Chapter 9- Intro to Dance

What is interesting about all the arts, including dance, is that they all seem to undergo some transition or change as the values and beliefs of society changes. As the book shows, there is quite the change between Ballet to modern dance. But even Ballet went through a transition or modernization. You see, before the end of the 17th century Ballet was only performed by men. As society changed and became more acceptable towards Women’s rights, women were also granted the right perform in ballets. This change may also have been due to the fact that the Queen of France (Catherine De Medici) was responsible for accelerating the establishment of Ballet in France as well as her Grandson. We often associate ballet as a much-disciplined sport that has gone through little to no change, but we can see that some change was good for the sport in order to allow women to add their beauty to ballet. It is also interesting to see the changes that different cultures have added to ballet. Ballet was once only performed at medieval fairs, marketplaces and royal gatherings. Once France got a hold of the dance, they transformed it into what we know it to be today. Russia also took the idea of ballet that France had developed and inserted their own ideas into ballet when composing some of their own ballets such as Firebird and Rite of Spring.
It is also interesting to see that ballet also influenced the development of modern dance. Congruently, the modernistic style of dance also paved the way for postmodern dance. Postmodern dance seeks to incorporate some of the traditional styles, such as ballet with more liberal or free movements of the body. Although, ballet and modern dance have no connection between the two, the development of postmodern dance pulls on both the more conserved dance as well as the liberal. We can therefore see how different stylistic movements build on previous movements. The development of new styles seems usually comes from the incorporation of new values or beliefs into the old ways. Only rarely do we see a complete break off from the old ways into a new idea of the arts.
Okay, so after reading over what I had just written I realized that what I was talking about really made no sense. Well, to me anyway. But what I really appreciated about the reading on dance was the section on the approach that we should take in criticizing dance. First off, I hate dancing so going to view someone performing some short of dance just seems like a bit of a drag. But after reading this section, I realized that I really have not given dance any chance as far as developing an appreciation of any form of dance. These preconceived judgments are preventing my from developing any valuable or fair judgments about dance. Therefore, I need to do exactly what the book says, push my ideas of dance aside, and immerse myself into several dance concerts. Only then after I appreciate the idea of performing dance can I then develop my own ideas concerning the performing arts of dance. Obviously, this is something that I already knew. Its just I feel our culture has raised men up to think that dance is a bit silly for men to appreciate or that if you do appreciate the dancing arts, you are judged as a special breed. To me, this is actually sad. There is a value to the dancing arts and we all need to develop our own ideas concerning dance, just as with anything. I hope that I will not teach my boys that dance is ridiculous for them to enjoy or participate in.