Dance

Waltz

Ballroom and folk dance, normally in 3/4 time, performed primarily in closed position.

Pagode

Brazilian style of music which originated in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, as a subgenre of Samba. This dance originally meant a celebration with much food, music, dance and party. In 1978, singer Beth Carvalho was introduced to this music, liked it from the beginning and recorded tracks by Zeca Pagodinho and others. Over time, the name has been used by many commercial groups who have included a version of the music filled with clichés, and there is now a sentiment that the term is a pejorative for "very commercial pop music" (see ________ Romântico).[1]

Trepak

Dance featured in Tchaikovsky's "The Nutcracker." It is based on the Tropak, a ukranian folk dance.

Polonaise

Dance of Polish origin, in 3/4 time. Its name is French for "Polish."The dance had a rhythm quite close to that of the Swedish semiquaver or sixteenth-note polska, and the two dances have a common origin. It is a widespread dance in carnival parties. This dance is always a first dance at a studniówka ("hundred-days"), the Polish equivalent of the senior prom that occurs approximately 100 days before exams.

Quadrille

Dance that was fashionable in late 18th- and 19th-century Europe and its colonies. Performed by four couples in a rectangular formation, it is related to American square dancing. The Lancers, a variant of this dance, became popular in the late 19th century and was still danced in the 20th century in folk-dance clubs. This dance consists of a chain of four to six contredanses, courtly versions of English country dances that had been taken up at the court of Louis XIV and spread across Europe. Latterly this dance was frequently danced to a medley of opera melodies.

Galliard

Form of Renaissance dance and music popular all over Europe in the 16th century. It is mentioned in dance manuals from England, France, Spain, Germany, and Italy. It is an athletic dance, characterized by leaps, jumps, hops and other similar figures. The main feature that defines a step in this dance is the last two beats consist of a large jump, landing with one leg ahead of the other. This jump is called a cadence, and the final landing is called the posture. The sources generally describe movement patterns starting on the left foot, then repeating it starting with the right foot. A pattern may also last twice as long, or more, which would involve 11 steps, or 17 steps.

Jig

Form of lively folk dance in compound meter, as well as the accompanying dance tune. It developed in 16th-century England, and was quickly adopted on the Continent where it eventually became the final movement of the mature Baroque dance suite (the French gigue; Italian and Spanish giga).[1] Today it is most associated with Irish dance music, Scottish country dance and the Métis people in Canada. Dances of this form were originally in duple compound meter, (e.g., 12/8 time), but have been adapted to a variety of time signatures, by which they are often classified into groups, including light, slip, single, double, and treble versions of this dance.

Rigaudon

French baroque dance with a lively duple metre. The music is similar to that of a bourrée, but this dance is rhythmically simpler with regular phrases (eight measure phrases are most common). It originated as a sprightly 17th-century French folk dance for couples. Traditionally, the folkdance was associated with the provinces of Vavarais, Languedoc, Dauphiné, and Provence in southern France, and it became popular as a court dance during the reign of Louis XIV (Little 2001). Its hopping steps were adopted by the skillful dancers of the French and English courts, where it remained fashionable through the 18th century. By the close of the 18th century, however, it had given way in popularity as a ballroom dance (along with the passepied, bourrée, and gigue) to the minuet (Cunningham Woods 1895-96, 93).

Gavotte

French dance, taking its name from a folk dance of a similar name, the people of the Pays de Gap region of Dauphiné in the southeast of France, where the dance originated according to one source. According to another reference, however, the name of the dance is a generic term for a variety of French folk dances, and most likely originated in Lower Brittany in the west, or possibly Provence in the southeast or the French Basque Country in the southwest of France. It is notated in 4/4 or 2/2 time and is usually of moderate tempo, though the folk dances also use meters such as 9/8 and 5/8.

Rhumba

Genre of ballroom music and dance that appeared in the East Coast of the United States during the 1930s. It combined American big band music with Afro-Cuban rhythms, primarily the son cubano, but also conga and music with the same name. Taking its name from the latter, the ballroom version of this dance differs completely from Cuban version both in its music and dance. Hence, authors prefer the Americanized spelling of the word to distinguish between them.

Disco

Genre of dance music containing elements of funk, soul, pop, and salsa. It achieved popularity during the mid-1970s to the early 1980s. Its initial audiences in the U.S. were club-goers from the gay, African American, Italian American, Latino, and psychedelic communities in Philadelphia and New York City during the late 1960s and early 1970s. This dance can be seen as a reaction against both the domination of rock music and the stigmatization of dance music by the counterculture during this period. It was popular with both men and women, from many different backgrounds.

Bolero

Genre of slow-tempo Latin music and its associated dance. There are Spanish and Cuban forms which are both significant and which have separate origins .The original Spanish dance is a 3/4 dance that originated in Spain in the late 18th century, a combination of the contradanza and the sevillana.

Jive

In ballroom dancing, this dance is a dance style that originated in the United States from African-Americans in the early 1930s. It was popularized in 1934 by Cab Calloway. It is a lively and uninhibited variation of the Jitterbug, a form of Swing dance. Glenn Miller introduced his own version of the dance in 1938 with the song "Doin' the _____" which never caught on. This dance is one of the five International Latin dances. In competition it is danced at a speed of 176 beats per minute, although in some cases this is reduced to between 128 and 160 beats per minute.

Jitterbug

Kind of dance popularized in the United States in the early twentieth century and is associated with various types of swing dances such as the Lindy Hop, jive, and East Coast Swing.

Fandango

Lively couples dance from Spain, usually in triple metre, traditionally accompanied by guitars, castanets, or hand-clapping ("palmas" in Spanish). It can both be sung and danced. Sung fandango is usually bipartite: it has an instrumental introduction followed by "variaciones". Sung version of this dance usually follows the structure of "cante" that consist of four or five octosyllabic verses (coplas) or musical phrases (tercios). Occasionally, the first copla is repeated. It was originally notated in 6/8 time, but later in 3/8 or 3/4.

Samba

Lively, rhythmical dance of Afro-Brazilian origin in 2/4 time danced to music of the same name whose origins include the Maxixe.

Tango

Partner dance that originated in the 1880s along the River Plate, the natural border between Argentina and Uruguay, and soon spread to the rest of the world. Popularly and among dancing circles, the authentic version of this dance is considered to be the one closest to the form originally danced in Argentina and Uruguay. On August 31, 2009, UNESCO approved a joint proposal by Argentina and Uruguay to include this dance in the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage Lists.

Mazurka

Polish folk dance in triple meter, usually at a lively tempo, and with "strong accents unsystematic-ally placed on the second or third beat."

Salsa

Popular form of social dance that originated in New York in 1970. The movements of this dance have origins in Cuban Son, Cha-cha-cha, Mambo and Puertorican bomba y Plena and other dance forms, and the dance, along with the music of this dance, originated in the mid-1970s in New York.

Allemande

Renaissance and baroque dance, and one of the most popular instrumental dance styles in baroque music, with notable examples by Couperin, Purcell, Bach and Handel. It is often the first movement of a baroque suite of dances, paired with a subsequent courante, though it is sometimes preceded by an introduction or prelude. A quite different, later, dance of the same name, named as such in the time of Mozart and Beethoven, still survives in Germany and Switzerland and is a lively triple-time social dance related to the waltz and the ländler.

Pavane

Slow processional dance common in Europe during the 16th century. This dance, the earliest-known music for which was published in Venice by Ottaviano Petrucci, in Joan Ambrosio Dalza's Intabolatura de lauto libro quarto in 1508, is a sedate and dignified couple dance, similar to the 15th-century basse danse. The music which accompanied it appears originally to have been fast or moderately fast but, like many other dances, became slower over time.

Minuet

Social dance of French origin for two people, usually in 3/4 time. The word was adapted from Italian and French terms with similar names, possibly from the French menu meaning slender, small, referring to the very small steps, or from the early 17th-century popular group dances called branle à mener or amener. The term also describes the musical style that accompanies the dance, which subsequently developed more fully, often with a longer musical form called the ________ and trio, and was much used as a movement in the early classical symphony

Cotillion

Social dance, popular in 18th-century Europe and America. Originally for four couples in square formation, it was a courtly version of an English country dance, the forerunner of the quadrille and, in the United States, the square dance. It was for some fifty years regarded as an ideal finale to a ball but was eclipsed in the early 19th century by the quadrille. It became so elaborate that it was sometimes presented as a concert dance performed by trained and rehearsed dancers. The later "German" version included more couples as well as plays and games.

Pasodoble

Spanish light music, with a binary rhythm and moderated movement, probably based in typical Spanish dances of the 16th century. During the 18th century it was incorporated to comedies and was adopted as a regulatory step for the Spanish infantry, with a special feature that makes the troops take the regular step: 120 steps per minute. The music was introduced in bullfights during the 19th century. It is played during the bullfighters' entrance to the ring (paseo) or during the passes (faena) just before the kill. This dance is a lively style of dance to the duple meter march-like music of the same name. It is modeled after the sound, drama, and movement of the Spanish and Portuguese bullfight.

Calypso

Style of Afro-Caribbean music that originated in Trinidad and Tobago during the early to mid-20th century and spread to the rest of Caribbean Antilles and Venezuela. Its rhythms can be traced back to West African Kaiso and the arrival of French planters and their slaves from the French Antilles in the 18th century. It drew upon African and French influences, and became the voice of the people[citation needed]. It was characterized by highly rhythmic and harmonic vocals, which was most often sung in a French creole and led by a griot. As calypso developed, the role of the griot (originally a similar traveling musician in West Africa) became known as a chantuelle.

Merengue

Style of Dominican music and dance. Partners hold each other in a closed position. The leader holds the follower's waist with the leader's right hand, while holding the follower's right hand with the leader's left hand at the follower's eye level. Partners bend their knees slightly left and right, thus making the hips move left and right. The hips of the leader and follower move in the same direction throughout the song. Partners may walk sideways or circle each other, in small steps. They can switch to an open position and do separate turns without letting go each other's hands or releasing one hand. During these turns they may twist and tie their handhold into intricate pretzels. Other choreographies are possible.

Flamenco

This dance in its strictest sense, is a professionalized art-form based on the various folkloric music traditions of Andalusia, Spain. In a wider sense, it refers to these musical traditions and more modern musical styles which have themselves been deeply influenced by and become blurred with the development of this dance over the past two centuries. It includes cante (singing), toque (guitar playing), baile (dance), jaleo (vocalizations), palmas (handclapping) and pitos (finger snapping).

Gopak

This dance is a national Ukrainian dance. It is performed most often as a solitary concert dance by amateur and professional Ukrainian dance ensembles, as well as other performers of folk dances. It has also been incorporated into larger artistic opuses such as operas and ballets.It is often popularly referred to as the "National Dance of Ukraine". There are similar folkloric dance tunes known as Sirmpa in Leros Greece.

Foxtrot

This dance is a smooth, progressive dance characterized by long, continuous flowing movements across the dance floor. It is danced to big band (usually vocal) music. The dance is similar in its look to waltz, although the rhythm is in a 4/4 time signature instead of 3/4. Developed in the 1910s, this dance reached its height of popularity in the 1930s, and remains practiced today.

Charleston

This dance is named after the harbor town of which it originates. The rhythm was popularized in mainstream dance music in the United States by a 1923 namesake tune by composer/pianist James P. Johnson which originated in the Broadway show Runnin' Wild and became one of the most popular hits of the decade. Runnin' Wild ran from 29 October 1923 through 28 June 1924. The peak year for the dance by the public was mid-1926 to 1927.

Viennese Waltz

This is one of the oldest ballroom dances. At least three different meanings are recognized. In the historically first sense, the name may refer to several versions of the waltz, including the earliest waltzes done in ballroom dancing, danced to the music of this dance. What is now called this dance is the original form of the waltz. It was the first ballroom dance performed in the closed hold or "waltz" position. The dance that is popularly known as the waltz is actually the English or slow waltz, danced at approximately 90 beats per minute with 3 beats to the bar (the international standard of 30 measures per minute), while it is danced at about 180 beats (58-60 measures) a minute. To this day however, in Germany, Austria, Scandinavia, and France, the words Walzer (German for "waltz"), vals (Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish for "waltz"), and valse (French for "waltz") still implicitly refer to the original dance and not the slow waltz.

Hornpipe

This term refers to any of several dance forms played and danced in Britain and Ireland and elsewhere from the 16th century until the present day. It is suggested that this dance began around the 16th century on English sailing vessels. However, this is urban myth, as the dance does not seem to have become associated with sailors until after 1740 when the dancer Yates performed 'a dance of the same name in the character of a Jack Tar' at Drury Lane Theatre, after which, in 1741 at Covent Garden we hear of 'a (name of this dance) by a gentleman in the character of a sailor.' Movements were those familiar to sailors of that time: "looking out to sea" with the right hand to the forehead, then the left, lurching as in heavy weather, and giving the occasional rhythmic tug to their breeches both fore and aft.

Clogging

Type of folk dance in which the dancer's footwear is used percussively by striking the heel, the toe, or both against a floor or each other to create audible rhythms, usually to the downbeat with the heel keeping the rhythm. The dance style has recently fused with others including African-American rhythms, and the Peruvian dance "zapateo", resulting in the birth of newer street dances, such as tap, locking, jump, hakken, stomping, Gangsta Walking, and the Candy Walk dance. The use of wooden-soled namesake shoes is rarer in the more modern dances since they are not commonly worn in urban society, and other types of footwear have replaced them in their evolved dance forms. It is often considered the first form of street dance because it evolved in urban environments during the industrial revolution.