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Folk dance essay

Folk Dance The term folk dance describes dances that share some or all of the following attributes: * They are dances performed at social functions by people with little or no professional training, often to traditional music or music based on traditional music. * They are not designed for public performance or the stage, although traditional folkdances may be later arranged and set for stage performances. Their execution is dominated by an inherited tradition rather than by innovation (although like all folk traditions they do evolve) * New dancers often learn informally by observing others and/or receiving help from others. More controversially, some people define folk dancing as dancing for which there is no governing body or dancing for which there are no competitive or professional performances. Types of folk dance include clogging, English country dance, international folk dance, Irish dance, Maypole dance, Morris dance, Nordic polska dance, Ball de bastons, square dance, and sword dance.

Sword dances include Longsword dances and rapper dancing. Some choreographed dances such as contra dance, Israeli folk dance, Scottish country dance, and modern Western square dance, are called folk dances, though this is not true in the strictest sense. Some characteristics of folk dance: -differed from place to place. – give pleasure to dancers and audiences. –reflects cultures introduced by invaders and conquerors -provided socialization and a sense of community. -passed down from generation to generation. -some groups have a repertory of dances. sometimes done on specific occasions, social gatherings, and festivals International folk dances: International folk dance is a genre of dance wherein selected folk dances from multiple ethnic groups are done by the same dancers, typically as part of a regular recreational dance club, for performances or at other events. The dances are typically considered the products of national or cultural traditions rather than part of an international tradition. International folk dancers need not be a member of any particular ethnicity.

It is done for various purposes, typically for preservation, recreation, or performance. Groups that dance for different purposes tend to do dances differently, and to select different dances. Recreational dancers select and tend to alter the dances (often unintentionally) according to their own tastes, and as a result of the changes that inevitably occur as dances are passed on from one person to the next. Performers typically prefer dramatic, flamboyant, or athletic dances, and they often tend to dance with stylized techniques and exaggerated movements.

Dances for performances are usually selected and choreographed for presentation on stage. Nevertheless there is substantial overlap between the dances done for recreation and performance. Some dancers of both types are often concerned with the preservation of a dance for its cultural value. Trinidad and Tobago folk dance CultureSince the days of the Amerindians, through the colonial period and to the present, traditional dances of the Caribs, Arawaks, Tainos, and Warrahoons, as well as those of West Africa, Northern India and various parts of Europe have factored into the dance life of Trinidad and Tobago.

It was in the 1930s, 40s, and 50s, when ballet was the only formally taught dance (and taught only to a certain sector of society), that world-famous pioneers like Beryl Mc Burnie and Boscoe Holder brought the folk dances of the villages on to the stage – in Trinidad and Tobago and beyond. The scope and access of formal dance opened up significantly after that. Then, in the 1970s and 80s, modern dance pioneer Astor Johnson took things a step further and fused Graham- and Horton-based modern dance with traditional movement.

Other young modern dance performers and choreographers of the time, such as Carol La Chapelle and Noble Douglas, who were trained both in Trinidad and Tobago and abroad, came to prominence in the 1970s under Astor Johnson’s Repertory Dance Theatre and later with their own dance companies. Both maintain their careers in dance as teachers, choreographers and artistic directors. In the 1980s and 1990s, many other young dancers got opportunities to go away to further their dance ambitions; many studied at Juilliard and the Ailey School in New York.

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