Editing Dance (section)

== Approaches ==
[[File:Dinastia tang, due danzatrici, cina del nord, 650 ca..JPG|thumb|[[Tang dynasty]] female dancers]]

=== Theatrical ===
Concert dance, like [[opera]], generally depends for its large-scale form upon a [[narrative]] [[dramatic structure]]. The movements and gestures of the [[choreography]] are primarily intended to [[mime]] the personality and aims of the characters and their part in the plot.<ref>Laban, Rudolf, ''The Mastery of Movement'', MacDonald and Evans, London, 1960, p. 2</ref> Such theatrical requirements tend towards longer, freer movements than those usual in non-narrative dance styles. On the other hand, the ''[[ballet blanc]]'', developed in the 19th century, allows interludes of rhythmic dance that developed into entirely "plotless" ballets in the 20th century<ref>Minden, Eliza Gaynor, [https://books.google.com/books?id=S-RuSzcrBnAC ''The Ballet Companion: A Dancer's Guide''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230408040139/https://books.google.com/books?id=S-RuSzcrBnAC |date=2023-04-08 }}, Simon and Schuster, 2007, p. 92</ref> and that allowed fast, rhythmic dance-steps such as those of the ''petit allegro''. A well-known example is ''[[Danse des petits cygnes|The Cygnets' Dance]]'' in act two of ''[[Swan Lake]]''.

The [[ballet]] developed out of courtly dramatic productions of 16th- and 17th-century France and Italy and for some time dancers performed dances developed from those familiar from the musical suite,<ref>Thoinot Arbeau, ''Orchesography'', trans. by Mary Stewart Evans, with notes by Julia Sutton, New York: Dover, 1967</ref> all of which were defined by definite rhythms closely identified with each dance. These appeared as [[character dance]]s in the era of [[romantic nationalism]].

Ballet reached widespread vogue in the romantic era, accompanied by a larger orchestra and grander musical conceptions that did not lend themselves easily to rhythmic clarity and by dance that emphasised dramatic mime. A broader concept of rhythm was needed, that which [[Rudolf Laban]] terms the "rhythm and shape" of movement that communicates character, emotion and intention,<ref>Laban, Rudolf, ''The Mastery of Movement'', MacDonald and Evans, London, 1960, pp. 2, 4 ''et passim''</ref> while only certain scenes required the exact synchronisation of step and music essential to other dance styles, so that, to Laban, modern Europeans seemed totally unable to grasp the meaning of "primitive rhythmic movements",<ref>Laban, Rudolf, ''The Mastery of Movement'', MacDonald and Evans, London, 1960, p. 86</ref> a situation that began to change in the 20th century with such productions as [[Igor Stravinsky]]'s ''[[The Rite of Spring]]'' with its new rhythmic language evoking primal feelings of a primitive past.<ref>Abigail Wagner, [https://www.lawrence.edu/mfhe/www_web_student/Everyone/A%20Different%20Type%20of%20Rhythm.pdf ''A Different Type of Rhythm''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161008030631/https://www.lawrence.edu/mfhe/www_web_student/Everyone/A%20Different%20Type%20of%20Rhythm.pdf |date=2016-10-08 }}, Lawrence University, Wisconsin</ref>

Indian classical dance styles, like ballet, are often in dramatic form, so that there is a similar complementarity between narrative expression and "pure" dance. In this case, the two are separately defined, though not always separately performed. The rhythmic elements, which are abstract and technical, are known as ''nritta''. Both this and expressive dance ''(nritya)'', though, are closely tied to the rhythmic system (''[[Tala (music)|tala]]''). Teachers have adapted the spoken rhythmic mnemonic system called ''[[Bol (music)|bol]]'' to the needs of dancers.

Japanese classical dance-theatre styles such as [[Kabuki]] and [[Noh]], like Indian dance-drama, distinguish between narrative and abstract dance productions. The three main categories of kabuki are ''[[jidaimono]]'' (historical), ''[[sewamono]]'' (domestic) and ''[[shosagoto]]'' (dance pieces).<ref name="Kabuki MIT Global Shakespeares">{{cite web | url=http://globalshakespeares.mit.edu/glossary/kabuki/ | title=Kabuki « MIT Global Shakespeares | date=8 March 2011 | access-date=April 8, 2015 | archive-date=September 5, 2015 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150905230357/http://globalshakespeares.mit.edu/glossary/kabuki/ | url-status=live }}</ref> Somewhat similarly, Noh distinguishes between ''Geki Noh'', based around the advancement of plot and the narration of action, and ''Furyū Noh'', dance pieces involving acrobatics, stage properties, multiple characters and elaborate stage action.<ref name="Ortolani">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ge8cWl8OT3gC&q=mugen-no+Genzai-no+waki-no&pg=PA132 |page=132 |title=The Japanese theatre: from shamanistic ritual to contemporary pluralism |first=Benito |last=Ortolani| publisher=Princeton University Press|year=1995 |isbn=978-0-691-04333-3}}</ref>

=== Participatory and social ===
[[File:Dela Says Yippee at YDW 2019.webm|thumb|A [[contra dance]], a form of participatory social folk dance with mixed European roots]]
[[Social dances]], those intended for participation rather than for an audience, may include various forms of mime and narrative, but are typically set much more closely to the rhythmic pattern of music, so that terms like [[waltz]] and [[polka]] refer as much to musical pieces as to the dance itself. The rhythm of the dancers' feet may even form an essential part of the music, as in [[tap dance]]. African dance, for example, is rooted in fixed basic steps, but may also allow a high degree of rhythmic interpretation: the feet or the trunk mark the basic pulse while cross-rhythms are picked up by shoulders, knees, or head, with the best dancers simultaneously giving plastic expression to all the elements of the [[polyrhythm]]ic pattern.<ref>Ayansu, E.S. and Whitfield, P. (eds.), ''The Rhythms Of Life'', Marshall Editions, 1982, p. 161</ref>