5 Popular Styles of Dance in Philadelphia

Dance is a type of art that typically involves moving a person’s body in a rhythmic fashion, with accompanying music. Dance is performed in quite a few different cultures and used as a type of emotional expression, exercise, social interaction or in a performance or spiritual setting. It is also often used for telling a story or expressing ideas. Dancing can be entertaining and for some, it is a passion, while others, a profession. Regardless of if a person has professional training, or not, dancing is enjoyable and something that anyone can do.

Here you will find some of the most popular dance styles from around the world. You will likely be familiar with some of these while others will be new and exciting. Sit back and get lost in the world of dance.

Hip Hop Dancing

This type of dance is a style of street dance and usually accompanied by hip-hop music. It includes a wide array of styles, with the main ones seen being popping and locking, which was originally created during the era of the 1970s and made popular by various dance crews in the U.S. This style of dance is mainly done with moves that are executed while the person is very close to the ground. From cities across the country, from New York to Cincinnati, hip hop dancing is here to stay.

Tap Dancing

This is a type of dance that is characterized by the unique tapping sound that is heard when the metal plates that are attached to the heel and toe of a dander’s shoes are hit on the ground. These unique shoes are specifically designed for tap dancers. The root of the tap dance is in African American dancing, with historical reaches such as English Lancashire Clog dancing and Juba Dance. The most well-known form of tap dancing is Irish step dancing, which is believed to have first started during the mid part of the 1800s.

Yangko Dancing

This is a traditional folk dance from the Han Chinese. It was originally performed in China and is a very popular part of the Chinese culture. This dance involves the swaying of a person’s body to certain rhythms. The hip and waist area are used to drive the feet to be in sync with the music that is being played. In China, the dance has a thousand-year-old history and is typically seen performed during the Lantern Festival.

Belly Dance
This is a western-coined term that is used for a traditional West Asian dance called the Raqs Sharqui. In some cases, it is also referred to as the Arabic Dance or Middle Eastern Dance in some Western cultures. The actual term belly dance is considered a misnomer, since all parts of the body are used in this type of dancing. The most used body part is the hips. This type of dancing became extremely popular during the 18th and 19th century when the Orientalist artists created images of the harem’s life during the times of the Ottoman Empire.

Ballet Dancing

This is a type of performance dance that originated in Italy in the 15th century. The dance was developed in Russia and France and eventually evolved into a type of performance dance and a concert dance. It can be extremely complex and is now taught all over the world. In most cases, ballet dancing is choreographed with orchestral or vocal music. This type of dancing involves extremely precise acrobatic moves, pointe work and more. The actual term ballet translates to the phrase “to dance.”

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