DANCE

ELEMENTS OF DANCE
1. Body Element. This describes how the body of a dancer moves, what part of that
body is moving, what actions are performed, and how the body aligns and
supports itself.
2. Space. This focuses on the area where the dance is performed. Terms such as
direction, size, focus, distance, level, and elevation can be used in describing the
use of space in dance.
3. Time. Terms such as accent, beat, duration, meter, rhythm and acceleration can
be used in describing time.
4. Energy. This element describes how energy is directed through the body and
how the body releases it. In some references, this is referred to as dynamics.
5. Relationship. This element has a lot of aspects. Relationship may mean how a
dancer relates to an object, or how he or she relates to the group of dancers. It
could also mean how a person relates to the stage and to production elements.
In short, relationship involves the awareness of dancers on their environment.
FORMS AND TYPES OF DANCE IN THE PHILIPPINES
1. Folk Dances. These refers to the dances that are developed and performed
together by ordinary people. Folk dances include ceremonial, combative,
courtship, exorcism, funeral, game, torture, comic and religious dances.
 Courtship and Wedding Dances. A courtship dance is a ceremonial
dance which involves the male pursuing the female. The courtship
dance is typically performed during special occasions. Examples of
courtship dances are kumintang and kuratsa. Wedding dances, on
the other hand, are performed by newlyweds. This performance.
This performance aims to celebrate relationships that have been
newly-formed by the couple, their families and relatives. Examples
of wedding dances are mascot in Cagayan and Isabela, and
pantomina in Bicol.
 Game Dances. These folk dances are usually acted for fun, but
have a set of rules and structure. Usually done in informal social
gatherings, these dances are also played to test the skills of the
dancers.
 Martial Dance. This type of folkdance is combative in nature and is
used to enact a battle. Martial dances may exhibit unarmed
execution or confrontation using arms or weapons. The langka of
Samal is a good example of martial dance.
 Mimetic Dance. These are dances that aim to imitate actual or real
life movements. Mimetic dances may be categorized into animal
 dances and occupational dances. The latter portrays everyday
activities in the community.
 Ritual Dancing. This involves dancing to spiritual beings and gods.
The shaman, who usually directs the dance and the supplicants
perform the dance to ask for blessings, good health or victory in a
war. They may also perform ritual dancing as a form of gratitude to
the gods for blessings received or prayers answered.
 Social Dancing. Social dancing is primarily performed to celebrate
important milestones in life and to mark harvests. This is also
performed among Christians as a way of commemorating the
feasts of patron saints or visit of personages. Examples of social
dancing are balse, escotis, habanera, jota, lanceros, polka, rigodon
de honor and subli.
 Song Dance. This refers to a dance performed to a song, which is
typically describes history and traditions of a community. This dance
involves acting out the meaning of the song using gestures and
movements. Balitaw and lunsay are examples of song dance.
2. Ballet. Ballet is a theatrical dance presentation in which a plot is integrated with
dancing, music and stage designs. It is also defined as the style and technique of
dancing strictly based on a theatrical dance school. Ballet is further classified into
modern ballet, opera ballet and folkloric ballet.
 Modern ballet utilizes the technique and style of classical ballet in
portraying contemporary content. Techniques in modern dance may be
adapted in modern ballet, such as bound and rebound and contraction
and release. Modern ballet may also use natural movement.
 Opera ballet on the other hand, is defined as dance within the context of
an opera. Rock opera ballet, which began in 1970s, is an offshoot of the
opera ballet.
 Folkloric ballet is a type of ballet that involves stylizing and editing stories,
motifs and styles found in the culture of ordinary people and adapting
these materials to contemporary theater.
3. Modern Dance- This refers to a dance form that emerged during the 20 th century.
This dance form is still considered theatrical but it veers away from the technique
and style of ballet.
4. Other forms:
 Aerobic Dance. This is primarily dancing to the tune of popular music with
the purpose of increasing consumption of oxygen over a long period time.
 Bodabil Dancing. This form of dancing is used to be popular during the
American period. It included popular dances from the United States and
Philippine folk dances. Bodabil dancing, when combined with mime,
singing of ballads and acrobatics, offers a perception of life during those
 times in satirical way. However, popularity of this vaudeville act became
confined in provincial fiestas and television and radio variety shows.
 Jazz Dance. This dance form uses African dance techniques like isolation
of individual human body parts, rhythm and polycentrism. Later,
movements from other social dances were fused into jazz. Nowadays,
there are people who are into modern jazz, which is a mix of original jazz
dance and steps from dances during the second half of the 20th century.
 Polynesian and Tahitian Dance. These dances began from the people
living in the Polynesian chain, which is comprised of seven major island
groups in the southern part of the Pacific Ocean. These dances, such as
hula were introduced in the Philippines during the late 1950s.
 Tap Dance. This is a dance which entails tapping with toes and heels to
generate rhythmic pattern.