65 Quotes On Dancing

Dance to the music of these wonderful quotes...

I would believe only in a God that knows how to dance. - Friedrich Nietzsche

Nobody cares if you can't dance well. Just get up and dance. - Dave Barry

To touch, to move, to inspire. This is the true gift of dance. - Aubrey Lynch

Dance isn't something that can be explained in words. It has to be danced. - Paige Arden

I often say that in making dances I can make a world where I think things are done morally, done democratically, done honestly. - Twyla Tharp

I think Balanchine and Robbins talk to God and when I call, he's out to lunch. - Bob Fosse

The dance is over, the applause subsided, but the joy and feeling will stay with you forever. - W.M. Tory

Dance is like wine; it matures with every performance. - Alarmel Valli

Dancing is a perpendicular expression of a horizontal desire. - George Bernard Shaw

Almost nobody dances sober, unless they are insane. - H.P. Lovecraft

The truest expression of a people is in its dance and in its music. Bodies never lie. - Agnes de Mille

Dancing faces you towards Heaven, whichever direction you turn. - Terri Guillemets

If you can't get rid of the skeleton in your closet, you'd best teach it to dance. - George Bernard Shaw

God match me with a good dancer. - William Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing

Ballet is not technique but a way of expression that comes more closely to the inner language of man than any other. - George Borodin

When the music changes, so does the dance. - African proverb

On with the dance! Let joy be unconfined. - Lord Byron

To be fond of dancing was a certain step towards falling in love. - Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice.

Dancing is silent poetry. - Simonides

Dancing is like dreaming with your feet! - Constanze

To dance is to reach for a word that doesn't exist,
To sing the heartsong of a thousand generations,
To feel the meaning of a moment in time.
- Beth Jones

While I dance I can not judge, I can not hate, I can not separate myself from life.  I can only be joyful and whole. This is why I dance. - Hans Bos

Dancers are the messengers of the gods. - Martha Graham

I do not know what the spirit of a philosopher could more wish to be than a good dancer. For the dance is his ideal.  - Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

Music begins to atrophy when it departs too far from the dance. - Ezra Pound

I see dance being used as communication between body and soul, to express what it too deep to find for words. - Ruth St. Denis

Talk about dance? Dance is not something to talk about. Dance is to dance. - Peter St. James

Dance, even if you have nowhere to do it but your living room. - Mary Schmich (often incorrectly attributed to Kurt Vonnegut)

Dance like there's nobody watching,
Love like you'll never be hurt.
Sing like there's nobody listening,
And live like it's heaven on earth.
- William W. Purkey

I do not try to dance better than anyone else. I only try to dance better than myself. - Mikhail Baryshnikov

Great dancers are not great because of their technique, they are great because of their passion. - Martha Graham

Dancers are instruments, like a piano the choreographer plays. - George Balanchine

There are short-cuts to happiness, and dancing is one of them. - Vicki Baum

To dance is to be out of yourself. Larger, more beautiful, more powerful. - Agnes De Mille

Remember, Ginger Rogers did everything Fred Astaire did, but backwards and in high heels. - Faith Whittlesey

You do an electic celebration of a dance! First you do Fosse, Fosse Fosse! You do Martha Graham, Martha Graham, Martha Graham! Or Twyla, Twyla, Twyla! Or Michael Kidd, Michael Kidd, Michael Kidd! Or Madonna, Madonna, Madonna! But you keep it all inside. - Robin Williams, "The Birdcage"

Kids: they dance before they learn there is anything that isn't music.-  William Stafford

How can we know the dancer from the dance? - William Butler Yeats

There is a bit of insanity in dancing that does everybody a great deal of good. - Edwin Denby

Please send me your last pair of shoes, worn out with dancing as you mentioned in your letter, so that I might have something to press against my heart. - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

We're fools whether we dance or not, so we might as well dance. - Japanese Proverb

The truest expression of a people is in its dance and in its music. Bodies never lie. - Agnes de Mille

Dancing faces you towards Heaven, whichever direction you turn. - Terri Guillemets

Dancers are the messengers of the gods. - Martha Graham

Dancing is wonderful training for girls, it's the first way you learn to guess what a man is going to do before he does it. - Christopher Morley, Kitty Foyle

Dancing: the vertical expression of a horizontal desire legalized by music.  - George Bernard Shaw

Dancers are instruments, like a piano the choreographer plays. - George Balanchine

There are short-cuts to happiness, and dancing is one of them. - Vicki Baum

To dance is to be out of yourself. Larger, more beautiful, more powerful. - Agnes De Mille

Remember, Ginger Rogers did everything Fred Astaire did, but backwards and in high heels. - Faith Whittlesey

Dance till the stars come down from the rafters
Dance, Dance, Dance 'till you drop.
- W.H. Auden

I don't want people who want to dance, I want people who have to dance. - George Balanchine

Dancing can reveal all the mystery that music conceals. - Charles Baudelaire

Dance first. Think later. It's the natural order. - Samuel Beckett

Stifling an urge to dance is bad for your health - it rusts your spirit and your hips. - Terri Guillemets

Dancing is the poetry of the foot. - John Dryden

Dancing is the loftiest, the most moving, the most beautiful of the arts, because it is not mere translation or abstraction from life; it is life itself. - Havelock Ellis

Dancing is just discovery, discovery, discovery. - Martha Graham

Movement never lies. It is a barometer telling the state of the soul's weather to all who can read it. ~Martha Graham

Dance is a song of the body. Either of joy or pain. - Martha Graham

The dance is a poem of which each movement is a word. - Mata Hari

Dance is the hidden language of the soul. - Martha Graham

We ought to dance with rapture that we might be alive... and part of the living, incarnate cosmos. - D.H. Lawrence

Dancing is the world's favorite metaphor. - Kristy Nilsson

And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music. - Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

- Syarif

Samba

Samba is a Brazilian musical genre and dance style originating in Brazil, with its roots in Africa via the West African slave trade and African religious traditions, particularly Angola and the Congo. Although there were various forms of samba in Brazil in the form of various popular rhythms and regional dances that originated from the drumming, samba as music genre is seen as a musical expression of urban Rio de Janeiro, then the capital of Imperial Brazil.

It is recognized around the world as a symbol of Brazil. Considered one of the most popular Brazilian cultural expressions, samba has become an icon of Brazilian national identity.The Bahian Samba De Roda (dance circle) is the main root of the samba carioca, the samba that is played and danced in Rio de Janeiro.

So with various stanzas of declaratory verses. Traditionally, the samba is played by strings (cavinquiho and various types of guitar) and various percussion instruments such as tamborim - Syarif

Dance + Parkour

This is a combination of dance and parkour (also known as free running) - Syarif

Popping Dance

Popping is a street dance and one of the original funk styles that came from California during the 1960's to 1970's. It is based on the technique of quickly contracting and relaxing muscles to cause a jerk in the dancer's body, referred to as a pop or a hit. This is done continuously to the rhythm of a song in combination with various movements and poses.

Closely related illusionary dance styles and techniques are often integrated with popping to create a more varied performance. These dance styles include the robot, waving and tutting. However, popping is distinct from breaking and locking, with which it is often confused. A popping dancer is commonly referred to as a popper.

As one of the earliest funk styles, popping is closely related to hip hop dancing. It is often performed in battles, where participants try to outperform each other in front of a crowd, giving room for improvisation and freestyle moves that are seldom seen in shows and performances, such as interaction with other dancers and spectators. Popping and related styles such as waving and tutting have also been incorporated into the electronic dance scene to some extent, influencing new styles such as liquid, digits and surfing - Azizi

Folk Dance

           Folk dances are dances that share some or all of the following attributes:

• Dances performed at social functions by people with little or no professional training, often to traditionally based music.
• Dances not generally designed for public performance or the stage, though they may later be arranged and set for stage performances.
• Execution dominated by an inherited tradition rather than innovation (though folk traditions change over time)
• New dancers often learn informally by observing others and/or receiving help from others.

More controversially, some people define folk dancing as dancing for which there is no governing body or dancing for which there are no competitive or professional institutions. The term "folk dance" is sometimes applied to dances of historical importance in European culture and history; typically originating before the 20th century. For other cultures the terms "ethnic dance" or "traditional dance" are sometimes used, although the latter terms may encompass ceremonial dances.

There are a number of modern dances, such as hip hop dance, that evolve spontaneously, but the term "folk dance" is generally not applied to them, and the terms "street dance" or "vernacular dance" are used instead. The term "folk dance" is reserved for dances which are to a significant degree bound by tradition and originated in the times when the distinction existed between the dances of "common folk" and the dances of the "high society".

A number of modern ballroom dances originated from folk ones.

The terms "ethnic" and "traditional" are used when it is required to emphasize the cultural roots of the dance. In this sense, nearly all folk dances are ethnic ones. If some dances, such as polka, cross ethnic boundaries and even cross the boundary between "folk" and "ballroom dance", ethnic differences are often considerable enough to mention, e.g., Czech polka vs. German polka.

Not all ethnic dances are folk dances; for example, ritual dances or dances of ritual origin are not considered to be folk dances. Ritual dances are usually called "Religious dances" because of their purpose. - Azizi 

Lion Dance

Lion dance is a form of traditional dance in Chinese Culture and other Asian countries in which performers mimic a lion's movements in a lion costume. The lion dance is usually performed during the Chinese New Year and other Chinese traditional, cultural and religious festivals. It may also be performed at important occasions such as business opening events, special celebrations or wedding ceremonies, or may be used to honour special guests by the Chinese communities.

The Chinese lion dance is often mistakenly referred to as Dragon dance. An easy way to tell the difference is that a lion is normally operated by two dancers, while a dragon needs many people. Also, in a lion dance, the performers' faces are only seen occasionally, since they are inside the lion. In a dragon dance, the performers' faces can be easily seen since the dragon is held on poles. Chinese lion dance fundamental movements can be found in most Chinese martial arts.

There are two main forms of the Chinese lion dance, the Northern Lion and the Southern Lion. Both forms are commonly found in China, but around the world especially in South East Asia, the Southern Lion predominates as it was spread by the Chinese Diaspora communities who are historically mostly of Southern Chinese origin. Versions of the lion dance are also found in Japan, Korea, Tibet and Vietnam. Another form of lion dance exists in Indonesian Culture but this is of a different tradition and may be referred to as Singa Barong. - Azizi

Line Dance

A line dance is a choreographed dance with a repeated sequence of steps in which a group of people dance in one or more lines or rows without regard for the gender of the individuals, all facing either each other or in the same direction, and executing the steps at the same time. Unlike in circle dancing, line dancers are not in physical contact with each other.

Line dancing is practiced and learned in country-western dance bars, social clubs, dance clubs and ballrooms. It is sometimes combined on dance programs with other forms of country western dance, such as two step , western dances, and as well as western-style variants of the waltz, polka and swing. Line dances have accompanied many popular music styles since the early 1970s including pop, swing, rock and roll, disco, Latin, rhythm and blues and jazz. - Azizi

Jump Style Dance

Jumpstyle is an EDM dance style and hard dance music genre popular in Eastern Europe, as well as certain parts of Australia and the United States. The word originates from a movement of hard dance music followers, and especially those devoted to its post-2007.

Jumpstyling is often referred to as "Jumpen": a combination of the English word 'Jump' and the Dutch & German suffix '-en' (meaning "to jump" or "jumping") .

It originated in 1997 in Belgium but gathered bigger popularity in their neighboring country the Netherlands in the 2000s. - Azizi

Belly Dancing

Belly dance or bellydance is a Western-coined name for a type of Middle Eastern dance. Originally a "solo, improvised dance involving torso articulation", belly dance takes many different forms depending on the country and region, both in costume and dance style, and new styles have evolved in the West as its popularity has spread globally. - Azizi

Dance and Health

Dancing is a great way for people of all ages to get and stay in shape. Besides being fun, dancing has many positive health benefits. Following are the top 4 health benefits of dance.

1. Flexibility - is an important part of being healthy.
2.Strength - is defined as the ability of a muscle to exert a force against resistance.
3.Endurance - is the ability of muscles to work hard for increasingly longer periods of time without fatigue.
3.Sense Of Well-Being - is a social activity. Studies have shown that strong social ties and socializing with friends contribute to high self-esteem and a positive outlook.

-Syarif

Drum And Bass

Drum and bass (also written as drum 'n' bass or drum & bass and commonly abbreviated to D&B, DnB or D'n'B) is a genre of electronic music also known as which emerged in England in the early 1990's. The genre is characterized by fast breakbeats (typically between 150–180 beats per minute^]) with heavy bass and sub-bass lines. The "bass line" is usually created with sampled sources or synthesizers.

The popularity of drum and bass at its commercial peak ran parallel to several other homegrown dance styles in the UK. Drum and bass incorporates a number of dances and styles. A major influence on drum and bass was the original Jamaican dub and reggae sound which results in a whole new variety of dance moves created. Drum and bass dancing is basically a simple two step. Listening to the snares, and making your movements based on the beat you're hearing - Wafi

Hip Hop & Modern Dance

Hip-hop dance refers to street dance styles primarily performed to hip hop music or that have evolved as part of hip hop culture. It includes a wide range of styles primarily breaking, locking, and popping  which were created in the 1970's and made popular by dance crews in the United States. The television show Soul train and the 1980s films breakin', Beat Street, and Wild Style showcased these crews and dance styles in their early stages; therefore, giving hip-hop mainstream exposure. The dance industry responded with a commercial, studio-based version of hip-hop—sometimes called "new style"—and a hip-hop influenced style of jazz dance called "jazz-funk". Classically trained dancers developed these studio styles in order to create choreography from the hip-hop dances that were performed on the street. Because of this development, hip-hop dance is practiced in both dance studios and outdoor spaces. - Azizi

Tap Tap

Tap dance is a form of dance characterized by using the sounds of tap shoes striking the floor as a form of percussion. Two major variations on tap dance exist: rhythm (jazz) tap and Broadway tap. Broadway tap focuses on dance; it is widely performed in musical theater. Rhythm tap focuses on musicality, and practitioners consider themselves to be a part of the Jazz tradition.

The sound is made by shoes that have a metal "tap" on the heel and toe. There are different brands of shoes which sometimes differ in the way they sound.

"Soft-Shoe" is a rhythm form of tap dancing that does not require special shoes, and though rhythm is generated by tapping of the feet, it also uses sliding of the feet (even sometimes using scattered sand on the stage to enhance the sound of sliding feet) more often than modern rhythm tap. It preceded what is currently considered to be modern tap, but has since declined in popularity. - Azizi

The Ballroom Dance

Ballroom dance is a set of partner dances, which are enjoyed both socially and competitively around the world, and growing all the more popular in North America. Because of its performance and entertainment aspects, ballroom dance is also widely enjoyed on stage, film, and television.

Ballroom dance may refer, at its widest definition, to almost any type of partner dancing as recreation. However, with the emergence of dancesport in modern times, the term has become narrower in scope, and traditionally refers to the five International Standard and five International Latin style dances (see dance catogeries below). The two styles, while differing in technique, rhythm and costumes, exemplify core elements of ballroom dancing such as control and cohesiveness. Developed in England,^[1] the two styles are now regulated by the World Dance Council (WDC). In the United States, two additional variations are popular: American Smooth and American Rhythm, which combine elements of both traditional Latin and Ballroom dances. - Azizi

Pop Dance

As the term "disco" started to go out of fashion by the late 1970s to early 1980s, other terms were commonly used to describe disco-based music, such as "post-disco", "club", "dance" or "dance-pop" music. These genres were, in essence, a more modern variant of disco music known as post disco, which tended to be more experimental, electronic  and producer/DJ-driven, often using sequencers and synthesizers. Dance-pop music emerged in the 1980s as a form of dance, or post-disco, which was up-tempo, club-natured, producer-driven and catchy. Dance-pop was more up-tempo and dancey than regular pop, yet more structured and less free-form than dance music, usually combining pop's easy structure and catchy tunes with dance's strong beat and up-tempo nature. Dance-pop music was usually created, composed and produced by record producers who would then hire singers to perform the songs. In the 1980s, dance-pop was closely aligned to other up-tempo electronic genres, such as Hi-NRG.

 - Wafi

'Shuffling' or the 'Melbourne Shuffle'

The Melbourne Shuffle (also known as Rocking or simply The Shuffle) is a rave and club dance that originated in the late 1980's in the underground rave music scene in Melbourne, Australia. The basic movements in the dance are a fast heel-and-toe action with a style suitable for various types of electronic music. Some variants incorporate arm movements. People who dance the shuffle are often referred to as rockers, due in part to the popularity of shuffling to rock music in the early 1990's.

In the early 90's, the Melbourne Shuffle began to emerge as a distinct dance, incorporating more hand movement than its predecessor, Stomping. The music genres originally danced to were House music and Acid House. As Trance music developed, so did the dance, with more accent laid on glide movements. Where the Melbourne Shuffle was originally danced, the places were not considered to be named 'raves', but rather 'dance parties'. Many variations of this dance developed, but the main heel-to-toe movement remained the key motion, giving it the name "the Melbourne Shuffle". Notably arm-movements are much more prevalent than in later renditions of the dance.

In early to mid-2009 the infectious popularity of the Melbourne Shuffle on YouTube began to calm, but not die, bringing on a new age of shufflers. The dance began to revert to what some people call "Oldschool". This reversion of shuffling consisted mostly of wide variations of the "T-Step" and minimal running man, and is accented by glides and spins. Although this may be referred to as "Oldschool" this new age of style is still very different from the way rockers in the 90's danced. Many of the new wave of rockers perform incypher. Some of the younger people of this new wave are referred to as teeny boppers (or 'TB(s)' for short). TB's are also generally described as being young people that are not old enough to attend raves, so they dance at school, in a street or in a park instead. Individuals who participate in those aspects of the dance argue that enough of the current Shuffle scene is influenced by Hip Hop (such as the now widespread inclusion of the 'Running Man') that these activities are justified.

- Syarif

Zumba

In the mid 1990s, Beto Perez forgot his tape of aerobics music for a class he was teaching. He went to his car, listened to music – consisting of non-traditional salsa and merengue music – and improvised a class using this non-traditional aerobics music. After finding initial success in Colombia, he moved to the United States in 2001, where he teamed up with cofounder Alberto Perlman and a childhood friend, COO Alberto Aghion. The trio produced a demo reel, and the concept was discovered and licensed by a company called Fitness Quest to create a direct marketing campaign and a line of home videos. - Azizi

Bomfunk MC - Freestyler

One of the progression in break dancing before break dance adapted differently in the late 2000's. This is an example of the break dance done in the late nineties towards the early 2000's

- Syarif

Definition Of Tango

Tango is a dance that has influences from Europe and African Culture. Dances from the candombe ceremonies of former slave peoples helped shape the modern day Tango. The dance originated in lower-class districts of Buones  Aires and Montevideo. The music derived from the fusion of various forms of music from Europe. The word "tango" seems to have first been used in connection with the dance in the 1890s, possibly related to the latin word "tangere" but more likely related to the African slave word "tango" (drum or dance place).

Initially it was just one of the many dances, but it soon became popular throughout society, as theatres and street barrel organs spread it from the suburbs to the working-class slums, which were packed with hundreds of thousands of European immigrants, primarily Italians.

In the early years of the 20th century, dancers and orchestras from Buenos Aires travelled to Europe, and the first European tango craze took place in Paris, soon followed by London, Berlin, and other capitals. Towards the end of 1913 it hit New York in the US, and Finland. In the US around 1911 the word "tango" was often applied to dances in a 2/4 or 4/4 rhythm such as the one step. The term was fashionable and did not indicate that tango steps would be used in the dance, although they might be. Tango music was sometimes played, but at a rather fast tempo. Instructors of the period would sometimes refer to this as a "North American tango", versus the so-called "Argentine Tango". By 1914 more authentic tango stylings were soon developed, along with some variations like Albert newsman's "Minuet" tango.     - Azizi

All About The Jazz

The term "Jazz" was first applied to a style of dance and during the first world war. Jazz in a dance form, however, originates from the vernacular dances of Africans when they were brought to the Americas on slave ships. This dance form developed alongside jazz music in New Orleans in the early 1900's. Beginning in the 1930's and continuing through the 1960's, Jazz dance transformed from this vernacular form into a theater-based performance form of dance that required trained dancers. During this time, choreographers from the modern and ballet dance worlds experimented with the jazz dance style. These included choreographers such as George Balanchine, Agnes De Mille & Jack Cole. All of these choreographers influenced jazz by requiring the most highly trained to perform a specific set of movements, which differed greatly from the colloquial form of New Orleans in the 1900's. Also during this time period (circa. 1950) jazz dance was profoundly influenced by Caribbean and other Latin American dance styles introduced by anthropologist and dancer Katherine Dunham.

- Azizi