Dance

Dance is movement with no purpose aside from the communication of an aesthetic idea, enjoyment of music, and/or the achievement of spiritual-mystical mind-body states. Dance is thus contrasted to objectively purposeful, pedestrian movement such as walking, hammering, typing, etc. Dance movement is often, though not always, rhythmic. Dance is often, though not always, accompanied by music.

Dance is found in every human culture. Dance scholar Alfred Gell has defined dance as "a stylized deformation of nondance mobility, just as poetry is a deformation or modulation of language, a deviation from the norm of expression that enhances expresiveness (Gell, Alfred. 'Style and Meaning in Umeda Dance' in: Spencer, Paul, ed. Society and the Dance. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985)."

A continuum of dance can be posited that stretches from the most extreme and solitary forms of non-technical, ritual dance (endurance/trance dancing) through a broad middle of folk dance (including everything from modern club dances to a medieval minuet), to extreme forms of performance dance such as neoclassical ballet or postmodern works employing decontextualized pedestrian movement.

Some dance styles include:

Ballroom Dance -- Belly Dance -- Classical Dance -- Country Dance -- Disco -- Square Dance -- Swing Dance -- Jazz dance -- Modern dance -- Folk dance -- Ballet -- Tap Dance

Popular dances: Bharata Natyam (from India) -- Flamenco (from Andalusia) -- Sardana (from Catalonia) -- Salsa

Historical dance forms: Medieval dance -- Renaissance dance -- Baroque dance -- 18th century dance -- Regency dance -- Vintage dance