Editing Entertainment (section)

==== Dance ====
{{Main|Dance}}
[[File:Peterborough Snow Ball 2008 silent video.ogg|left|thumb|[[Contra dance]]rs at a ball in New Hampshire, United States (silent video)]]
The many forms of dance provide entertainment for all age groups and cultures. Dance can be serious in tone, such as when it is used to express a culture's history or important stories; it may be provocative; or it may put in the service of comedy. Since it combines many forms of entertainment{{snd}} music, movement, storytelling, theatre{{snd}} it provides a good example of the various ways that these forms can be combined to create entertainment for different purposes and audiences.

Dance is "a form of cultural representation" that involves not just dancers, but "[[Choreography (dance)|choreographers]], audience members, [[Patronage|patrons]] and [[impresario]]s&nbsp;... coming from all over the globe and from vastly varied time periods."<ref>{{cite book|ref=CITEREFDilsAlbright2001|title=Moving History/Dancing Cultures: A Dance History Reader|year=2001|publisher=Wesleyan University Press|location=Durham, NC|isbn=978-0-8195-6412-2|author=Albright, Ann Cooper|editor=Dils, Ann}} p. xviii.</ref> Whether from Africa, Asia or Europe, dance is constantly negotiating the realms of political, social, spiritual and artistic influence."{{sfnp|Dils|Albright|2001|p=96}} Even though dance traditions may be limited to one cultural group, they all develop. For example, in Africa, there are "[[Dahomey|Dahomean]] dances, [[Hausa people|Hausa]] dances, [[Maasai people|Masai]] dances and so forth."{{sfnp|Dils|Albright|2001|p=34}} Ballet is an example of a highly developed Western form of dance that moved to the theatres from the French court during the time of [[Louis XIV of France|Louis XIV]], the dancers becoming professional theatrical performers.<ref>{{cite book|last=Clarke|first=Mary|title=The history of dance|year=1981|publisher=Crown Publishers|location=New York|isbn=978-0-517-54282-8|url=https://archive.org/details/historyofdance0000clar}} p. 98.</ref> Some dances, such as the [[quadrille]], a square dance that "emerged during the [[Napoleonic era|Napoleonic years]] in France"{{sfnp|Clarke|1981|p=97}} and other [[country dance]]s<ref>{{cite book|last=Wilson|first=Thomas|title=An Analysis of Country Dancing|date=1808|publisher=W. Calvert}}</ref> were once popular at social gatherings like [[Ball (dance)|balls]],<ref>{{cite book|last=Fullerton|first=Susannah|title=A Dance with Jane Austen: How a Novelist and Her Characters Went to the Ball|year=2012|publisher=Pgw|isbn=978-0-7112-3245-7|author2=Le Faye, Deirdre|title-link=Jane Austen}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Wilson|first=Thomas|title=The Treasures of Terpsichore: or, A Companion for the Ball-Room|date=1816|publisher=Sherwood, Neely and Jones|location=London}}</ref> but are now rarely performed. On the other hand, many [[folk dance]]s (such as [[Scottish highland dance|Scottish Highland dancing]] and [[Irish dance|Irish dancing]]), have evolved into competitions, which by adding to their audiences, has increased their entertainment value. "Irish dance theatre, which sometimes features traditional Irish steps and music, has developed into a major dance form with an international reputation."<ref name="Wulff">{{cite book|last=Wulff|first=Helena|title=Dancing at the Crossroads: Memory and Mobility in Ireland|year=2007|publisher=Berghahn Books|isbn=978-1-84545-328-2|page=137}}</ref>

Since dance is often "associated with the female body and women's experiences",{{sfnp|Dils|Albright|2001|p=96}} female dancers, who dance to entertain, have in some cases been regarded as distinct from "decent" women because they "use their bodies to make a living instead of hiding them as much as possible".{{sfnp|Dils|Albright|2001|p=142}} Society's attitudes to female dancers depend on the culture, its history and the entertainment industry itself. For example, while some cultures regard any dancing by women as "the most shameful form of entertainment",<ref>van Nieuwkerk, Karin. "Changing Images and Shifting Identities: Female Performers in Egypt" in Dils & Albright (2001). p. 141.</ref> other cultures have established venues such as [[strip clubs]] where deliberately erotic or sexually provocative dances such as [[striptease]] are performed in public by professional women dancers for mostly male audiences.

Various political regimes have sought to control or ban dancing or specific types of dancing, sometimes because of disapproval of the music or clothes associated with it. Nationalism, authoritarianism and racism have played a part in banning dances or dancing. For example, during the [[Nazi Germany|Nazi]] regime, American dances such as [[Swing (dance)|swing]], regarded as "completely un-German", had "become a public offense and needed to be banned".<ref>{{cite book|last=Karina|first=Lilian|title=Hitler's Dancers: German Modern Dance and the Third Reich|year=1999|publisher=Berghahn Books|isbn=978-1-57181-300-8|page=174|edition=English|others=Translated by Jonathan Steinberg|author2=Kant, Marion}}</ref> Similarly, in Shanghai, China, in the 1930s, "dancing and nightclubs had come to symbolise the excess that plagued Chinese society" and officials wondered if "other forms of entertainment such as [[brothel]]s" should also be banned. Banning had the effect of making "the dance craze" even greater.<ref>{{cite book |last=Field |first=Andrew David |title=Shanghai's Dancing World: Cabaret Culture and Urban Politics, 1919–1954 |year=2010 |publisher=The Chinese University of Hong Kong |location=Sha Tin, Hong Kong |isbn=978-962-996-373-6 |page=169}}</ref> In Ireland, the Public Dance Hall Act of 1935 "banned{{snd}} but did not stop{{snd}} dancing at the crossroads and other popular dance forms such as house and [[barn dance]]s."<ref name="Wulff" /> In the US, various dances were once banned, either because like [[burlesque]], they were suggestive,<ref>{{cite book|last=Butters|first=Gerald R.|title=Banned in Kansas: Motion Picture Censorship, 1915–1966|year=2007|publisher=University of Missouri Press|location=Columbia|isbn=978-0-8262-1749-3|page=230}}</ref> or because, like the [[Twist (dance)|Twist]], they were associated with African Americans.<ref>{{cite book|last=Pruter|first=Robert|title=Chicago Soul|year=1991|publisher=University of Illinois|isbn=978-0-252-06259-9|page=191}}</ref> "African American dancers were typically banned from performing in [[minstrel show]]s until after the [[American Civil War]]."<ref>{{cite book|last=Hill|first=Constance Valis|title=Tap Dancing America: A Cultural History|year=2010|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=New York|isbn=978-0-19-539082-7|page=[https://archive.org/details/tapdancingameric0000hill/page/12 12]|url=https://archive.org/details/tapdancingameric0000hill/page/12}}</ref>

Dances can be performed [[Solo (dance)|solo]], in pairs, in groups, or by massed performers. They might be improvised or highly choreographed; spontaneous for personal entertainment (such as when children begin dancing for themselves); a private audience, a paying audience, a world audience, or an audience interested in a particular dance genre. They might be a part of a celebration, such as a wedding or New Year, or a cultural ritual with a specific purpose, such as a dance by [[warrior]]s like a [[haka]]. Some dances, such as traditional dance and ballet, need a very high level of skill and training; others, such as the [[can-can]], require a very high level of energy and physical fitness. Entertaining the audience is a normal part of dance but its physicality often also produces joy for the dancers themselves.

<gallery class="center" caption="Dance across cultures" widths="180" heights="150">
File:Korea-Andong-Hahoe Folk Village-Thai dancer-01.jpg| Traditional dancer (Thailand)
File:Harlekin Columbine Tivoli Denmark.jpg| [[Harlequinade|Harlequin and Columbine]] (Denmark)
File:Ballroom dance exhibition.jpg| [[Ballroom dance|Ballroom dancing]] (Czech Republic)
File:Belly dancer dancing in Morocco.jpg| [[Belly dance]]r (Morocco)
File:Morris dancing at Berwick St John - geograph.org.uk - 903611.jpg| [[Morris dance|Morris dancing]] (England)
File:Allan-highlandwedding1780.jpg| [[Scottish Highlands|Highland]] wedding (Scotland, 1780)
File:Mt Hagen Cultural Show PNG 2008.jpg| Warrior dancers (Papua New Guinea)
File:Fire Dragon dance.jpg| Fire Dragon dance for [[Chinese New Year]]
File:Bhangra 1.jpg| [[Bhangra (dance)|Bhangra dancers]] at the [[International Children's Festival]]
File:Arirang Mass Games, Pyongyang, North Korea-1.jpg| Children in [[Mass Games]] (North Korea)
</gallery>