand up and jig opposite each other until someone cut in between them. The man or woman displaced had to go off and cut in between another pair. This frolic continued for as long as the piper chose to play (Flett 155).

Samuel Johnson and James Boswell saw a version of this free-form dance on the island of Skye in Scotland in 1773. It is curious that the dance was called “America.”

We had . . . in the evening a great dance. We made out five country squares without sitting down: and then we performed with much alacrity a dance which I suppose the emigration from Skye has occasioned. They call it “America.” A brisk reel is played. The first couple begin, and each sets to one—then each to another—then as they set to the next couple, the second and third couples are setting; and so it goes on till all are set a-going, setting and wheeling round each other, while each is making a tour of all in the dance. It shows how emigration catches till all are set afloat. (Flett 155)

Another cross-cultural group dance was the Scottish reel, a dance for three or four people in a line. Passages of footwork in place are alternated with traveling on a weaving track. Because of their informal nature, reels were usually impromptu. Little instruction was needed to perform them although they often involved complex individual footwork displaying well-developed personal skills. While simple country dance figures such as circles, hand-turns, and elbow swings may have been danced by the lower classes, the reel was probably the group dance of choice on most occasions. It offered both structure and individual freedom within an improvisational framework.

Allemandes, Gavottes, and Rigadoons

These dances were solos or duets that were choreographed for specific dancers and consisted of individually designed tracks on which the dancer performed combinations of baroque dance steps such as coupé, battement, jeté, pirouette, pas de sissone, and pas tombé. The dances were taught in dancing schools and danced as demonstration or show-off dances in the ballroom or in the theater, but were not group dances. Some of the steps used in these dances, such as the allemande step, rigadoon, and pas de gavotte were occasionally used in social dances, particularly in cotillions.

Although each of these dance types has a specific name, the music may be called a jig, reel, march, gavotte, hornpipe, allemande, and beginning in the 1790s, waltz. While it might indicate a tune’s origin, the name of the music did not limit its use to any particular kind of dance. In general, rigadoons were usually danced to duple-meter tunes, and minuets were always danced to triple meter tunes. Allemande, minuet, and gavotte tunes were all used for country dances and any lively tune could be used for reels and jigs. The distinction musicians of today make between 2/4 and 6/8 rhythms for reels and jigs did not pertain in the eighteenth century.

Bibliography

Carson, Cary, et al.  Of Consuming Interest: The Style of Life in the Eighteenth Century.  Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1994.

Dukes, Nicholas.  A Concise & Easy Method of Learning the Figuring Part of Country Dances, by way of Characters. To which is Prefixed The Figure of the Minuet.  London: 1752.

Durang, Charles.  The Ballroom Bijou.  Philadelphia: 1855.

Durang, John.  Memoir.  Ed. by Alan S. Downer.  Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1966.

Flett, J. P. & T. M.  Traditional Dancing in Scotland.  London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1964.

Keller, Kate Van Winkle Keller.  “If the Company can do it!” Technique in Eighteenth-Century American Social Dance.  3rd edition. Sandy Hook: The Hendrickson Group, 1996.

Mishler, Craig.  The Crooked Stovepipe.  Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1993.

Werner, Francis. For the Year 1778.   Three New Minuets with Seven Favorite Cotillions . . . dedicated to the Nobility and Gentry Subscribers to Almacks &c. By Francis Werner.  Where he plays the Cottilons on the Harp and directs the Figures.  London: Jold [John] Rutherford, 1778.

* This essay was adapted from Kate Van Winkle Keller and Charles Cyril Hendrickson,  George Washington, A Biography in Social Dance  (Sandy Hook, CT: The Hendrickson Group, 1998), pp. 18–23

by Charles Cyril Hendrickson and Kate Van Winkle Keller

Created and published september 18, 2001. updated september 18, 2015..

• Share full article

Advertisement

Supported by

American Is to Join the Bolshoi Ballet

By Alastair Macaulay and Daniel J. Wakin

• Sept. 20, 2011

Exactly 50 years after Rudolf Nureyev grabbed the world’s attention as the first major Soviet dancer to defect to the West, another symbolic journey is taking place — this time in reverse.

David Hallberg, a principal dancer with American Ballet Theater, is becoming the first American star to enlist permanently with the fabled Bolshoi Ballet of Moscow. Mr. Hallberg, 29, who was born in Rapid City, S.D., will hold the coveted status of premier, the Bolshoi term for principal dancer, even as he continues performing with Ballet Theater.

“Personally, I feel a sense of responsibility as an American,” Mr. Hallberg said on Tuesday, adding that he was proud to join such a historic company. “I will be bringing something different to the company, but I will also be respecting their traditions as well.”

He said he was aware of the unique responsibility entailed in being a first. “There will be people watching,” he said. “I have to do it justice.”

Many Russians have headed westward since Nureyev’s defection at a Paris airport in 1961, most notably Mikhail Baryshnikov in 1974. The end of the cold war later erased the phenomenon of defecting dancers. It also made it easier for Westerners to go to Russia, but the Bolshoi and the Kirov Ballet of Leningrad, now the Mariinsky of St. Petersburg, had no need for imports, churning out carefully cultivated stars from their own rigorous schools.

Few foreigners joined, and no stars. “They don’t need ’em,” said Jane Hermann, a longtime dance agent who once represented the Bolshoi. “That’s the main reason. Until recently the Russians have been turning out some of the best dancers in the world.”

But in March a new artistic director, Sergei Filin, took over at the Bolshoi, and he had different ideas. He had seen Mr. Hallberg perform during a “Kings of the Dance” tour in Russia, as well as during a Ballet Theater visit.

“He is a remarkable romantic and classical dancer,” Mr. Filin said in a telephone interview from Moscow on Monday.

Two weeks after becoming artistic director, Mr. Filin invited Mr. Hallberg — then in Moscow on that Ballet Theater visit — to lunch, and offered him a position as either guest artist or principal dancer.

“I was both amazed and alarmed,” Mr. Hallberg said in another recent interview. “But Sergei was very reassuring,” and promised he could continue with Ballet Theater. “He said: ‘I don’t want you to be in a golden cage — I want you to be free. But I do want you to make a commitment to the Bolshoi. I’m very serious about this.’ ”

Indeed, if any American dancer were to make the leap, it was likely to be Mr. Hallberg. He is perhaps the world’s foremost example of the “noble” genre of male dancing, a natural for ballet’s princely roles because of his bearing and style. His purity of line and phrasing surpasses that of most dancers today.

“ ‘Noble’ dancers like this are very rare at any time in history,” said Kevin McKenzie, Ballet Theater’s artistic director. “David certainly is one, but he has never wanted to be pigeonholed that way. He’s willing to make a fool of himself” in rehearsal, to experiment.

Mr. Hallberg also trained at the Paris Opera Ballet School and Ballet Theater’s intensive summer sessions. He joined the company’s corps de ballet in 2001.

Mr. Hallberg, who does not speak Russian, will start at the Bolshoi on Nov. 4 in “Giselle” and then in productions of “The Sleeping Beauty” and “Don Quixote.” He will return to Moscow in January and February.

Mr. Hallberg said he would have to cancel four engagements with Ballet Theater over this season. But he said he would still appear at company performances, including its Brooklyn Academy of Music “Nutcracker;” the Metropolitan Opera May-through-July season; and tours in Chicago and Orange County, Calif.

While the Bolshoi has never before hired an American principal dancer, Mr. Hallberg is one of a line of distinguished Western dancers who have appeared with it and the Mariinsky as a guest.

Part of the appeal of joining the Bolshoi was the chance to dance with Natalia Osipova , the Bolshoi’s phenomenal ballerina. He first partnered her in New York with Ballet Theater in 2009 and later at the Bolshoi in 2010.

He said that experience, along with dancing with the Mariinsky , was revelatory.

“I have never anywhere encountered such seriousness and depth about ballet,” he said. “Everywhere you go in Russia, you feel that dancing is valued as a high art. And inside the companies the work is so intelligently and beautifully approached. My one performance at the Bolshoi was amazingly intimidating. The company’s record is so historic. But I grew a little because of it.”

Nevertheless, Mr. Hallberg said he spent months agonizing over the decision, consulting family members and Ballet Theater colleagues, including the choreographer Alexei Ratmansky, himself a former artistic director of the Bolshoi.

Apart from resuming his partnership with Ms. Osipova, he will also partner the Bolshoi’s prima ballerina Svetlana Zakharova.

“The Bolshoi style is bigger and more emotional, in a way that I love,” Mr. Hallberg said. “It has the freshness and intensity that is like what I’ve tried to achieve in my dance-acting roles.”

There are other benefits to being in the company. Each lead Bolshoi dancer, as at the Mariinsky, has a former company dancer as a full-time coach. Mr. Hallberg’s will be Alexander Vetrov, who has worked in America and speaks English.

When asked if the Bolshoi would now invite other Western dancers to join its ranks, Mr. Filin said, “They should be really, really good!”