Western dance

Western dance, history of Western dance from ancient times to the present and including the development of ballet, the waltz, and various types of modern dance.

The peoples of the West—of Europe and of the countries founded through permanent European settlement elsewhere—have a history of dance characterized by great diversity and rapid change. Whereas most dancers of the East repeated highly refined forms of movement that had remained virtually unchanged for centuries or millennia, Western dancers showed a constant readiness, even eagerness, to accept new vehicles for their dancing. From the earliest records, it appears that Western dance has always embraced an enormous variety of communal or ritual dances, of social dances enjoyed by many different levels of society, and of skilled theatrical dances that followed distinct but often overlapping lines of development.

The article folk art covers in greater detail the unique nature, techniques, forms, and functions, and the historical developments of each of these kinds of Western dance. In addition, the article dance covers the aesthetics and the varieties of dance, both Western and non-Western.

The West cannot always be clearly distinguished from the non-West, especially in such countries as Russia or other regions of the former Soviet Union, where some dances are Asian and others European in origin and character. This article focuses on the dance of Western peoples, noting where appropriate the influence of other cultures.

From antiquity through the Renaissance

Before written records were left, a vast span of time elapsed about which scholars can only speculate. Pictorial records in cave paintings in Spain and France showing dancelike formations have led to the conjecture that religious rites and attempts to influence events through sympathetic magic were central motivations of prehistoric dance. Such speculations have been reinforced by observation of dances of primitive peoples in the contemporary world, though the connection between ancient and modern “primitives” is by no means accepted by many scholars. If the dances recorded in early written records represented a continuity from prehistoric dances, there may have been prehistoric work dances, war dances, and erotic couple and group dances as well. One couple dance surviving in the 20th century, the Bavarian-Austrian Schuhplattler, is considered by historians to be of Neolithic origin, from before 3000 bc.

Dance in the ancient world

In the civilizations of Egypt, Greece and its neighbouring islands, and Rome, written records supplement the many pictorial remains. Written records alone provide information about ancient Jewish dancing. There are still conjectures about the style, pattern, and purpose of ancient dances, but there is far more concrete evidence.

Ancient Egyptian dance

Formalized ritual and ceremonial dances in which the dancing priest–king represented the person of a god or the servant and regenerator of his people were practiced in Egypt. These dances, culminating in ceremonies representing the death and rebirth of the god Osiris, became more and more complex, and ultimately they could be executed only by specially trained dancers. From Egypt also come the earliest written documentations of the dance. These records speak of a class of professional dancers, originally imported from the interior of Africa, to satisfy the wealthy and powerful during hours of leisure and to perform at religious and funerary celebrations. These dancers were considered highly valuable possessions, especially the Pygmy dancers who became famous for their artistry. One of the pharaohs prayed to become a “dance dwarf of god” after his death, and King Neferkare (3rd millennium bc) admonished one of his marshals to rush such a “dance dwarf from the Land of Spirits” to his court.

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There is considerable agreement that the belly dance, now performed by dancers from the Middle East, is of African origin. A report of the 4th century bc from Memphis in Egypt described in detail the performance of an apparently rumba-like couple dance with an unquestionably erotic character. The Egyptians also knew acrobatic exhibition dances akin to the present-day adagio dances. They definitely were aware of the sensual allure of the sparsely clad body in graceful movement. A tomb painting from Shaykh ʿAbd al-Qurnah, now in the British Museum, shows dancers dressed only in rings and belts, apparently designed to heighten the appeal of their nudity. These figures probably were intended to entertain the dead as they had been entertained in life.

Egypt, then, presented a dancing scene that was already varied and sophisticated. In addition to their own danced temple rituals and the Pygmy dancers imported from the headwaters of the Nile, there were Hindu dancing girls from conquered countries to the east. This new dance had none of the long masculine strides or the stiff, angular postures seen in so many Egyptian stone reliefs. Lines of movement undulated softly, nowhere bending sharply or breaking. These Asiatic girls brought a true feminine style to Egyptian dance.