Dance Around The World

What if you could "skip a jig to the coasts of Ireland" or "tap your feet to the shores of New Zealand?" If I Could Dance Around the World is an educational journey of two children as they travel around the world, learning about people from other lands through their costumes, music, and dance. "I could hop my way to the Great Wall in China twirling my ribbon so high. It's fun to see squiggles and loops I make, like painting a dance in the sky!"

In these essays, dancers and scholars from around the world carefully consider the transformation of an improvised folk form from North Africa and the Middle East into a popular global dance practice. They explore the differences between the solo improvisational forms of North Africa and the Middle East, often referred to as raqs sharki, which are part of family celebrations, and the numerous globalized versions of this dance form, belly dance, derived from the movement vocabulary of North Africa and the Middle East but with a variety of performance styles distinct from its site of origin. Local versions of belly dance have grown and changed along with the role that dance plays in the community. The global evolution of belly dance is an inspiring example of the interplay of imagination, the internet and the social forces of local communities. All royalties are being donated to Women for Women International, an organization dedicated to supporting women survivors of war through economic, health, and social education programs. The contributors are proud to provide continuing sponsorship to such a worthwhile and necessary cause.

This rhythmic showcase of dances from all over the world features children of diverse backgrounds and abilities tapping, spinning, and boogying away! Tap, twirl, twist, spin! With musical, rhyming text, author Valerie Bolling shines a spotlight on dances from across the globe, while energetic art from Maine Diaz shows off all the moves and the diverse people who do them. From the cha cha of Cuba to the stepping of Ireland, kids will want to leap, dip, and zip along with the dances on the page!

This contemporary title explores line dances around the world in today s health-oriented world. The young reader is exposed to the health and fitness perspective of line dancing, and is encouraged to draw conclusions as to the appropriateness of the activity in his or her life. A variety of line dances, including the Electric Slide, the Cupid Shuffle, the Macarena, and the Wobble are presented, along with the History and origin of line dancing. Safety issues are presented where appropriate. Line Dances Around the World has been developed to encourage young readers to analyze the information and satisfies many of the Common Core specific goals, higher level skills, and progressive strategies for middle grade and junior high level students.

A collection of writing from Britain's best-loved travel writer, A Merry Dance around the World' is the culmination of a lifetime of adventure.

While there are books about folk dances from individual countries or regions, there isn’t a single comprehensive book on folk dances across the globe. This illustrated compendium offers the student, teacher, choreographer, historian, media critic, ethnographer, and general reader an overview of the evolution and social and religious significance of folk dance. The Encyclopedia of World Folk Dancefocuses on the uniqueness of kinetic performance and its contribution to the study and appreciation of rhythmic expression around the globe. Following a chronology of momentous events dating from prehistoryto the present day, the entries in this volume include material on technical terms, character roles, and specific dances. The entries also summarize the historical and ethnic milieu of each style and execution, highlighting, among other elements, such features as: origins purpose rituals and traditions props dress holidays themes

Within intellectual paradigms that privilege mind over matter, dance has long appeared as a marginal, derivative, or primitive art. Drawing support from theorists and artists who embrace matter as dynamic and agential, this book offers a visionary definition of dance that illuminates its constitutive work in the ongoing evolution of human persons. Why We Dance introduces a philosophy of bodily becoming that posits bodily movement as the source and telos of human life. Within this philosophy, dance appears as an activity that humans evolved to do as the enabling condition of their best bodily becoming. Weaving theoretical reflection with accounts of lived experience, this book positions dance as a catalyst in the development of human consciousness, compassion, ritual proclivity, and ecological adaptability. Aligning with trends in new materialism, affect theory, and feminist philosophy, as well as advances in dance and religious studies, this work reveals the vital role dance can play in reversing the trajectory of ecological self-destruction along which human civilization is racing.

Dance has the power to change the lives of young people. It is a force in shaping identity, affirming culture and exploring heritage in an increasingly borderless world. Creative and empowering pedagogies are driving curriculum development worldwide where the movement of peoples and cultures generates new challenges and possibilities for dance education in multiple contexts. In Dance Education around the World: Perspectives on Dance, Young People and Change, writers across the globe come together to reflect, comment on and share their expertise and experiences. The settings are drawn from a spectrum of countries with contributions from Europe, the Americas, the Middle East, Asia, the Pacific and Africa giving insights and fresh perspectives into contrasting ideas, philosophies and approaches to dance education from Egypt to Ghana, Brazil to Finland, Jamaica to the Netherlands, the UK, USA, Australia, New Zealand and more. This volume offers chapters and narratives on: Curriculum developments worldwide Empowering communities through dance Embodiment and creativity in dance teaching Exploring and assessing learning in dance as artistic practice Imagined futures for dance education Reflection, evaluation, analysis and documentation are key to the evolving ecology of dance education and research involving individuals, communities and nations. Dance Education around the World: Perspectives on Dance, Young People and Change provides a great resource for dance educators, practitioners and researchers, and pushes for the furtherance of dance education around the world. Charlotte Svendler Nielsen is Assistant professor and head of educational studies at the Department of Nutrition, Exercise and Sports, research group Body, Learning and Identity, University of Copenhagen, Denmark. Stephanie Burridge lectures at Lasalle College of the Arts and Singapore Management University, and is the series editor for Routledge Celebrating Dance in Asia and the Pacific.

Capturing centuries of rhythmic wisdom just in time for Saturday night, this must-have compendium features the illustrated, step-by-step moves for 100 hot-blooded hipshakers sure to please veteran groove-machines as well as those with two left feet.

From healing, fertility and religious rituals, through theatrical entertainment, to death ceremonies and ancestor worship, World Dance Cultures introduces an extraordinary variety of dance forms practiced around the world. This highly illustrated textbook draws on wide-ranging historical documentation and first-hand accounts, taking in India, Bali, Java, Cambodia, China, Japan, Hawai’i, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Africa, Turkey, Spain, Native America, South America, and the Caribbean. Each chapter covers a certain region’s distinctive dances, pinpoints key issues and trends from the form’s development to its modern iteration, and offers a wealth of study features including: Case Studies – zooming in on key details of a dance form’s cultural, historical, and religious contexts ‘Explorations’ – first-hand descriptions of dances, from scholars, anthropologists and practitioners ‘Think About’ – provocations to encourage critical analysis of dance forms and the ways in which they’re understood Discussion Questions – starting points for group work, classroom seminars or individual study Further Study Tips – listing essential books, essays and video material. Offering a comprehensive overview of each dance form covered with over 100 full color photos, World Dance Cultures is an essential introductory resource for students and instructors alike.