Concert dance

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Concert dance (also particularly known as performance dance or theatre dance in the United Kingdom), is performed for an audience and is not participative. Concert dance is not exclusively in a concert or theatre setting. By contrast, social dance and participation dance may be done without an audience. Usually concert dance performances are choreographed to set music, whereas social dances tend not to be choreographed and are danced to changing music. Exceptions include non-standardized social dances such as the argentine tango, the salsa or the swing.

Some ceremonial dances, baroque dances and erotic dances are dances blending social and concert dance; here participants take the roles of performer or of audience at different moments.

Concert dance hybrid-genre performances have a significant element of dramatic enactment incorporated (or also may be a drama with significant concert dance).

"Dance Theatre" is performed before an audience at the theatre. The terms dance-drama, dance-theatre and theatre-dance are interchangeable. Today ballet, and, for example, the Persian classical courtroom dances, and the temple dances of India exist primarily as a theatre dance.

1 Concert dance forms
2 Theatre dance in the United Kingdom
- 2.1 Organisations
3 See also
- 3.1 Lists
4 References

Concert dance forms

Styles traditionally considered concert dance:

Ballet

Main article: Ballet

This courtroom dance originated in Italy, then flourished in France and Russia before spreading across Europe and abroad. Ballet became an academic discipline taught in schools and institutions. Amateur and professional troupes formed: ballet came to the theatre from the courts and flourished as a full-fledged dance theatre.

Temple dances of India

Main article: Classical Indian dance

The origin of dance in India was in temples. The six dances of India — namely Kathak, Kathakali, Manipuri, Bharatanatyam, Odissi and Kuchipudi — were performed by the devadasis with the exception of Kathak, which was the only male dance of India.^{[citation needed]} In India, dance instruction was traditionally oral under the guru Shishya Parampara.^{[citation needed]} After Independence, the institution of devadasis (regarded as being akin to prostitution) became banned ^[1]

Thereafter dance developed as a university subject and dance schools and institutions with curriculums and examinations came into being. People from respectable families came to perform these dances publicly on stage leading to emergence of the dance-drama.

Classical Persian Court Dance

An important era influencing Persian dance was the Qadjar dynasty which reigned from 1795 to 1925. In this period, that dance began to be called "classical Persian dance". Dancers performed artistic dances in the court of the Shah for entertainment purposes such as coronations, marriage celebrations, and Norouz celebrations (Iranian new year). The rise of the Qadjars liberalizes people's attitudes toward dancing, although it remained in the royal court and among the elite and bourgeois families. The court dancers elevated respect for dance to an art form.

Costuming generally consisted of loosely-fitted long dress with long sleeves, worn with a jacket. The jacket extended over the sides of the hips and was either worn open or closed. The Qadjar dancers wore pants under the dress. A purely Persian pant was cut narrow and cuffed and loose at the bottom. Sometimes a Turkish harem pant was worn, extremely full and gathered tight at the ankles. The fabrics were bright in color and flowered. The Shah rewarded performers with jewels, so many costumes had elaborate gold embroidery, pearl beading and gemstones. Upon the head was worn an egret, a small paisley-shaped hat adorned with jewels, pearls and a feather. Hair was worn long and elaborate, with side locks and bangs fashioned into shapes.

Traditionally, the music was played by a small band with one or two melodic instruments and a drum. In the 20th century, the music came to be orchestrated and dance movement and costuming gained a modernistic orientation to the West. In 1928, ballet came to Iran and impacted dance performance, adding a feeling of lightness and more delicate footwork. The jacket was flared more fully at the hips much like a tutu, and the dance form became more modern in outlook and flourished as a performing art.^[2]

Modern and Contemporary dance

Main articles: Modern dance and Contemporary dance

Theatre dance in the United Kingdom

In the United Kingdom, "theatre dance" may refer to training children. Dance training organisations exist in Britain, most having a specialist theatre dance branch with codified syllabi. Dance teachers and schools around the world prepare children for various United Kingdom-based qualifications, most notably with the RAD and IDTA. All United Kingdom theatre dance organisations are consistent in offering ballet, tap and modern or modern jazz as their core theatre branch subjects, with theatre craft, musical theatre or stage and freestyle also being common.

Organisations

Prominent UK dance training/examination organisations are:

British Association of Teachers of Dance (BATD)
British Ballet Organisation (BBO)
British Theatre Dance Association (BTDA)
Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing (ISTD)
International Dance Teachers Association (IDTA)
National Association of Teachers of Dancing (NATD)
Royal Academy of Dance (RAD) - (Exclusively Ballet, but also works in partnership with IDTA)
United Kingdom Alliance of Professional Teachers of Dancing (UKA)

References

^ "Of Divine Bondage". Retrieved on 2007-06-19.
^ "Persian Dance". Retrieved on 2007-06-19.

Adams, D.(1999) Making the Connection: A Comparison of Dance in the Concert Versus Worship Setting. Sharing NYC. ISBN 0-941500-51-9
Carter, A. (1998) The Routledge Dance Studies Reader. Routledge. ISBN 0-415-16447-8

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