Dance Overview

DANCE OVERVIEW

Dance is an art form that generally refers to movement of the body, usually rhythmic and to music, used as a form of expression, social interaction or presented in a spiritual or performance setting. It may also be regarded as a form of nonverbal communication between humans, and is also performed by other animals (bee dance, patterns of behaviour such as a mating dance). Gymnastics, figure skating and synchronized swimming are sports that incorporate dance, while martial arts kata are often compared to dances. Motion in ordinarily inanimate objects may also be described as dances (the leaves danced in thewind). Definitions of what constitutes dance are dependent on social, cultural, aesthetic, artistic and moral constraints and range from functional movement (such as folk dance) to virtuoso techniques such as ballet. Dance can be participatory, social or performed for an audience. It can also be ceremonial, competitive or erotic.

Dance is the mother of the arts. It is concerned with the communication of emotions or ideas through the medium of movement. The basic vehicle of dance is the human body and as art form, dance is expressed in movement. It attempts to covey the ideas or feeling through carefully selected patterns which are arranged in a form judged to be the best to meet the needs of the particular communications.

Dance is a symbol of cultural identity. It is a medium of cultural fusion with a focus of the intertwining of different cultures. In fact, dance today is not simply cross-cultural but pa-cultural and planetary.

To understand dance, we must open ourselves to the culture from which it springs; conversely, as we begin to gain insight into a dance, we are on a path to understanding the culture that produced it. This is the basic premise of dancing.

Dance will never die because it is being reborn through different dancers, different environments, and different cultures.

In education, dance is recognized as a wholesome activity that provides many opportunities from physical, mental, and social growth, with special emphasis on the creative and aesthetic aspects of movement. Since dance is movement, the dance program provides an excellent medium for physical development. A unique aspect of the development is a better understanding of the body as a tool for self-expression. However, not only is dance a tool for self-expression, but inherent in dance are excellent possibilities for over-all development.

Important attitudes and social learning can be promoted through a well-conducted program of dance activities. To be at ease with the opposite sex, to learn social graces, cooperation and to make common elements of courtesy a practice are important goals of rhythmic programs.

Development possibilities for fitness are also high in well-conducted rhythmic program. It also offers good opportunities for incidental and direct teaching in body mechanics and posture. (Dauer and Pangrazi 1975). Dance also provides p[pleasure in that it satisfies man's desires of excitement, recognition, acceptance by the group and his other psychological drives.

In the Philippines, dance is as diverse as the culture intermingling in the Archipelago. It encompasses all the dance forms that have been used by the Filipinos through the centuries to express themselves. This dazzling diversity of dances in different forms and dynamics grew out of the times, situations and experiences of the people and the exposure to the varied cultures and traditions introduced by the waves of colonial rule that have reached the Philippine shores (Alejandro, 1978).

The dances of the Philippines are deeply rooted in our culture. They are a beautiful part of our national and cultural heritage and it should be made an important part of every Filipino child's school experience.

THE EVOLUTION OF DANCE

The Primitive Era

The dance of the "primitive man" was technically the first dance form of any people. "Primitive dance" is a dance which is considered as dance in its purest form because this particular dance form has not been refined, developed, trained, or guided by an artist.

The definition of 'Philippine dance' is certainly mind-boggling. Pervasive influences from the West and from our Oriental neighbors have long redefined 'Filipino dance'. Many of our dance cultures are impure to a certain degree due to these influences. For example, the Silong sa Ganding, La Jota Paloana and Lanceros de Cuyo and the Sakuting are all impure Philippine dances because these dances are influences of the Hindu, Spanish, American and Chinese, respectively. With this premise alone, Philippine dance could be hard to define as we first have to establish a definition of what is Filipino.

The Philippines have been a melting pot of sorts in this part of the globe; or more specifically, a 'melting pot of "both" (Western and Oriental) cultures'. There is an undeniable fusion of the cultures brought about by foreigners to the country with the existing culture early "Filipinos" originally had. This has resulted in such a unique blend of cultures in the country that determining the end of native culture and the beginning of foreign cultures is so hard to trace. The Philippines has indeed become a West-tempered East. Philippine dance cultures were among the most affected by Western cultures. Filipinos nowadays, fortunately, appreciate both worlds. Whether the dance is cha-cha, ballroom, folk or ballet, surely the Filipinos can always dance to the beat.

Up in the Philippines' north-central provinces is a long and treacherous mountain range that early Spanish conquistadores dubbed cordillera, in reference to the irregular and elongated terrain that looks like a "knotted rope". The Gran Cordillera (Great Mountain Range) is the home of various tribes that settled there since time immemorial. The five largest groups among the Cordillera people are collectively called in the mnemonic BIBAK (for Bontoc, Ifugao, Benguet, Apayao and Kalingga). Five other tribes who co-exist with the BIBAK but are in lesser population are the Tinggian, Bago, Ikalahan (also called Kalanguya) and the Gaddang. The Ilonggots who share kinship with the Gran Cordillera people in terms of both material and non-material culture is often categorized as an Aeta group because of their physical appearance. The Tinggian are the indigenous inhabitants of the part of Abra in the central part of the Gran Cordillera. Although, they are simply called Igorots for being people 'who came from the mountains', the Tinggian people call themselves Itneg which means 'from the interior'.

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