Watch a brief animation about the types and styles of dance.
TRANSCRIPT
OK, anybody can dance, right? I mean, when you're out and about groovin' to a beat, you are dancing and everybody else is dancing and you are all just partying down! But let's get real - there's lots and lots of different kinds of dance! There's ballet and jazz and modern and tango, merengue, the mambo and salsa, African, Russian, the polka, flamenco, belly dance, square dance and tap - to name just a few!
It's all about movement and rhythm and patterns - you just remember the steps and combinations and follow the music. Or you can improvise and make up a dance to like communicate something, a feeling, an idea or a story type thing. But you don't have to use words - just move your body because movement's the language of dance!
And let's say you have an idea for a dance that you want other people to do - that's called choreography - it's sort of like writing, except without any words! Lots of great dancers are also choreographers, like Isadora Duncan and Twyla Tharp. And then too a lot of them are into hanging with other kinds of artists - the sculptor Isamu Noguchi (hey kids - check him out in the sculpture section!) made some slammin' sets and costumes for Martha Graham. What a team!
Also - check it out - dancing doesn't have to be on a stage or in a club - people dance in all kinds of places, like on the street or in a barn or in the middle of a village! All sizes and shapes of people dance - all ages too.
So next time you are dancing just think about all those other folks all over the world who are dancing with you!
