On a personal note, I have been exposed to dance in the middle of my life and have been enjoying my daily life.
I wonder what kind of roots such enjoyable dance was born from.
In the 21st century, there are various genres of dance, each of which is danced all over the world. As for the types, it's hard to categorize (> <), but one way of categorizing could be: dances performed individually, dances performed in pairs, and dances performed in groups.
If we categorize by country or region, some representative ones would be:
Samba from Brazil, Tango from Argentina, Flamenco from Spain, Viennese Waltz originated from Germany and Austria and was indeed born in Vienna,
Jazz dance and Doggie from America, Hula Dance from Hawaii, also in America,
Belly dance originated from Egypt,
Chinese classical dance has a long history and is an excellent form of entertainment.
The ultra-typical one would be "Ballet", but it's surprising that it originated from Italy.
It underwent drastic changes during the French Revolution,
Originally centered around royalty and imperial families, it became a thing of the common people,
but it lost its momentum due to the fire at the Opera House in 1873.
Then, it bloomed in Russia in the 19th century.
Touching a little on Europe at the time,
it is said to have been born in the Renaissance, a representative period of arts and culture around the 15th century.
Nowadays, in Europe, as seen on the world map, they maintain a certain distance and establish borders, but there were various wars and conflicts,
and it was after World War II that the current form was established.
In addition, there are Salsa, Folk Dance, Pole Dance, Tap Dance, Reggae, and more, over 100 if counted.
Also, there are ones such as social dance that incorporate representative dances from many regions and exist as competitive events. In Japan, it originated from the Rokumeikan and has reached today through various circumstances.
In recent years, "K-POP Dance" from our neighbor, Korea, is now booming in popularity all over the world.
Also, popular among young people are street dances like breakdance and hip hop. At first glance, they look the same, but in reality, there are differences, but let's not touch on that here.
Speaking of which, the origins of these dances differ by country and region, as well as their types.
In Japan, there are several schools of traditional dance, and other unique dances depending on the region. Starting with Bon Dance, there are also Awa Dance, Yosakoi, Soran Bushi, and even Dojo-sukui.
We won't go into detail about the types any further, but if we trace their roots back to ancient times, we end up at the same place.
This thing called "dance", by definition, is "expressing oneself by moving to the sound and rhythm", embodying music, as it were, and that is how it is today.
Now, changing the focus, or rather, here comes the main point. How was this thing called "dance" born?
Its origin dates back to primitive times.
It is said that mankind was born about 5 million years ago, but who on earth did they ask? Was it written somewhere? No, no way. The oldest confirmed writing on Earth is symbol-like, and the things as writing are considered to have come from the four great civilizations like Egypt and Mesopotamia.
How did they decipher it?
Well, let's leave the details aside. In the old days, humans developed into the most advanced creatures among animals by walking on two feet and having hands that could use tools. They thought about things by using tools and created stability through residence.
This is a big difference from other animals.
Knowledge to protect oneself from carnivorous animals, practice to protect oneself from the natural environment. In a world of survival of the fittest, thinking is the greatest weapon for a weak animal.
Unlike birds making nests on tree branches, things like houses to protect oneself from enemies, all these can be said to be unique to humans.
In a time when there were neither writing nor language, how did they express their intentions?
And, did they have "emotions" at that point?
They probably did.
Even animals have them, don't they?
Cats and dogs wagging their tails, growling at enemies,
Things like gorillas drumming their chests.
Probably, in the era without words, humans were the same.
It is believed that the only way to convey emotions to others was through gestures and facial expressions.
Also, the joy of obtaining prey using tools, the sorrow faced in life such as "life and death" becoming a family, it is not an exaggeration to call these the original form of humans.
Perhaps, in the long history of living at home, a common language and writing developed in the course of communication among family members. This is nothing more than a conjecture, though.
Originally, regional community life began with hunting and clearing fields for survival, but before that, like animals today, they lived a life far removed from current human life in a world of "survival of the fittest".
After that, as regional community life began and social formation took place, language was born, writing was born, and it developed into a large country through interaction with other regions.
As this happened, people living in the same region started to find enjoyment and share information among their shared parts, and conversations were born, and they started to find "joy", one of the "emotions", while looking for some kind of enjoyment.
One of them was "moving the body to the rhythm", which is dance today. At that time, there was no such thing as music, and it was simply beating a tree or marking the rhythm with a shout.
It's not clear what led to its birth, but dance was incorporated as a folk event in ceremonies such as celebrations and prayers to the gods within the group.
Like this...
Or maybe not,
Perhaps such traditions were passed down and continued for a long time in that region,
Until today,
While changing,
Various dances like the ones mentioned above were born.
Happy Dance ☆ Enjoy Dancing