Dances of the peoples of the world, their origin and meaning

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Different peoples of the world have their own culture, history, religion. These features are reflected in many ways: in the style of communication, everyday behavior, of course, in the choreography.

Dances of the peoples of the world convey national, cultural and religious characteristics. They are based on the manifestation of feelings, sensations, some of them are associated with everyday processes. Their root lies in ancient times, when people performed ritual movements, trying to appease the gods or subdue the forces of nature, imitate the movements of animals before hunting, and so on. Dancing before the battle, they often tried to gather strength and raise morale. Over time, such dances lost their original meaning.

Dances of the peoples of the world can be conditionally divided into entertaining, imitative, cult, warlike. By the number of participants, group, collective or individual are distinguished.

It is worth paying special attention to Slavic dances. They are rooted in ancient Indo-European customs. The first Slavic dances, according to an old belief, were among the rituals of tribal knowledge, beinga link between the world of people and the sky. They were almost always accompanied by singing and music. Sometimes at the same time they drank a special drug that helps to move into a specific state. Round dance was especially popular.

One Byzantine historian named Leo the Deacon noted that in ancient times the frantic dances of the Slavs often drove them to exhaustion. He also wrote that these dances had not only ritual significance, but also contained many martial techniques. According to him, the Slavs were ferocious warriors who learned to fight with the help of dances. Interestingly, this heritage was not lost at all. Centuries later, such dances were reflected in the Zaporozhye hopak. One French traveler who visited the Sich noted with surprise that the Cossacks could dance and sing almost all their free time. Gopak was a special dance that was used to teach combat skills both with and without weapons. It includes many strikes and different types of protection.

The dances of the peoples of Africa are very diverse. They contain many jumps and imitations of animals. They can be conditionally divided into combat, ritual, hunting, summoning spirits, associated with initiation, greeting. Warrior dances occupy a significant place in the life of Africans. Previously, with their help, young guys were taught various methods of handling weapons. The famous ngolo dance is very popular in southern and western Africa. It includes the development of various wrestling techniques. Initially, it arose as a duel, as a result of which the winner became the husband of any girl he liked.without having to pay a ransom. Interestingly, ngolo, brought by black slaves to Brazil, became the basis of capoeira, a special kind of martial art.

Dances of the peoples of the world often have a fighting character, as already mentioned above. This also includes some Chinese taolu - complexes of techniques that are learned and performed by practitioners of one or another type of martial art. Most likely, the Ukrainian hopak also belongs to this category.

Dances of the peoples of the world are a reflection of the beliefs, culture, history and spirituality of people. In some of them, certain knowledge or skills are transmitted by sign language. Others are purely for entertainment purposes.