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Dance was also sometimes used to show feelings for one of the opposite gender. Before the production of written languages, dance was one of the methods of passing stories down from generation to generation. Another early use of dance may have been as a precursor to ecstatic trance states in healing rituals.
It is only since 1890 that it has been possible to portray dance in moving images on film. For many thousands of years, dance could only be preserved by words or paintings hence we only have fleeting glimpses of the breadth and range of the dancing that enriched and enchanted man and womankind for eons. Sadly the vast majority of the human experience of dance is lost to us. Sound recordings were first possible after 1877 and so the songs, melodies and refrains that accompanied dance have only been available for our enjoyment since the late 1800s’.
In primitive and ancient times the natural elements were given personalities, which were in turn abstracted as spirits and gods. By wearing masks and moving in certain patterns, individuals could impersonate these deities.
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Sacred dances were performed to influence the course of nature to bring rain, to facilitate a good harvest or a hunt, and to drive out evil. One of the most important patterns was the circle dance. The circle stands for itself; it is closed to the surrounding world and to spectators. The circle, or ring, dance was seen as an earthly counterpart of the heavenly dance of the angels.
In the western world artistic dancing remained a special preserve of technical groups of artists; dance as an art to be practiced and learnt. The majority of people did not consider dance to be a respectable activity to be performed in public and hence dancing was reserved for those who took the time and trouble to become accomplished in the skills of dance. In Hinduism however, dance has been a part of the scriptures and the works flowing and following from them, as well as rituals and practices, which put dance at the very heart and forefront of Hindu heritage and spirituality
Dance is a form of art which has a time structure, a maximum and minimum length, which are the same.
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There is nothing to dictate how long you must admire a painting, or a poem, or a sculpture, but with dance as also with music, the form requires that a certain portion of your time be taken.
Hence timing is important and the dance and the music has to use that time well if it is too short it will not have time to make much of an impression, if it is too long people may drift. Dance is an art which is more connected and to do with the body than any other art, painting, sculpture, music, writing. These other arts do involve the use of some small part of your body but dance claims the whole. As an art form dance reconnects you with your body and limbs.
As the dancer cannot overlook and properly admire his dance and the onlookers cannot be in and within the dance, to what extent can a dance performance really be appreciated and understood? It seems as if this dichotomy between the dance, the dancer and those being dazzled by the dance, is destined to remain.
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What is important however is to understand that this distinction is there and your appreciation of dance is mainly of a subjective nature.
In many respects it is similar to religious experiences, and enlightenments, that those who have felt and been moved by such phenomena have difficulty in adequately getting across to another the power and emotion of the happening. Of course all this also has a lot to do with the fact that often, the experiencer himself does not fully fathom the precise nature of the mood and emotion that he has undergone and its motivation and purpose. It is therefore very difficult to get across in words or other media what you feel and experience when you dance. And so it should be, that is the essence of such phenomena
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