Phy Ed 4

• For ancient Greeks, who

thought highly of dance, it
was closely linked with other
DANCE kinds of experiences such as
an activity which can take many an aid to military education
forms and fill many different needs. It among the boys in Athens
can be recreation, entertainment, and Sparta, as well as a
education, therapy, and religion. In its form of entertainment and
purest and most basic form, dance is display
art, the art of body movement.” o As an additional note
(Barbara Mettle). Unlike athletics or to the first point: As
other daily activities, dance focuses Kraus and Gaufman
primarily on “an aesthetic or even (1981) said, “Man
entertaining experience” danced originally to
supplicate the gods
ALTHOUGH IT PROVIDED A VARIETY OF on all important
FUNCTIONS THROUGHOUT HISTORY occasions of life”.
DUE TO ITS MULTIDIMENSIONALITY AND o For the second point,
THAT THERE HAVE BEEN IMMENSE note first that dances
COMPARATIVE DIFFERENCES IN PERIOD during prehistoric
AND CULTURE, PEOPLE STILL DANCE time have not yet
MAINLY FOR FOUR REASONS. been fully recorded so
that very little known
REASONS OF PEOPLE FOR DANCING facts about dance
1. To please the gods have emerged from
2. To please others this time.
3. To please themselves (self- o For the third point:
expression) Just like during the
4. To build community within an time of the primitive
ethnic group (social interaction) culture, most of the
dances during this era
HISTORY OF DANCING were chiefly a
medium of religious
• People from the prehistoric era expression.
performed ways they hoped would • The Greek also used dance
appease the forces of nature or to aid education in general
give them new powers of their own. as philosophers such as
• It was only during the pre-Christian Plato, Aristotle, and Socrates
era that the real knowledge of strongly supported this art
dance came about within the as an integration of the body
great Mediterranean and Middle and soul.
Eastern civilizations. • The ancient Rome gave less
• It became full-blown and was importance to dancing as
richly recorded in ancient Egypt as the nation grew wealthy and
reflected in their wall paintings, powerful.
reliefs, and records in hieroglyphs