Brief History

and
Nature of Dance
 Different Eras of Dance
• Primitive Cultures
• Ancient Egypt
• Ancient Greek
• Development of the Catholic
Church
• Nobility
• Early Renaissance Period
• Courts of Europe
 Primitive Cultures
• The term “primitive cultures” was
used by the first anthropologists
to describe non-European groups
of people and their customs
because they believed, and not
always correctly, that they were
closely related to prehistoric
cultures.
 Primitive Cultures
• As the term has a somewhat
biased and negative
connotation, especially when
used in comparison to western
culture, contemporary
anthropologists use other
words , like “bands” or tribes.
 Primitive Culture dance eras in the Philippines

The following are various indigenous dances of the

Moro

Igorot

Lumad
The following are various indigenous dances of the major
ethnic groupings of the Philippines
Igorot
There are six Igorot ethnolinguistic tribes
living in Luzon's mountain terrains: the
Bontoc, Ifugao, Benguet, Apayo, and the
Kalinga tribes, which retained much of their
anito religions. Their lives have been
centered on appeasing their gods and
maintaining a harmonious relationship
between spirits and man. Dances are
usually linked to rituals for a good harvest,
health, prayers for peace, and safety in war.
The following are various indigenous dances of the major
ethnic groupings of the Philippines

Moro
The Moro people are the
various usually unrelated
Muslim Filipino ethnic groups.
Most of their dances by
intricate hand and arm
movements, accompanied by
instruments such as the agong
and kulintang
The following are various indigenous dances of the major
ethnic groupings of the Philippines

Lumad
The non-islamic natives of
Mindanao are collectively
known as the Lumad people.
Like the Tagakaulo, they still
worshiping anitos through
dance.
 Ancient Egypt
• The ancient Egyptians were a
dance loving people. Dancers
were commonly depicted on
murals, tomb paintings and
temple engravings.
• Ideopgraphs show a man
dancing to represent joy and
happines.
 Ancient Egypt
Dance was part of the Egyptian
ethos and featured prominently
in religious ritual and ceremony
on social occasions and in
Egyptian funerary practices
regarding the afterlife.
 Ancient Egypt
• Dances were performed “
for magical purposes, rites
of passage, to induce states
ecstacy or trance, mime; as
homage: honor
entertainment and even for
erotic purposes.
 Ancient Egypt
• “ Dances were
performed inside and
outside; by individual's
pair but mostly by groups
at both sacred and
secular occassions.
 Ancient Egypt
• Dance rhythms were provided by
hand clapping, finger snapping,
tambourines, drums, and body
slapping. Musicians played flutes,
harps, lyres and clarinets,
vocalizations included songs, cries
choruses and rhythmic noices.
 Ancient Egypt
• Dancers often wore bells
on their fingers. They
performed nude, and in
loincloths, flowing
transparent robes and
skirts of various shapes
and sizes.
 Ancient Egypt
• Dancers often wore make-up,
jewelry and strange hairdos
with beads, balls or cone-shape
tufs; Accessories included
boomerangs and gavel-headed
sticks. The hieroglyph for heart
was a dancing figure.
 Greek and Bacchanalian Dance
• Dance, according to Greek thought,
was one of the civilizing activities,
like wine making and music.
• Learning to Dance was Considered
a necessary part of and education
which favored learning an
appreciation of beauty.
 Greek and Bacchanalian Dance
• Ancient Greece drove a sharp distinction
between Apollonian dance and the
Dionysian dance.
• The former-the Apollonian dance-was
accompanied by guitars called lyres, lutes
and kitharas. It was a ceremonial dance
incorporating slower cut dances performed
during religious festivals, as well as a
martial and social dances performed during
communal events and funeral practices.
 Greek and Bacchanalian Dance
• The Dionysian or Bacchanalian
dance, associated with cult of
Dionysus, is about passion, panic
and desire. It is an “orgasmic”
dance with breathtaking moves
whose purpose is to connect to
all frenetic dance vibration.
 Greek and Bacchanalian Dance
• The synthesis of the Apollonian and
Dionysian is the art of dance.
• The tension between these opposites
played an instrumental role in the
reshaping of the ancient Greek
Theater and the birth of tragedy in
the evolution of the arts for
civilization.
 Pre-Colonial
• Before the recorded history of
the Philippines, before the
Spanish conquistadors
conquered and Christianized
the populace, from the earliest
occupation of this volcanic
archipelago, the people
danced.
 Pre-Colonial
• They danced to appease the
gods, to curry favor from
powerful spirits, to celebrate a
hunt or harvest, to mimic the
exotic life forms around them.
 Pre-Colonial
• They danced their stories
and their shamanic rituals,
their rites of passage and
their remembered legends
and history.
 Pre-Colonial
• Rural dances include such
favorites as the high-stepping
Tinikling, which mimics a bird,
and Gaway-Gaway which
features the movement of
children pulling the stalks of the
gaway roots during bountiful
harvest
 Pre-Colonial
• The pagan tribes, the
Higaonon, Subanon, Bagobo,
and others who have
inhabited the Philippines for
thousands of years, preserved
their customs and symbolic
dances.
 Pre-Colonial
• Partly through isolation,
they kept their culture free
from the influence of the
waves of immigrants who
settled the archiepelago
over the centuries.
 Pre-Colonial
• Today, tribal dances like
• Dugso, Sohten and Lawin-Lawin
-are carefully documented and
kept alive in performance by
Filipino folk dance troupes and
cultural institutions, such as the
Parangal Dance Company.
 Nobility
• Baroque dance is the
conventional name given to the
style of dancing that had its
during the seventeenth century
and dominated the eighteen
century until the Frence
Revolution. Louis XIV was a major
influence in its development and
promotion.
 Nobility
• Even at the age of fourteen,
Louis was an accomplished: as
the sun god Apollo in the Ballet
de la Nuit (1653), he became
Le Roi Soleil, an image that he
was cultivate throughout his
life.
 Nobility
• His countries were expected to
dance in his new style at the
formal balls, and they
performed in court ballets, in
rather a similar fashion to
what was considered
appropriate to Stuart court
masques.
 Nobility
• During 17th century dancing
and not only a great social
importance, but could also
carry political importance.
 Nobility
• In 1661, Louis founded the Academic
Royale de Dase. The academy was
responsible for devising a system of
notation (first published by Raoul
Auger Feuillet in his book
Choreographic in 1799) to enable
dancing masters more readily to
assimilate to the new style of dancing
and to learn dances.
 Nobility
• Dance increased in
sophistication and social
importance through the 14th
century, but unfotunately no
choreoraphic descriptions
survive from the century.
 Nobility
• It is preserve music
tabulatures and literatures,
such as Boccaccio's
Decameron, that we know
the names of these lost
dances.
 Early Renaissance Period
• The 15th century is the first
period in western history to
have dance documented
well enough for
reconstruction.
 Early Renaissance Period
• Several surviving
manuscripts describe the
dances of the aristocracy,
for whom dance was an
important courtly pastime.
 Early Renaissance Period
• The dances from the
northern courts (primarily
Burgundy)
• The primary dance of the
Burgundian court was the
stately Bassedanse.
 Early Renaissance Period
• This was a memorized sequence
of steps performed as a
processional, dance to music in
perfect time.
• But the epitome of Italian court
dance was the Ballo.
 Early Renaissance Period
• The 15th century Balli was
beautifully designed
choreogphies for a set number of
dancers that featured a wide
variety of steps, figures and
rhythms. Unlike the Bassadanza,
the music and dance phrases of
the Balli were inseperable.
 Courts of Europe
• Renaissane dances belong to
the broad group of historical
dances.
• During the renaissance period,
there was a distinction
between country dances and
court dances .
 Courts of Europe
• Court dances required the
dancers to be trained and
were often for display and
entertainment, wereas country
dances could be attemted by
anyone.
 Courts of Europe
• At court, the formal
entertainment would often be
followed by many hours of
country dances which all
present could join in.
 Courts of Europe
• Dances described as country
dances such as Chiarantana or
Chiranzana remained popular
over long period-over two
centuries in the case of this
dance.
• A renaissance dance can be
likened to a ball.
 Courts of Europe
• Knowledge of court dances has
survived better than that of
country dances as they were
collected by dancing masters
in manuscripts and later in
printed books.
 Courts of Europe

• The former, in which the

• Queen Elizabeth I enjoyed

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