Tap Dance History
Coming to the end of our class, we have learned many dance styles of Indian dance. India is a country with long history. Indian dance styles have been developing with its cultural background as well. Bollywood is one of the biggest movie industries in the world. Bollywood cannot succeed without Indian traditional dance. South Asian Dancing is quite different than Western styles. Kathak is one of the most famous Indian dance styles. Tap Dance is also very famous in the world, which is originally from America. I have learned Tap Dance for a semester and I like it very much. I hope I can combine my own experience with the knowledge what I learned in this class. Comparing different dance styles: Kathak and Tap Dance.
Kathak is one of the ten major …show more content…
dance styles of Indian classical dance. The origin of Kathak is traditionally attributed to the traveling bards of ancient northern India, known as storytellers in Hindi. The word Kathak is originally from the Vedic Sanskrit word Katha meaning "story", and kathaka in Sanskrit means "the man who tells a story", or "to do with stories". Wandering Kathakas communicated stories from the great epics and ancient mythology through dance, songs and music in a manner like early Greek theatre (Shah, 8). Kathak developed during the Bhakti movement, specifically by compounding the childhood and stories of Hindu god Krishna, as well as independently in the courts of north Indian kingdoms.
Kathak has very long history, started from 400 BCE. Generally, it has Bhakti movement era, Mughal era, British Raj era, and Post-colonial era five different periods. According to the research, Kathak dance attributes the style to a Bhakti movement devotee named Ishwari from the Handiya village in southeast Uttar Pradesh, who credited Hindu god Krishna appearing in his dream and asking him to develop "dance as a form of worship"(Walker, 100). The Lucknow version of the Kathak dance – a family tree that is acknowledged in both Hindu and Muslim music-related Indian literature. The evolution in Kathak dance theme during the Bhakti movement centered primarily around divine Krishna, his lover Radha and milkmaids (gopis) – around legends and texts such as the Bhagavata Purana found in the Vaishnavism tradition of Hinduism. Bhakti movement was like a pioneer of Kathak, which also formed the basic structure of Kathak.
The Mughal era courts and nobles admitted Kathak as a form of aristocratic entertainment, which low income families could provide. However, the dance became more abstract and erotic, less as a means of communication of spiritual or religious ideas, and in cases the dancers innovated by emphasizing the eroticism and sexuality the Muslim audience wanted while keeping the message such as those of Krishna-Radha embedded in the dance (William 86). The Mughal era was the period of change. People tried to exclude the religious character from Kathak.
With the spread of colonial British rule in the 19th century India, Kathak along with all other classical dance forms were discouraged and it severely declined (Walker, 98). This was a part of the resulting showing the Victorian morality of sexual repressiveness along with Anglican missionaries who criticized Hinduism. The fewer gestures and facial expressions during Kathak performances in Temples and family occasions in the 20th century. Some Christian opponent even proclaimed “anti-dance movement" or "anti-nautch movement" to against Kathak performance in 1892 (Guhman, 97). It was the worst period of Kathat under the pressure of British colonialism.
The movement to end the colonial era and for an independent India, states Walker, also witnessed a revival of Kathak and more broadly, a cultural ferment and effort to reclaim culture and rediscover history (Walker, 99). While most scholars believe that Kathak is an ancient art, but some patterns and characters remain from 19th to 20th century. Kathak is now performed as one of the most common dancing typle in India. The costumes of Hindu and Muslim are different. Hindu people wear Sari, or a long light-weight skirt. The Muslim costume for female dancers also uses a skirt, but includes close fitting churidar pyjamas and sometimes a long coat covering hands and the upper body. The head has a cover scarf and the jewelry is light (Akombo, 194). Kathak contains many gestures and facial expressions. It dances with Indian traditional music under certain tempo. It is a fun, fascinating and lively dance style in India.
On the other hand, Tap Dance is a purely type of American dance styles.
It is a form of dance characterized by using the sounds of tap shoes knocking the floor as a form of percussion. Two major types of tap dance exist: jazz tap and Broadway tap. Broadway tap focuses on dance; it is widely performed in musical theater. Jazz tap focuses on musicality, and practitioners consider themselves to be a part of the jazz tradition. The sound is made by shoes that have a metal "tap" on the heel and toe. The sound is variable depends on which part you knocking. Compare to Kathak, the history of Tap Dance is way shorter. Tap dance has begun in the mid-1800s during the rise of minstrel shows. As the minstrel shows began to decline in popularity, tap dance moved to the increasingly popular stage (Hinkley, 1). During the 1930s-tap dance mixed with Lindy Hop. "Flying swing outs" and "flying circles" are Lindy Hop moves with tap footwork. In the mid- to late 1950s, the style of entertainment varied. Jazz music and tap dance declined, while rock and roll and the new jazz dance emerged. What is now called jazz dance evolved out of tap dance, so both dances have many moves in common, but jazz changed separately from tap dance to become a new form in a different
way.
Speaking to Choreography, dancers make frequent use of syncopation. Choreography typically starts on the eighth or first beat. Another aspect of tap dancing is improvisation. Tap dancing can either be done with music following the beats provided, or without musical accompaniment; the latter is known as "a cappella" tap dancing (Hine, 6). Common tap steps include the shuffle, shuffle ball change, double shuffle, leap shuffle, Irish and so on. From my own memory, Irish was very difficult to be done. You should slap the ground by your foot’s left and right side, only swiping the floor instead of touching it. Most movements of Tap Dance are about feet. Beginners do not even need to have gestures or facial expressions. Knocking, slapping and jumping compose the major parts of Tap Dance. In group tap dances, the steps are typically kept simple and easy to control. The group of dancers must work together to create the sound keeping their steps at the correct speed to match each other. It is hard to practice, but once you have done, the collaboration and incorporation making dance unique.
In conclusion, we compare both Kathak and Tap Dance. Two dance styles have many feet movements. They dance with certain types of music. Kathak and Tap Dance are very lively, happy and fun to watch. The major differences are Kathak has longer history, more religious context and more South Asian culture. Tap Dance is more like a combination of Western Hipster music style and 20th century’s movie. Tap Dance is like the pioneer of American pop culture. Metal knocking sound is a symbol of personality and freedom. Showing yourself and to be confident were so important in 20th century. The birth of Tap Dance showing the pursuit of Americans. No matter they feel happy or sad, dancing it loud is the best way to retrieve. This is also the major difference between Western and Eastern culture. Understanding a dance style is not only about dance itself, but also its cultural and historical background. I enjoy learning Indian dance styles through this class.
Kathak is one of the ten major …show more content…
dance styles of Indian classical dance. The origin of Kathak is traditionally attributed to the traveling bards of ancient northern India, known as storytellers in Hindi. The word Kathak is originally from the Vedic Sanskrit word Katha meaning "story", and kathaka in Sanskrit means "the man who tells a story", or "to do with stories". Wandering Kathakas communicated stories from the great epics and ancient mythology through dance, songs and music in a manner like early Greek theatre (Shah, 8). Kathak developed during the Bhakti movement, specifically by compounding the childhood and stories of Hindu god Krishna, as well as independently in the courts of north Indian kingdoms.
Kathak has very long history, started from 400 BCE. Generally, it has Bhakti movement era, Mughal era, British Raj era, and Post-colonial era five different periods. According to the research, Kathak dance attributes the style to a Bhakti movement devotee named Ishwari from the Handiya village in southeast Uttar Pradesh, who credited Hindu god Krishna appearing in his dream and asking him to develop "dance as a form of worship"(Walker, 100). The Lucknow version of the Kathak dance – a family tree that is acknowledged in both Hindu and Muslim music-related Indian literature. The evolution in Kathak dance theme during the Bhakti movement centered primarily around divine Krishna, his lover Radha and milkmaids (gopis) – around legends and texts such as the Bhagavata Purana found in the Vaishnavism tradition of Hinduism. Bhakti movement was like a pioneer of Kathak, which also formed the basic structure of Kathak.
The Mughal era courts and nobles admitted Kathak as a form of aristocratic entertainment, which low income families could provide. However, the dance became more abstract and erotic, less as a means of communication of spiritual or religious ideas, and in cases the dancers innovated by emphasizing the eroticism and sexuality the Muslim audience wanted while keeping the message such as those of Krishna-Radha embedded in the dance (William 86). The Mughal era was the period of change. People tried to exclude the religious character from Kathak.
With the spread of colonial British rule in the 19th century India, Kathak along with all other classical dance forms were discouraged and it severely declined (Walker, 98). This was a part of the resulting showing the Victorian morality of sexual repressiveness along with Anglican missionaries who criticized Hinduism. The fewer gestures and facial expressions during Kathak performances in Temples and family occasions in the 20th century. Some Christian opponent even proclaimed “anti-dance movement" or "anti-nautch movement" to against Kathak performance in 1892 (Guhman, 97). It was the worst period of Kathat under the pressure of British colonialism.
The movement to end the colonial era and for an independent India, states Walker, also witnessed a revival of Kathak and more broadly, a cultural ferment and effort to reclaim culture and rediscover history (Walker, 99). While most scholars believe that Kathak is an ancient art, but some patterns and characters remain from 19th to 20th century. Kathak is now performed as one of the most common dancing typle in India. The costumes of Hindu and Muslim are different. Hindu people wear Sari, or a long light-weight skirt. The Muslim costume for female dancers also uses a skirt, but includes close fitting churidar pyjamas and sometimes a long coat covering hands and the upper body. The head has a cover scarf and the jewelry is light (Akombo, 194). Kathak contains many gestures and facial expressions. It dances with Indian traditional music under certain tempo. It is a fun, fascinating and lively dance style in India.
On the other hand, Tap Dance is a purely type of American dance styles.
It is a form of dance characterized by using the sounds of tap shoes knocking the floor as a form of percussion. Two major types of tap dance exist: jazz tap and Broadway tap. Broadway tap focuses on dance; it is widely performed in musical theater. Jazz tap focuses on musicality, and practitioners consider themselves to be a part of the jazz tradition. The sound is made by shoes that have a metal "tap" on the heel and toe. The sound is variable depends on which part you knocking. Compare to Kathak, the history of Tap Dance is way shorter. Tap dance has begun in the mid-1800s during the rise of minstrel shows. As the minstrel shows began to decline in popularity, tap dance moved to the increasingly popular stage (Hinkley, 1). During the 1930s-tap dance mixed with Lindy Hop. "Flying swing outs" and "flying circles" are Lindy Hop moves with tap footwork. In the mid- to late 1950s, the style of entertainment varied. Jazz music and tap dance declined, while rock and roll and the new jazz dance emerged. What is now called jazz dance evolved out of tap dance, so both dances have many moves in common, but jazz changed separately from tap dance to become a new form in a different
way.
Speaking to Choreography, dancers make frequent use of syncopation. Choreography typically starts on the eighth or first beat. Another aspect of tap dancing is improvisation. Tap dancing can either be done with music following the beats provided, or without musical accompaniment; the latter is known as "a cappella" tap dancing (Hine, 6). Common tap steps include the shuffle, shuffle ball change, double shuffle, leap shuffle, Irish and so on. From my own memory, Irish was very difficult to be done. You should slap the ground by your foot’s left and right side, only swiping the floor instead of touching it. Most movements of Tap Dance are about feet. Beginners do not even need to have gestures or facial expressions. Knocking, slapping and jumping compose the major parts of Tap Dance. In group tap dances, the steps are typically kept simple and easy to control. The group of dancers must work together to create the sound keeping their steps at the correct speed to match each other. It is hard to practice, but once you have done, the collaboration and incorporation making dance unique.
In conclusion, we compare both Kathak and Tap Dance. Two dance styles have many feet movements. They dance with certain types of music. Kathak and Tap Dance are very lively, happy and fun to watch. The major differences are Kathak has longer history, more religious context and more South Asian culture. Tap Dance is more like a combination of Western Hipster music style and 20th century’s movie. Tap Dance is like the pioneer of American pop culture. Metal knocking sound is a symbol of personality and freedom. Showing yourself and to be confident were so important in 20th century. The birth of Tap Dance showing the pursuit of Americans. No matter they feel happy or sad, dancing it loud is the best way to retrieve. This is also the major difference between Western and Eastern culture. Understanding a dance style is not only about dance itself, but also its cultural and historical background. I enjoy learning Indian dance styles through this class.