The following are two examples of tribal dance that survived into the 20th century. The musicologist Curt Sachs quoted a description of the fertility dance of the Cobéua Indians of Braziclass="underline"
The dancers have large [artificial] phalli…which they hold close to their bodies with both hands. Stamping with the right foot and singing, they dance…with the upper parts of their bodies bent forwards. Suddenly they jump wildly along with violent coitus motions and loud groans.…Thus they carry the fertility into every corner of the houses…; they jump among the women, young and old, who disperse shrieking and laughing; they knock the phalli one against another.
Joan Lawson described the tree-worship dance performed both in Australia and up the Amazon River:
A solemn circling of the tree is followed by an ecstatic raising of the head and hands to the branches, leaves, and fruit. Hands are then gradually run down the trunk and finally the men kneel or lie grovelling at the roots. They hope that by so doing the strength of the tree will enter into them.
An interesting parallel with tribal dances may be found in the break-dancing and “body-popping” craze that swept the United States and Britain in the 1980s. While the dancers clearly were not members of a tribe in any strict sense, they were often members of a distinct group or crew that had its own style and identity. These crews were part of a larger group of young people, again with its own style and customs, that could be differentiated from other groups such as punks or skinheads. The two dance forms were characterized by an energetic spinning action, whereby the dancer propelled himself around on his neck, head, or shoulders and by small, jerky movements of the joints that traveled in a wave through his body. Rival crews often competed with one another in the street, showing off the skill and ingenuity of their moves. Ethnic dance
In describing many dances, reference is often made to their ethnic, rather than their tribal, origins. An ethnic dance is simply a dance that is characteristic of a particular cultural group. Under this definition even the polka, which is almost always considered a social dance, may be called ethnic, as it began in a culturally distinct region of Europe. Flamenco, which began as an improvised dance among Andalusian gypsies, combines toe and heel clicking with body movements similar to Indian dance. Indian dances may be regarded as a general ethnic type, but there are numerous forms and traditions within the type: some are classical (see above Indian classical dance), while others are popular, being danced by nonspecialists for communal festivities and for recreation. In this discussion of the art of dance, it is most useful to reserve the designation ethnic for those genres that, while perhaps in a state of transition, are still practiced by a unique cultural group, still retain some of their original communal or ritual functions, and have not yet reached the professionalized state of classical or folk dance.
The many Afro-Caribbean dance forms are usually considered to constitute a distinct ethnic form because they share certain characteristic movements. As in Indian dance, the legs are frequently bent, with the feet stamping out rhythms against the ground. The torso and back are also very mobile, executing sinuous rippling actions or more jerky, rhythmic movements. The body is frequently bent slightly forward, and there is greater use of the hips, which sway and circle in syncopated rhythms. Gestures and facial expressions are used in some narrative dances, but they tend to be much less sophisticated or strictly codified than in Indian dance.
Women dancing in a Carnival parade, Port-au-Prince, Haiti.Dieu Nalio Chery/AP Images
In performance today, most Afro-Caribbean dance companies are made up of both dancers and drummers, the percussion marking out the rhythm and helping to intensify the emotion. Frequently the dancers take turns performing, and there is usually a great deal of informal communication among members of the company on stage. Participation by the audience is often encouraged at the end of the performance, reflecting the communal, rather than theatrical, origins of the form. Folk dance
When tribal societies in Europe gave way to more structured societies, the old dance forms gradually developed into what are now called folk or peasant dances. For a long time these retained much of their original significance and therefore could have received the modern classification of “ethnic.” The Maypole dance, still sometimes performed in England, is a descendant of older tree-worshipping dances, the ribbons that the dancers hold as they dance around the pole symbolizing the tree’s branches. The morris dance, also called the moresque because the blackened faces of the dancers resembled the Moors, is a survival of early weapon dances, which were not war dances but an ancient form of religious worship. The types and styles of these different dances were numerous, and, as with tribal dances, many were lost so that information about them often remains sketchy. In the 20th century, efforts to collect national music and dances were made by, among others, Cecil Sharp in England and Béla Bartók in Hungary. These efforts resulted in the revival of certain dances, but they are now danced mainly for recreation, and their original significance has been lost. It is in this conscious revival or preservation of ethnic and national dances for purposes of entertainment that modern folk dance has its origin.
Traditional Maypole dance from England, with circle formation of dancers interweaving; detail from a 19th-century drawing.Culver Pictures, Inc.
Although different areas and countries have different styles of dance, most of them share common formations and styles of movement. The earliest and simplest formation, the closed circle, is found in all folk dances and derives from the ritual of circling around an object of worship. The dancers grasp one another by the hands, wrists, shoulders, elbows, or waists and face the centre of the circle. In more complex forms, dancers move into and out of the circle to perform individual movements or to join into couples, or, as the dancers circle, they may weave around one another. In some dances there are two concentric circles, sometimes the inner one of men and the outer one of women.
Portuguese folk dancers from Algarve performing one of the traditional regional folk dances.M. Howard/ZEFA
Another common formation, the chain, involves a long line of dancers, often holding hands or linked by handkerchiefs. The leader may trace a complex, serpentine pattern for the others to follow. Processional dances may travel a long way—even through an entire village. The dancers are mostly in couples, with the procession halting at times for them to dance together.
Greek women performing a folk dance.© portokalis/iStock.com
Many folk dances today are performed in sets, groups of about eight dancers who may perform in all of the above formations but within a restricted space. In other dances, individuals may leave the group and dance on their own.
Folk dance steps are usually quite simple variations on walking, hopping, skipping, and turning. (See above Folk dance.) Depending on the particular dance form, these steps may be long, slow, and gliding or short, fast, and springing. The hips are usually held still, though in more vigorous dances the men in particular may crouch, kneel, or even lie on the floor. Some dances involve large jumps and lifts, usually with the man seizing the woman by the waist, lifting her into the air, and possibly turning with her.
There are numerous kinds of holds. For example, two dancers may face each other and hold hands with the arms crossed, link arms, or use a hold similar to that of ballroom dancers. Individual folk dances may also contain distinctive motifs: the dancers may clap their hands, wave handkerchiefs, or clash sticks with one another. Some dances contain elements of mime—not only the bows and curtsies of courtship dance but also gestures such as those performed in certain Slavic harvest dances, where the arms are brought up to the chest and opened outward as if presenting something.