Tap dancing has been around for almost two hundred years. It is an activity done around America. From little kids dancing in their dance studios to professionals dancing on the stages of Broadway. Tap has been adapted in many ways such as rhythm tap, Broadway tap, and soft-shoe tap. Over the years, tap dancing has evolved in great detail such as in its technique and its audiences. Tap started as a combination of African Drumming and European Clog, as well as step dancing. When European step dance or jig and the African secular dances or juba dance mixed it resulted in American Tap, which is much different than any other dancing involving footwork. The unique rhythm makes tap a phenomenon. Now between the sixteen hundred and eighteen hundred, …show more content…
As a result, many new steps and technique formed. The Time step formed as a way to alert the band at which tempo they desire to go at. It is most known as the cha-cha-cha. Then the waltz clog was formed. The soft show was developed to be performed by soft soled shoe, most popular in Vaudeville. Lastly, the Stop time was formed as a way to liven up the music by making it seem that the tempo change, when it didn’t. This is most popular in The Ragtime Dance by Scott Joplin and King Porter Stomp’ by Jelly Roll Morton. While these seem like they are more of a change in the music rather than the dance, by changing the style of the music, the dancing reflects the change in new techniques and development. Due to racial laws and other discriminatory laws, African Americans were not allowed to perform solos, which gave rise to duets. One of the most famous duo is the “Buck and Bubble”. With the popularity of tap spreading in Vaudeville, a genre of theater mainly performed in shows and burlesque, tap spread onto Hollywood. Due to great people in the world of tap, Bill "Bojangles" Robinson and John Bubbles and their ability to alter the tap, Hollywood started to put tap in their …show more content…
In the 1950’s tap lost its fame and was just danced for one’s own pleasure due to the increase of rock and roll and hip hop. Whereas in the 60s-people started to consider tap as art rather than entertainment, so the popularity of tap prospered up till this day. Tap started to reappear in shows worldwide in North America, Europe, and Asia in movies, concerts, and Broadway. The popularity of tap resulted in some films "Black and Blue”, "Jelly's Last Jam", “Bring in Da Noise” “Tap Dogs”, "The Cotton Club," "Steppin Out," and "Tap". In 1989, it was declared National Tap Dance Day by a congressional vote because it was the birthday of Bill "Bojangles" Robinson. Films such as No Maps on My Taps and Happy Feet also helped with the revival of tap because of its scenes containing tap
Dancing skyrocketed during the 1920s. Many styles of dance that were created before the era did not become popular until the 1920s. For example, the Charleston did not swept the world until after the moves appeared in “Running Wild”, a show on Broadway. The Charleston dance was a fast paced dance that went with the song “The Charleston” by James P. Johnson. Many dance clubs banned the Charleston because the dance was unsuitable for the youth to be dancing. Also new dance styles were being created, for example, the Foxtrot. The Foxtrot was one of cherished dances during the era. The Foxtrot is a partner dance and many disapproved of how close the partners were to each other while dancing, often cheek-to-cheek.
King Oliver is who first started messing around with this idea and made it so popular all throughout jazz history to present day. He would use items to alter his sound such as plunger heads, derby hats, bottles, and cups. Oliver also had a bad eye from a childhood accident, this made his playing style known because how would always okay while leaning against a wall or with a derby hat tilted or whatever he could think of to subtly hide his bad eye. He used these techniques when he played in brothels and bars or just any gig every once in
In this Chapter, I explore a contemporary venue for belly dance in America, the Arizona Renaissance Festival. I examine how belly dance functions at the festival and how the festival uses the past as an exotic entity. The Arizona Renaissance Festival creates a fantasy culture for entertainment and reinforces America’s ties to a European heritage. Contemporary representations of belly dance are examined, illustrating how this multifaceted dance simultaneously connects to and denies its Orientalist roots in America. I also examine how images of belly dance from the nineteenth century impact contemporary dance through costume inspiration. Due to the numerous styles of belly dance in America today, I focus on only two different forms of belly dance, American tribal style belly dance or as it referred to ATS and Egyptian cabaret.
According to dancemotionusa.org tap dance originated from the West African dances and certain influences from the British Isles. All throughout the 20th century tap dance began to gain popularity. It seems that tap dance started as something that slaves did to express themselves. Dancemotionusa.org stated that, “White slave masters banned the use of drums, which they considered a tool for organizing revolution. This led to people into making rhythms with their bodies-specifically, their feet.” Another way we know that tap dance has evolved is that before they would attach pennies to their heels and soles in order to retain the rhythmic sounds of their dance (pg.81). Now, tap shoes have a metal attached to the heel. Tappers do not have to attach pennies to the bottom of their shoes anymore. Tap dance has also adapted new moves and expanded into other forms of dance. An example, countless of people have combined ballet and tap dance together—creating a flawless routine. In addition, some of today’s upcoming tappers are: Michelle Dorrance, Anthony Morigerato, Daniel Leveille, Aaron, Alexis, and Curtis. Overall, tap dancing has come a long way and in my opinion it has not lost its meaning.
Originating from New Orleans, it worked its way to Georgia and then New York. It is unknown who actually started the dance, though it’s been rumored that Alberta Hunter, a blues singer, introduced it to the world. It had already spread through the south before Perry Bradford wrote his song about it in 1919. In 1924 the dance was introduced to the public in the stage play “Dinah” and it became as popular as the Charleston. Ann Pennington did a famous rendition of the Black Bottom in the George White Scandals of
Irish Step Dancing started around 1750, when the appearance of dance masters came about. Dance Masters would travel from town to town teaching their dances to people that were interested and that could pay for it. They would teach in barns, kitchens, crossroads, and hedge schools. These teachings went on in secret due to Penal Laws that were enacted in the late 17th century. The English were determined to suppress Irish culture and abolish Christianity so these laws banned the education of catholic children, which was why the Irish created hedge schools. The Dance Masters would start with dances like the Reel and the Jig. Each dance master had his own collection of dance steps and would also create their own over time, which lead to Step Dancing. 8 measures or bars or music is one step, thus the name “Step Dancing”. Often competitions were held where Dance masters would show off there steps and perform on small areas like a table top, top of a barrel, or a small stage. Dancing in these small areas showed great talent. The greater number of steps that were preformed or known the more respect a dance master received. Some Dance Masters would even compete at Feisianna, which was a combination of a trade fair, political gath...
New Dance is described as a developing art form; this dance was articulated in the early 20th century. According to Chapter 8 in History of Dance book, “the new dance emerged as a response to the ballet that populated the variety shows and music halls, which had a rigid formula of steps and poses” (Kassing). The New Dance was a product of several strands that interlaced together dancers’ studies and backgrounds; these strands and others were woven together in a historical, political, and societal framework. For instance, one strand of New Dance consisted of the concepts, techniques, costumes, and stage settings from around the world. These strands influenced major dancers and choreographers, such as, Isadora Duncan, Loie Fuller, Ruth St. Denis, and Ted Shawn.
Break dancing actually originated a few years prior to DJ Afrika Bambataa. Break dancers (B-Boys and B-Girls), would dance during the breaks in the music while steady beats were played. Eventually rap and break dancing united and hip hop began.
Ballet, a form of dance has been around for many years and did not start in America. Ballet has made its mark around the globe and many have and still are enjoying the art and entertainment that the ballet brings. Ballet is known as being the “core” of the other forms of dance as in modern, contemporary and even hip hop. People enjoy the form of dance on an everyday basis at family functions, parties and even just being home alone and many do not know that the dances they particularly like all originated from ballet. The history of ballet has been put into nine well defined sections the Renaissance Period, the Baroque Period, the Classical Period, the Pre-Romantic Period, Romantic Era, the Russian Classics, the Ballet Ruses, Ballet in Europe
Hip hop dance first originated in the 1960's and the 1970's one of the main birthplaces of hip hop was in one of New York City's poorest ghetto quarters the South Bronx. Hip hop dancing started with DJs coming into the streets with huge speakers kicking off what is now known as block parties. A man, who is known as the father of hip hop, "DJ Kool Herc" Would remix songs by making longer instrumental breaks between verses as long as he pleased by repeating the same breaks on a turn table this allowed more time for the street dancers or "B-boys" which stood for "Break-Boys" to show off their dancing skill. The hip hop moves combined Complex rhythms and a down-to-earth movement style. Most of these B-Boys dancing was acrobatic, or what kid no-a-days call Breakdancing but true "Break dancing" is completed how it was in the 1960s with insanely long instrumental breaks and incredible dancers battling it out with both footwork moves and acrobatic moves.
It was a fun, new type of entertainment and an important part in every party or club. While dancing became popular with the younger generation, the older, more conservative people saw the new dancing as indecent. This was because dancing heavily involved the moving of the upper body. “Shimmying” was where a woman would shake her torso and that was frowned upon by the older generation who thought it was not ladylike to be moving like that. Young people also began throwing their arms and legs in the air with reckless abandon and hopping or "toddling" every step in the Foxtrot, and soon every college student was doing a new dance which became known as the Toddle. (Scott) The dance that epitomized the 1920's was the Charleston. The Charleston was a new dance move, first introduced in a broadway musical, that is characterized by outward heel kicks combined with an up and down movement achieved by bending and straightening the knees in time to the music. (Scott) The great popularity of the Charleston inspired dance teachers and choreographers to promote and fabricate new dance fads for the public’s appeal. Another popular dance move was the Lindy Hop. The Lindy Hop was named after the pilot Charles Lindbergh’s first solo flight. It emerged and was the first dance that included swinging your partner into the air, as well as a jump sequence. All these new dance styles and moves were heavily promoted in movies and broadway musicals that were starting to be very popular
Thompson, K 2003, ‘The struggle for the expanding american film industry’, in Film history : an introduction, 2nd ed, McGraw-Hill, Boston, pp. 37-54
Native American Ritual Dancing “It has often been said that the North American Indians ‘dance out’ their religions” (Vecsey 51). There were two very important dances for the Sioux tribe, the Sun Dance and the Ghost Dance. Both dances show the nature of Native American spirituality. The Ghost Dance and the Sun Dance were two very different dances, however both promote a sense of community.
“Call and response” is also utilized, which is when the DJ and the dancers will communicate in order to maintain a certain hip hop flow, and to encourage audience enthusiasm. The moves, along with the music works together to emphasize the rapid rhythm breaks. The dancers perform moves that involve flips, upside down movement, and spinning, along with “drops” that were smooth transitions to “front swipes, back swipes, dips, and corkscrews”.” One dancer even performs a “chair freeze” which was originally one of the most popular break dancing moves, and is when the arms and upper body support the body while the legs and lower half of the body are free flowing (Forman & Neal, 2012, pg. 58). These moves require much momentum and balance, which according to popular b-boy Ken Swift, is an essential aspect to this hip hop movement (Forman & Neal, 2012, pg. 59). In both films, b-boying or breakdancing is a way to resolve some type of conflict or competition due to being able to “attack without mercy yet still see their opponents as distinct and valuable human beings” and avoid any unnecessary violence that already occurs in drastic rates within inner city neighborhoods (Chang, 2006, pg.
Folk dance is also a popular types of dance. Folk dance is a variety of dances that reflect a certain culture. There are many types of folk dance including aboriginal dance, clogging, irish dance and square dance. Folk dancing started in the 18th century, the steps were then passed through the generations. Many children songs and games today come from folk