Ashley Thompson Blog 2

Class Reading: Van Der Leeuw’s discussion of Dance as a form of Art (Sacred and Profane Beauty)
Today’s class discussion was about the forms of Art. We paid particularly close attention to Dance. The concrete, most primal, first of all art forms. Different forms of art have come from dance, such as the orchestra in theatre. The orchestra was originally the dance place. Dance may also be regarded as a form of nonverbal communication between humans, and is also performed by other animals (bee dance, patterns of behavior such as a mating dance). Gymnastics, figure skating and synchronized swimming are sports dance disciplines, while martial arts kata are often compared to dances. Dance has certainly been an important part of ceremony, rituals, celebrations and entertainment since before the birth of the earliest human civilizations. One of the earliest structured uses of dances may have been in the performance and in the telling of myths. It was also sometimes used to show feelings for one of the opposite gender. It is also linked to the origin of "love making." Before the production of written languages, dance was one of the methods of passing these stories down from generation to generation. In a classical Greek song, Apollo, the god of medicine, music and poetry, one of the twelve greater gods and son of the chief god Zeus, was called The Dancer. In a Greek line Zeus himself is represented as dancing. Terpsichore is one of the nine Muses, representing dancing and dramatic chorus. When I was younger I danced, and I loved it most because I felt in doing so I felt like I was in my own world. Similar to when I play the piano, its so soothing and relaxing that I feel as though I have somewhat of an out of body experience.