What is the history of dance?

Dance is one of the oldest arts in human history. In ancient times, the ancestors of primitive society had already started totem dance activities and regarded it as an important content of totem worship. The earliest dance is often a combination of song, dance and music, which is not only a witchcraft etiquette, but also a song and dance activity. Dance has been closely related to people's lives since ancient times. In primitive dance, hunting activities or war scenes were simulated in the form of dance. The "painted pottery basin with dancing patterns" unearthed in Datong County, Qinghai Province vividly records the scene of primitive dance 5,000 years ago, and it is also recorded in the ancient literature of China: "In the past, Ge Zhile, three people fucked the oxtail and threw their feet into the singing world." These historical materials reflect the long history of dance from different angles. Witchcraft dance in Shang Dynasty, martial arts dance in Zhou Dynasty, excellent dance in Spring and Autumn Period and Warring States Period, and hundred operas dance in Han Dynasty were all the rage. Dance in the Tang Dynasty was more prosperous. In addition to the grand and magnificent large-scale court music and dance "Libu Collection" and the exquisite and elegant small-scale court banquet "Zuobu Collection", there are also famous "sword dances", such as Hu Teng dance, dance, sword dance, and famous "Yi Yi dance" and other songs and dances. In addition, folk dances are also very common in the Tang Dynasty, and dance performances are held during festivals or harvest sacrifices. The popular comprehensive performance form "Dance Team" in Song Dynasty and the dance performance in Ming and Qing operas all have strong national characteristics.

European dance has long been popular in court and folk, and many countries regard it as a universal fashion. Especially after Italian artists rehearsed the first real ballet "The Queen's Comedy Ballet" in French court in 158 1, ballet quickly spread in European countries. After the opening of the first ballet school in the17th century, many professional ballerinas appeared. 19th century is the golden age of ballet. The tiptoe dancing skills and a set of training methods of ballet are becoming more and more perfect, and the Italian school, the French school and the Russian ballet art school have gradually formed, with their own distinctive artistic styles and national characteristics, and a number of world-famous excellent ballet works have emerged, such as Giselle, Swan Lake and Sleeping Beauty. At the beginning of the 20th century, modern dance initiated by Duncan, a famous American dancer, broke the traditional routine of classical ballet with natural dance movements and expressed inner feelings more freely. In addition, there are many unique dances of various regions and nationalities in the world, such as Indian classical dance, Indonesian Balinese dance, Japanese basin dance, Sri Lankan elephant dance, Mexican tap dance, Polish Mazzuca dance, and a large number of rich folk dances in Africa, which make the world dance art colorful.