“Dance is to express, not to impress.” --- Author unknown
This quote got me thinking about why humans dance. Why do dancers, dance? I spent some time pondering this question. Discovering the answer necessitates defining the areas of dance, since there may be different reasons why we dance depending on the type or category of dance.
The three major areas of dance are social dance, performance dance and competition dance. What motivates people to participate in one of these three areas are different but the answer is not always black or white but rather shades of gray, the borders are fluid, the lines are blurred and they frequently intersect.
* Quantum Physics’ Observer Effect (Wikipedia): “In physics the term observer effect refers to changes that the act of observation will make on the phenomenon being observed. This is often the result of instruments that, by necessity, alter the state of what they measure in some manner. This effect can be observed in many domains of physics.”
Additional dance info:
http://pwdancetime.blogspot.com/ or http://www.dancetime.com/
The three major areas of dance are social dance, performance dance and competition dance. What motivates people to participate in one of these three areas are different but the answer is not always black or white but rather shades of gray, the borders are fluid, the lines are blurred and they frequently intersect.
Dancing is an ekphrastic art form because it is a response to another art form, music. Wikipedia describes ekphrasis as, “…a device in which one medium of art tries to relate to another medium by defining and describing its essence and form, and in doing so, relate more directly to the audience, through its illuminative liveliness.”
Have you noticed how you remember a song differently when you’ve experienced an incredible dance to that song or watched a fabulous dance routine to a song? The dance responds to the music, ekphrastically. The three areas of dance represent varying degrees of ekphrasis, with performance dance most closely resembling an ekphrastic form of art. The three forms of dance fulfill different human needs, reasons why dancers dance and why people decide to learn to dance. In this article I will discuss briefly, some possible motivations for social, competitive and performance dancing.
Having studied psychology and earning a Bachelors of Arts degree in Psychology at SDSU and teaching dance for over three decades in San Diego, California was helpful in tackling these questions of motivation.
The psychology of social partner dancing includes the pervasive human need for tactile stimulation or put more simply, hand holding, hugging and touching. Years ago, I read that babies who were not cuddled for a certain period after birth were more likely not to survive long in orphanages.
Also, communication is an essential component of psychological health, dancing uses non-verbal communication. For example, we communicate, at times, by a slight tensing of a hand or shoulder while navigating the dance floor during floor crafting.
Dance floors are the perfect meet-up venues for a safe, comfortable place to meet other people and for social networking. Dancers are not couch potatoes; they do not enjoy sitting alone staring at the TV while channel surfing.
Dancing is great exercise for increasing cardio-vascular, strengthening muscles, increasing flexibility and for stress reduction.
In dance, we create communities, meet new people, make long lasting friendships with people that have a common interest, dancing. Dancing is remedies loneliness, isolation, boredom and inertia.
Also, communication is an essential component of psychological health, dancing uses non-verbal communication. For example, we communicate, at times, by a slight tensing of a hand or shoulder while navigating the dance floor during floor crafting.
Dance floors are the perfect meet-up venues for a safe, comfortable place to meet other people and for social networking. Dancers are not couch potatoes; they do not enjoy sitting alone staring at the TV while channel surfing.
Dancing is great exercise for increasing cardio-vascular, strengthening muscles, increasing flexibility and for stress reduction.
In dance, we create communities, meet new people, make long lasting friendships with people that have a common interest, dancing. Dancing is remedies loneliness, isolation, boredom and inertia.
Competition dancing possesses most of these benefits, reasons and fulfills many of the same needs as social dancing but includes the human need to compete with others and ourselves, to improve, to be ranked and rated, to develop hierarchies and to push ourselves to excel. We all know the importance, in our culture of sporting games, the Olympics, competing for prizes, in business and among nations.
Dance can be a competitive sport and has become very popular due to the television network shows like Dancing With The Stars. Competition dancing is often referred to as Dancesport, which has flourished in the past decade.
Historically, dances are created as a response to music and usually exist in nightclubs or in communities as part of a culture. Hence, Brazil’s samba, Argentine tango, Austria’s Viennese waltz and the United States' swing including West Coast swing started as regional dances but eventually spread worldwide.
Historically, dances are created as a response to music and usually exist in nightclubs or in communities as part of a culture. Hence, Brazil’s samba, Argentine tango, Austria’s Viennese waltz and the United States' swing including West Coast swing started as regional dances but eventually spread worldwide.
Generally, after a period of time, Dancesport organizations begin the tedious process of documenting the rhythm units, patterns, figures of the dances in order to standardize them for competition allowing judges to grade everyone with the same standards of dance, patterns, timing, position, etc. This process doesn’t always serve the dance forms well. At times, the creativity and spontaneity is removed in this process in order to achieve technical excellence and standardization of the form. However, it does make judging and learning the patterns, sequences and amalgamations easier since there are usually a finite number of figures per dance level with a few variations. This restrictive standardization does not exist in performance dancing.
Performance dance is the form that most closely fulfills the human need to express oneself artistically. The Arts include visual, auditory, written and movement/kinesthetic art forms. Some of the visual arts are painting, sculpture, installations and fashion. Auditory arts include music/instruments, voice/singing and oral poetry/stories. Written arts include poetry, fiction, non-fiction and journalism. The movement/kinesthetic arts include martial arts and dance, which expands out to ballet, modern, jazz, hip hop, social ballroom, folk and Cajun. Television, movies, videos, theatre and YouTube blend the arts to include music and dance or performance poetry, etc.
Partner performance dancing blends the components of an ekphrasis art form, as a response to a piece of music, musicality, and the human need for aesthetics. Good technical dancing and aesthetics add to the experience of social dancing partnerships. With partner dancing, whether social or performance, the needs of the partner are paramount but also the human need of aesthetics, creating beautiful art together is important. There is considerable dialogue among dancers suggesting that aesthetic considerations conflict with attention to ones partner in dancing but I disagree.
Dancing is organic; it is like an evolving kinesthetic story-telling between two people that is changed when it is observed like the "observer effect" in quantum physics* (see note on quantum physics below). The minute the dance is observed, the observer becomes part of the story. It is no longer a twosome but a threesome, etc. The partners do not lose sight of each other in order to show off but rather re-design the dance to include the observer, to entertain, to please and the evolving dance is permanently changed, transformed into a three-minute play of sorts with music, characters, audience and dancing!
Partner performance dancing blends the components of an ekphrasis art form, as a response to a piece of music, musicality, and the human need for aesthetics. Good technical dancing and aesthetics add to the experience of social dancing partnerships. With partner dancing, whether social or performance, the needs of the partner are paramount but also the human need of aesthetics, creating beautiful art together is important. There is considerable dialogue among dancers suggesting that aesthetic considerations conflict with attention to ones partner in dancing but I disagree.
Dancing is organic; it is like an evolving kinesthetic story-telling between two people that is changed when it is observed like the "observer effect" in quantum physics* (see note on quantum physics below). The minute the dance is observed, the observer becomes part of the story. It is no longer a twosome but a threesome, etc. The partners do not lose sight of each other in order to show off but rather re-design the dance to include the observer, to entertain, to please and the evolving dance is permanently changed, transformed into a three-minute play of sorts with music, characters, audience and dancing!
The dialogue about why dancers dance and why people want to learn to dance should be expanded to include the immense complexities of human nature and not limited to what any one individual or group believes are the reasons. I hope the conversation will continue to grow and that new voices will add to the dialogue. It should be an ongoing discovery since no one has all the answers.
My viewpoint was formed over the years through my deep appreciation and long lasting relationship with the arts. I have played the violin, sang in choruses, worked in an art classroom, performed in dance, taught dancing, choreographed dance routines, written poetry and short stories and acted in plays. I am looking forward to a day when I will have the time to oil paint!
My viewpoint was formed over the years through my deep appreciation and long lasting relationship with the arts. I have played the violin, sang in choruses, worked in an art classroom, performed in dance, taught dancing, choreographed dance routines, written poetry and short stories and acted in plays. I am looking forward to a day when I will have the time to oil paint!
Dance is an art form. It is “poetry in motion.” It functions as a creative response, ekphrasis, to the art of music. It is a continuing story-telling among dancers that is created by dance partnerships and changed when observed by anyone.
* Quantum Physics’ Observer Effect (Wikipedia): “In physics the term observer effect refers to changes that the act of observation will make on the phenomenon being observed. This is often the result of instruments that, by necessity, alter the state of what they measure in some manner. This effect can be observed in many domains of physics.”
Additional dance info:
http://pwdancetime.blogspot.com/ or http://www.dancetime.com/
About the Author
Pattie Wells
hails from San Diego, California where she writes article and video blogs for
her world dance resource website at DanceTime.com.
Also, Pattie is working on several writing projects including her new website
at PattieWells.com, a novel in linked
stories and a poetry manuscript titled Fire In Rain. In addition, she continues to teach a limited
number of private dance
lessons in San Diego including dance lessons
for weddings.
