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Dance: History and the Core

Shake it till you make it. It’s very easy to lose oneself to the beat of the rhythm and the pull of a dance routine. Dance is an instinctual response which many people train and practice in to be more perfect and precise. Here are a couple of Dance practices which many of us are well aware of, in the limelight of history and other characterizing features:

1. Tango

Tango is a partner dance requiring the two people to completely surrender themselves at the mercy and co-ordination of their partner. It has a rich history being a cultural essence of Uruguay and Argentina. It has been known to come from African and European descent. In the early days it was originally known as tango criollo (Creole tango) but now it has branched out into several different types like Tango Vals, Tango argentine, Tango canyengue, Tango Oriental Uruguayan tango, Tango liso etc.

2. Waltz

Waltz is a close position dance involving a complimentary trust and reliance of the partner. It is a ballroom and a folkdance involving a triple time (3 simple) requiring a primary division of 3 beats per bar. It has been known to date back to the 16^th Century. Initially it was known as ‘walzer’ a couple dance of couples for the peasants of Tyrol and Styria; it eventually spread from the countryside of Bohemia and Austria to the suburbs. In the 18^th century when ‘minuet’ was more favored amongst the upper class, Waltz was still making its way in. It became famous in Vienna around 1780 and in the Britain around the Regency Period. It has different variants cross-step waltz, Peruvian Waltz etc.

3. Tap Dance

Tap dance associates with the tapping of ones shoes and dancing to the beat of it. The two major variations of tap dance include the Broadway version and Rhythm (Jazz) Type, both of which are highly accepted between the masses and the professionals.  Broadway Tap focuses more towards musical performances in front of an audience in a theatre. While the Rhythm type is more often practiced by jazz musicians. It has very strong bonds with African, Irish, Scottish and English ethnicity. It has been known to begin in the 1800s with the rise of minstrel shows, and with time it had several changes and became mainstream with the help of Nicholas brothers. Tap dances have the ideal feature of improvisation.

4. Salsa

Salsa is very common dance routine having strong roots of Puerto Rican, Columbia, Cuba and Latin American Culture being originated in the New York City in the 1970s. It has become a very common dance style having a fusion of cultures initially starting out from Cuban dance forms to transformation into salsa in the streets of New York. The dance has a salsa music to which the passionate, intrinsic dance correlates quite majestically. The key of perfecting the dance is managing weight shift adequately with the change of the music and the beat.  In the New York Style it is most common for the dancers to face each other, while on the Latin American style, Cuban style the dancers are found to spin around one another.