Dance Cultures

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Text number: 1235

Name:   Rosi
Age: 11
Country: Austria
School: 1- Primary School

dance cultures

the ways expressive sports influence cultures

by Rosi

Ballet (history)

Ballet originated in the Italian renaissance in the 15th century. It later developed into a concert form in France and Russia. Even though it originally comes from Italy, all the vocabulary is in French and some of the biggest performances happen in France, and some of the best ballerinas get trained there. But also in Russia it has left a big impact. A lot of small children start going to ballet schools at the age of 3! Today, people believe that Louis XIV created classical ballet, who in his childhood performed in ballets by Pierre Beauchamp and Jean-Baptiste Lully. In 1661 Louis XIV founded the Academie Royale de Danse (the royal dance academy). In 1672 Louis made Lully the director of the Paris opera, in which the first professional ballet company arose. Many famous Ballerinas come from Russia, like Anna Pavlova, a Russian prima ballerina from the early 20th century. She was a principal artist of the Imperial Russian Ballet and the Ballets Russes of Sergei Diaghilev.

Flamenco (history)

Flamenco is a Spanish folk dance, which originated in the city of Andalucia. It involves singing, guitar playing, and dancing. The traditional red ruffle dress makes the short rapid movements seem very dramatic. Flamenco is usually danced with a partner. Flamenco doesn’t really incorporate a mood, because there are over 50 types of Flamenco! There aren’t so many famous Flamenco dancers, but one that I know is Belen Maya. This famous Flamenco dancer was born 1966 in New York, USA. She was one of the dancers that showed all their passion through their dancing, and she made Flamenco dance seem even more dramatic.

Irish dance

Irish dance originated in Ireland, and can be broadly divided into presentation dance and participation dance. The shoes are leather, with fiberglass at the bottom, and one leather strap across the shoe. The costume (for girls) used to be just the Sunday best (clothes you wore the church) but now changed to a full skirted dress with a pattern copied from the medieval Irish Book of Kells. Sometimes the dancers wear ringleted wigs to! Irish dance is also known for rapid leg and foot movements, but the arms and body are barely used.

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This text number is 1235!