Grab your dancing shoes and get ready to explore some of the most popular styles of dance. Who knows, you might find some new dance styles that you want to give a try.
Popular Dance Style 1: Ballet
Graceful and elegant are the two words that automatically come to mind when we think of ballet. There are different styles of ballet including classical, romantic, neoclassical, and contemporary.
While each of these ballet styles has its own unique characteristics that set them apart from each other, they all tend to share a few similar traits that allow them to be classified as ballet.
Popular Dance Style 2: Flamenco
Flamenco is an emotional, fast-paced dance style that involves rhythmic footwork, expressive arm movements, clapping of the hands, and from time to time, incorporating small percussion instruments known as castanets. The music commonly used to accompany Flamenco dancing is instrumental, mostly guitar, but some Flamenco music also incorporates singing.
People love Flamenco dancing because it is very expressive. In most cases, the dancers improvise their movements, instead of using choreographed steps, allowing the music to guide them.
Popular Dance Style 3: Modern Dance
Think of modern dance as a less structured form of ballet. Some of the movements may look similar to ballet, but they are often more expressive and free.
People love modern dance because there is such a unique feel to it. Dancers, instructors, and choreographers have the ability to add unique touches to moves that aren’t always allowed in ballet and other more structured dance styles.
As we’ve mentioned before, modern dance is codified. It has many different techniques, including Graham, Taylor, Cunningham, Limón, Dunham, Duncan, and Horton which are named after the modern dance pioneers who created them. These techniques all have specific rules that govern body placement, movement qualities, and choreographic composition.
