Lesson 2:

Dancing Toward
the 21 st Century
 Modern History
Late 16th and 17th Centuries
• A period in the history of dance in Italy, France, and England was pleasantly
deep and rich.
• In the late Renaissance and the Baroque periods, dancers and personalities
exerted remarkable influence as the builders of ballet.
• France became the forerunner in dance during this period.
• With Catherine de Medici’s transfer to France and the production of Le
Ballet Comique de la Reine in 1581, influence on dance began to transfer from
the Italian court to the French court.
• Male dancers played both male and female roles in court ballets.
• In 1681, Mila La Fontaine, the first female professional dancer produced by
the Academic Royalel de la Musique et de Dance, performed in Le trimphe de
L’Amour, the first ballet in which women took part. She was hailed as the queen
of the dance after the performance.

2
The most significant ballets produced in the 17 th century French court are the following:

Ballet de la Nuit (1653)

Louis XIV portrayed the Sun King, after which he became known by that name.

Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme (1670)

This is Molière’s comedy play, which featured music and dance sequences.

Le Triomphe de L’Amour (1681)

A ballet created by Jean-Baptiste Lully, in which the first female dancers appeared.

3
 18th Century
• Dance in ballroom and in theatrical performance began to separate technically and
aesthetically.
• With the establishment of the Paris Opera, both male and female professional dancers
were given equal opportunity to take lead roles rather than just character parts. During this
period the professional male dancers or danseurs nobles took the leading roles in the
ballets.
19th Century
• During the romantic era, the female dancers took the lead roles in ballet performances.
They appeared as winged, unearthly beings such as nymphs and fairies.
• Meanwhile male dancers took the supporting roles in romantic ballets, but offstage they
continued as dance masters and arranged the ballets.
• During this century, both males and females must strictly follow the code of etiquette
when attending a ball or they will not be admitted.

4
 Ballroom dances of the 19th century
Cotillion

• The cotillion, a forerunner of the American square dance, had many figures that required
practice by the group. The complexity of the dance made it a special performance at a ball
or a presentation by a dance master at a recital hall.

Polonaise

• Involved partners dancing side by side behind a lead couple and moving through various
choral figures.

• Performed in triple time, it had one step that was repeated throughout the dance. The
dancers started with bows, then they proceeded down the center of the room, creating two
columns from which they can change wheel places, from squares or wee around, and moving
forward or back. For the final part of the routine, the dancers were led down the middle of
the hall.
5
Quadrille
• The quadrille was performed in a stately manner and, later on, in an accelerated one.
• The "Queen of London Society," Lady Sarah Jersey, introduced the quadrille to
English society at Almack's in 1815.
• The original figures were determined by the dancers, as in a country dance.
• In 1818 dancing master Thomas Wilson explained some 50 movements and wrote
instructions on how to combine them into figures in his book Treatise on Quadrille
Dancing.

Waltz

• Many scholars believe that the waltz was derived from the German landler and other
Southern German folk dances.
• It was performed in triple time by single couples in close embrace and featured wild
hopping, stamping, and throwing of the female partner into the air.

6
Polka

• originated in Poland or the former Czechoslovakia, was a popular social dance in the first
part of the century.

• This half-step dance in 2/4 time was introduced in the ballrooms of Prague in the 1830s.
Dancing masters brought it to Paris and it reached the stage in 1840. The dance had five
figures on the stage. By 1843 polka already invaded the city and eventually swept
Europe and the United States. The dance entered English ballrooms by 1844.

7
 20th Century
• The early part of the 20th century can be best described as a period of "dance fever"
wherein the young and old alike were not limited to express their emotions through dance.
• With the introduction of ragtime, people were not afraid to show their energetic
movements such as skipping and running barefoot. Ragtime is a type of music known for
its syncopated melodic line and regularly accented accompaniment played especially on
the piano. Scott Joplin, an African-American composer and pianist, created the
influential ragtime piece "Maple Leaf Rag" which made him famous among both black and
white societies.
• After the first decade, the collaboration of husband and wife, Vernon and Irene Castle,
transformed social dance from a set structure of steps to a series of figures for couples.
The castle walk, ‘accompanied by the song "Castle Rag," was performed in the close
dance position with the mm walking backward and the women moving forward, then
repeated in the open position

8
• The tango is a highly sensual and erotic dance performed by a couple with close body
contact and direct eye contact. The increasing acceptance for the dance reached Paris,
Europe, London, and New York.

• In 1914 another animal dance was developed — the foxtrot.

• Arthur Carringford's famous two slow steps followed by four quick steps gained
popularity in society and were brought in dance halls. His stage name was Harry Fox and
he performed in New York vaudeville theaters

During the early 1920s, also known as the Jazz Age or the Roaring Twenties, the
Charleston, the Black Bottom, and the Lindy Hop were introduced.

9
The Charleston

• originated in the harbor city of

Charleston, South Carolina
• can be performed solo, with a
partner, or with a group
• is usually performed in place, it looks
like normal walking. Its simplicity
made it easy for performers to
improvise

10
The Black Bottom

• originated in New Orleans and

has movements similar to the
Charleston.

• "The Original Black Bottom

Dance" was printed in 1919
and the dance became a fad in
American society in the mid-
20s.

11
The Lindy Hop
• American dance that originated in Harlem, New York City
• combination of many dances such as jazz, tap, breakaway, and
Charleston
• It was sometimes referred to as a street dance because of its
improvisational and social nature

Latin dance and music have been identified as a fusion of American music styles. Dances
such as rumba, mambo, and cha cha cha from Cuba and samba from Brazil became
popular in America during the 1930s and 1940s, as they were popularized by movie stars.

12
The rumba
The mambo music
• considered the "grandfather of • comes from a very old tradition of
the Latin dances." Africa which consisted of
multifaceted rhythms
• dance that narrates love and
passion between a tough male • The word "mambo" was not
lover and a timid, mischievous initially a term for a dance, but
simply an Afro-Cuban name for
woman. With its sensual hip
polymetry or rhythm against
action movements and intense
rhythm.
sharp eye contact, it is
considered to be the Easiest • The mambo is the music of voodoo
and the music of the people.
ballroom dance.
13
The cha-cha-cha

• derived from the mambo and The samba

the swing.
• Like most Latin dances, the • has a distinct look and feel
dancers' feet remain close to because of its "samba bounce
the floor, the hips are relaxed action," 'a light, effortless, and
to allow free movement in the carefree movement from the
pelvic area, and the upper knees and ankles.
body shifts over the
supporting foot as the steps
are taken.

14
 In 1950, after World War II, there was a shift from dance bands to
concerts in nightclubs. Most of the movements of the teenagers were
varied in steps and style but were still swing-based.

Among the prevalent dances were the jitterbug or swing, the Lindy, the
rock n roll, and the boogie-woogie or Bop

• Bop was new then but was usually referred to as Charleston-like steps
danced in place, sometimes without a partner.

15
The bossa nova
• emerged in this decade and
earned its popularity in the early
1960s.
• It is a Latin dance in 2/4
syncopated time. It is a
combination of samba rhythm
and jazz, resulting in a Latin mix.
• Eydie Gorme recorded the first
bossa nova dance music entitled
"Blame it on the Bossa Nova."
The boogaloo
• The boogaloo gained its fame
through the songs "Boogaloo
Blues" and "I Like It Like
That."
• The dance is a combination of
Latin, African American,
rhythm and blues, rock 'n' roll,
and soul music.
16
In the early 1960s, Chubby Checker first performed and introduced the twist on
American Bandstand. The twist was an expression of individualism—there were
no definite roles for men or women. 'The dancers danced apart, stood in one
place and twisted their hips from side to side, pivoting on their feet. The
movements were free and provocative.

The British introduced the Mod dance and it was brought to America in
1963. The "cool" narcissistic teenagers who rebelled against the
emotionalism of rock roll were among the first to perform this dance. It was
a free-flowing and jerky dance that required a partner.

17
 The psychedelic dance was introduced during the widespread use of
psychychedelic drugs in 1967 at Haight Ashbury, San Francisco. The dance
was experimental and Freeform in nature, affected by drug-induced exhibitionism.

The 1970s marked the dance bang as the disco clubs progressed from Europe to
the United States that featured African American and Latino artists and Disco
jocks created music from jazz, soul, and rhythm and blues.

In 1975 a Cuban dance that originated in New York City called the hustle
became popular and was used in the movie Saturday Night Fever. Since then
it became part of the American pop culture and kept its popularity for the last
two decades

18
In the last two decades of the 20th century, choreographers and dancers continued
to explore new directions. Individual statements, revised old themes, and stretching
the medium through collaboration and technology were the main focus.

In the 1980s there was a continuous innovation in social dances, while western line
dances gained their popularity throughout the 1990s. In 1983 the popularity of
disco dance slowly declined. In 1990 disco came back to be a part of pop and hip-
hop dances again and its influence on the said dances can still be seen and heard
today

19
The funk music started in the late 60s by James Brown, Jimi Hendrix, and Earth,
Wind and Fire introduced the 1970s funk rock. Lyrics became more explicit in
music synthesizers in the early 80s and from the mid-80s to the 90s, funk rock and
funk metal were popular among rock artists. The era of funk nostalgia began in the
mid-90s.

Popular fad dances emerged in the 80s and the 90s. Village People performed the
song YMCA in 1978. The group used cheerleading arm positions to spell out
the letters of the song.

20
Macarena hit the Street dance began in California during the 70s
US 100 song and was performed both in nightclubs and on the
charts for 60 streets. It is associated with funk, breakdancing,
weeks and and hip-hop. The vernacular style, which is very
became the dance common among the urban communities, became
craze among the the source of dance battles as a substitute for
youth with its arm street fighting. From this informal dance battle
movements and known as jamming, it transformed into a global
hip swiveling. event, an annual breakdance competition known
as the Battle of the Year.

21