Dance Styles
Hip Hop style
Hip Hop dancing is a style of street dancing that through Black and Latin American culture mainly in New York and Los Angeles ghettos when street DJs started taking out the melodies in music and focusing on the beats.
Salsa
The Salsa is a lively, fiery and enjoyable dance that is really easy to get the basics of. In essence, Salsa is no more than a step forward and a step back, with a rock in between. It's largely a partner dance, but with many fancy "shines" that can be thrown in individually.
Bollywood
Bollywood dance is the dance-form used in the Indian films. It is a mixture of numerous styles. These styles include belly-dancing, kathak, Indian folk, Western popular, and "modern", jazz, and even Western erotic dancing.
Contemporary
Contemporary dance is a style of expressive dance that combines elements of several dance genres including modern, jazz, lyrical and classical ballet. Contemporary dancers strive to connect the mind and the body through fluid dance movements.
Tango
Tango is earthy and dramatic. Although walking movements dominate, Tango walks, having a "stalking" or "sneaking" character, are unlike the walks of other ballroom dances. Movements are sometimes slow and slithery, and other times sharp and stacatto, such as a quick foot flick or a sharp head snap to promenade position.
Waltz
The romantic Waltz is one of the most popular ballroom dances of all time. Considered by some as the "mother of present day dances" and the "backbone dance" of the ballroom, the Waltz is the basis for many dances. Developed in Germany, the Waltz is popular all over the world.
Cha Cha
The Cha Cha is one of the most popular of the social Latin-American dances. Lively and flirtatious, the Cha Cha is full of passion and energy.
Jive
Jive is one of the five International Latin dances. A lively, and uninhibited variation of Jitterbug, many of its basic patterns are similar to those of East Coast Swing. Jive is a very happy, boppy, energetic dance, with plenty of knee-lifting, bending, and rocking of the hips.
Bachata
Emerging in early ‘60’s as romantic guitar music from Dominican Republic, “bachata” refers to parties of food and music (guitar-based). Influenced by Cuban bolero, the Merengue, Cuban son and many others from the region, it has a number of forms including: Bolero, Cabaret, Sexual Double Entendre, Techno, Frontier, and of course Romantic Bachata.
Merengue
Its simple small steps and characteristic hip swing, complete with graceful arm flourishes make this dance easy to learn and perfect for fast Latin music. The merengue is a popular dance of Haiti and the Dominican Republic.
Indian Classical
India has thousands of year old tradition of fine arts and classical and folk music and dances. Some of the world-famous dance forms that originated and evolved in India are Bharatnatyam, Kathak, Kathakali, Kuchipudi, Manipuri, Mohiniattam and Odissi.
Semi Classical
The steps and moves of semi-classical dance are not as complex or intricate as pure classical forms. However, the authenticity of the Indian dance form is preserved and students are able to grasp these lighter semi-classical dances easily.
Lavani
Vivacious, energetic and dramatic. These three words aptly describe the scintillating dance form called Lavani. Lavani is one of Maharashtra’s oldest dance and music forms. It is a combination of traditional music coupled with vibrant dance steps. Its origins trace back to the 1560’s and is believed to be originated from the word Lavanya which means beautiful or beauty.
Bhangra
Bhangra is a traditional ‘Lawk Naach’ (Folk Dance) of the Punjab. Also known as the ‘land of five rivers’, Punjab is a large region in the north of India and is rich in its culture and tradition.
Folk
Indian folk and tribal dances are simple and are performed to express joy. In India we have festivals and celebrations virtually every day.
Hip Hop style
Hip Hop dancing is a style of street dancing that evolved in the 1970's through Black and Latin American culture mainly in New York and Los Angeles ghettos when street DJs started taking out the melodies in music and focusing on the beats.
Hip Hop dancing is an impressive combination of footwork, freezes, body isolation in a performative style. Solo dancers show their ingenuity by stringing together moves, footwork, and tricks to music. Although there are many, "Popping" and "Locking" are well-known types of Hip Hop dancing. Jorge "Popmaster Fabel" Pabon writes, "Dancing on beat is most important. Riding the rhythm makes the difference between dance and unstructured movement."
Salsa
The Salsa is a lively, fiery and enjoyable dance that is really easy to get the basics of. In essence, Salsa is no more than a step forward and a step back, with a rock in between. It's largely a partner dance, but with many fancy "shines" that can be thrown in individually.
There are many different styles of Salsa dance popular today. Each style represents the cultural preferences of dancers. You can be sure that Salsa dancers from other cities, neighborhoods, or other times, dance differently. Each Salsa dance style has its own distinct characteristics. The names of the styles are based on the people or geographic area that popularized them. Also, Salsa can be danced while accenting different beats in the music.
Bollywood
Bollywood dance is the dance-form used in the Indian films. It is a mixture of numerous styles. These styles include belly-dancing, kathak, Indian folk, Western popular, and "modern", jazz, and even Western erotic dancing. In this web page, we will look at Bollywood dance and place it within the commercial and artistic framework of the South Asian film world.In the strict sense the term "Bollywood" refers to the Hindi culture, art, and film industry from Bombay. The other film centres of South Asia are often referred to by their own designations (e.g., Lollywood (Lahore), Tollywood (Andhra Pradesh)). However since the Bombay Hindi film industry dwarfs the other productions centres, the term "Bollywood" is generally extended to mean the entire South Asian film culture. For the purpose of this web-page, we will use the more general meaning.
Contemporary
Contemporary dance is a style of expressive dance that combines elements of several dance genres including modern, jazz, lyrical and classical ballet. Contemporary dancers strive to connect the mind and the body through fluid dance movements.
Contemporary dance stresses versatility and improvisation, unlike the strict, structured nature of ballet. Contemporary dancers focus on floorwork, using gravity to pull them down to the floor. This dance genre is often done in bare feet. Contemporary dance can be performed to many different styles of music.
Tango
Tango is earthy and dramatic. Although walking movements dominate, Tango walks, having a "stalking" or "sneaking" character, are unlike the walks of other ballroom dances. Movements are sometimes slow and slithery, and other times sharp and stacatto, such as a quick foot flick or a sharp head snap to promenade position. Tango has the same counter clockwise flow of movement around the dance floor, but with a lesser sense of urgency in comparison to the smoother and more continuous ballroom dances. American Style Tango, especially at highly-developed skill levels, makes great use of open and alternate dance positions to further showcase Tango's dramatic nature.
Ballroom Tango is a ballroom dance that branched away from its original Argentine roots by allowing European, American, Hollywood, and competitive (a.k.a dancesport) influences into the style and execution of the dance.
Waltz
The romantic Waltz is one of the most popular ballroom dances of all time. Considered by some as the "mother of present day dances" and the "backbone dance" of the ballroom, the Waltz is the basis for many dances. Developed in Germany, the Waltz is popular all over the world. A truly romantic dance, the Waltz is comprised of soft, round, flowing movements. The Waltz is a smooth dance that travels around the line of dance. Unique to the Waltz are the techniques of "rise and fall" and "body sway." Rise and fall is the elevating and lowering that a dancer feels as he or she moves onto the toes, then relaxes through the knee and ankle, ending on a flat foot. This stylish action gives couples an up-and-down appearance as they glide effortlessly around the floor. Body sway gives couples a pendulum-like look, swinging and swaying their upper bodies in the direction they are moving. These actions should be smooth and confident, making the Waltz a simple, yet elegant and beautiful dance.
Cha Cha
The Cha Cha is one of the most popular of the social Latin-American dances. Lively and flirtatious, the Cha Cha is full of passion and energy.
The Cha Cha is a vibrant, flamboyant and playful dance. The light and bubbly feel of the Cha Cha gives it a unique sense of fun for dancers throughout the world. The Cha Cha requires small steps and lots of hip motion (Cuban motion), as it is danced in 4/4 time. The fourth beat is split into two, giving it the characteristic 2,3,4 & 1 rhythm. Therefore, five steps are danced to four beats as in the "One, two, cha cha cha" rhythm.
Also called the Cha Cha Cha, this unmistakable dance originated in Cuba in the 1940s. Composer and violinist Enrique Jorrin developed the dance as a variant of the Mambo and Rumba. The name is onomatopoeic, derived from the sound of dancers' shoes as they shuffled around the floor.
Jive
Jive is one of the five International Latin dances. A lively, and uninhibited variation of Jitterbug, many of its basic patterns are similar to those of East Coast Swing. Jive is a very happy, boppy, energetic dance, with plenty of knee-lifting, bending, and rocking of the hips. The fastest of the Latin dances , Jive incorporates lots of kicks and flicks, even twirling of the woman, and doesn't move around the dance floor like other dances. Although Jive dancers may appear to be moving their feet haphazardly in every direction, the feet are actually well-controlled under the body with the knees close together.
Bachata
Well, a beautiful dance from the Dominican Republic. Bachata is dated back to the early 20th century. It derived from the bolero, which is from Cuba, imported into the Dominican Republic. Very similar instrumentation, but the only difference then is instead of maracas, they have the güira. The music is very similar. It was known as bolero campesino, which is like peasant bolero. And then, little by little, more people started to play it in the rural towns, and it started to grow. And it became musica amargue. The music itself is just very straightforward. The words are always more about bitterness and heartbreaks, and women needing the guys, and pain, someone losing someone, or someone cheating. It's always very sad. But the way that we dance it, we reflects kind of like how we let out the steam. How do we cope with it? And we cope with it through dancing.
Merengue
Its simple small steps and characteristic hip swing, complete with graceful arm flourishes make this dance easy to learn and perfect for fast Latin music. The merengue is a popular dance of Haiti and the Dominican Republic.
The merengue beat is a strong one-two rhythm, which is interpreted as two dance steps using the characteristic pumping action and there is no deviation from this simple rhythm so the steps themselves are very easy, an advantage which has resulted in many people being able to get up and just dance the merengue without any formal tuition.
The moves involve an up and down motion of the hips as you bend the knee and drag the step.
Indian Classical
India has thousands of year old tradition of fine arts and classical and folk music and dances. Some of the world-famous dance forms that originated and evolved in India are Bharatnatyam, Kathak, Kathakali, Kuchipudi, Manipuri, Mohiniattam and Odissi. All these dance forms use basically the same 'mudras' or signs of hand as a common language of expression and were originally performed in the temples to entertain various Gods and Goddesses. They were also effective in carrying forward the various mythological stories from generation to generation while entertaining the audiences. It eventually became a part of 'Natya Shashtra', as propounded by Sage Bharata to compile and forge some rules and regulations of entertaining arts.
Semi Classical
The steps and moves of semi-classical dance are not as complex or intricate as pure classical forms. However, the authenticity of the Indian dance form is preserved and students are able to grasp these lighter semi-classical dances easily. Semi-classical dances are fun and fluid.
This type of dance breaks the stylized structures and forms of the classical dance, and adopts a more contemporary feel and steps,. All along the ethos of the basic dance remains intact. Semi classical is the combination of classical dance performed on any Bhajans and Ghazals.
Lavani
Vivacious, energetic and dramatic. These three words aptly describe the scintillating dance form called Lavani. Lavani is one of Maharashtra’s oldest dance and music forms. It is a combination of traditional music coupled with vibrant dance steps. Its origins trace back to the 1560’s and is believed to be originated from the word Lavanya which means beautiful or beauty.
Owing to Lavani’s erotic sentiment and sensual appeal it is but obvious for women to take centre stage and entertain the audience. Professional Lavani dancers wear nine yard long sarees and dance on the beats of the Dholki. They wear enormous gold neck pieces, earrings and bangles. A red bindi and a bun or juda is a must. Having curvy and voluptuous figure adds to the performance. Fast and lively, their expressions have to match the lyrics of the song while making sure they don’t skip a beat!
Bhangra
Bhangra is a traditional ‘Lawk Naach’ (Folk Dance) of the Punjab. Also known as the ‘land of five rivers’, Punjab is a large region in the north of India and is rich in its culture and tradition. Post partition of 1947 Punjab was divided in two – West Punjab, which now falls in Pakistan and East Punjab, which is still in North India. The two parts of Punjab are referred to locally as ‘Charda Punjab’ (Rising Punjab – with reference to the sun rising the East) and ‘Lendha Punjab’ (Falling Punjab – with reference to the sun setting in the West). Dance has always been an integral part of Punjabi life and is used to celebrate many happy occasions.
Folk
Indian folk and tribal dances are simple and are performed to express joy. In India we have festivals and celebrations virtually every day. This has added to the richness of Indian culture. Since every festival is accompanied by celebration, folk dances have become an integral part of our social milieu. While there are numerous folk and tribal dances, they are constantly improved. The skill and the imagination of the dances influence the performance.
Folk dances are performed for every possible occasion, to celebrate the arrival of seasons, birth of a child, a wedding and festivals. The folk dances are extremely simple with minimum of steps or movement. Indian folk dances are full of energy and vitality. Some dances are performed separately by men and women while in some performances men and women dance together. On most occasions, the dancers sing themselves, accompanied by artists with instruments. Each form of folk dance has a specific costume and rhythm. Most of the costumes, worn for folk dances, are colorful with extensive jewels and designs.