Modern and Traditional Dance

Name : Anis Septianingsih

Class : 3E

NPM : 1910631060066

Dance is a performing art form consisting of purposefully selected sequences of human movement. This movement has aesthetic and symbolic value, and is acknowledged as dance by performers and observers within a particular culture. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoire of movements, or by its historical period or place of origin.

An important distinction is to be drawn between the contexts of theatrical and participatory dance, although these two categories are not always completely separate; both may have special functions, whether social, ceremonial, competitive, martial, or sacred/liturgical. Other forms of human movement are sometimes said to have a dance-like quality, including martial arts, gymnastics, cheerleading, figure skating, synchronised swimming, marching bands, and many other forms of athletics.

There are two types of dance:

1. Modern Dance

Modern dance is a broad genre of western concert or theatrical dance, primarily arising out of Germany and the United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Modern dance is often considered to have emerged as a rejection of or rebellion against, classical ballet. Socioeconomic and cultural factors also contributed to its development. In the late 19th century, dance artists such as Isadora Duncan, Maud Allan and Loie Fuller were pioneering new forms and practices in what is now called aesthetic or free dance for performance. These dancers disregarded ballet's strict movement vocabulary, the particular, limited set of movements that were considered proper to ballet and stopped wearing corsets and pointe shoes in the search for greater freedom of movement.

Modern dance has evolved with each subsequent generation of participating artists. Artistic content has morphed and shifted from one choreographer to another, as have styles and techniques. Artists such as Graham and Horton developed techniques in the Central Modern Period that are still taught worldwide and numerous other types of modern dance exist today.

Example: Contemporary dance

Contemporary dance emerged in the 1950s as the dance form that is combining the modern dance elements and the classical ballet elements. It can use elements from non-Western dance cultures, such as African dancing with bent knees as a characteristic trait, and Butoh, Japanese contemporary dancing that developed in the 1950s. It is also derived from modern European themes like poetic and everyday elements, broken lines, nonlinear movements, and repetition. Many contemporary dancers are trained daily in classical ballet to keep up with the technicality of the choreography given. These dancers tend to follow ideas of efficient bodily movement, taking up space, and attention to detail. Contemporary dance today includes both concert and commercial dance because of the lines being blurred by pop culture and television shows. 

According to Treva Bedinghaus, "Modern dancers use dancing to express their innermost emotions, often to get closer to their inner-selves. Before attempting to choreograph a routine, the modern dancer decides which emotions to try to convey to the audience. Many modern dancers choose a subject near and dear to their hearts, such as a lost love or a personal failure. The dancer will choose music that relates to the story they wish to tell, or choose to use no music at all, and then choose a costume to reflect their chosen emotions."

2. Traditional Dance

Traditional dance reflects the country's diversity of ethnicities and cultures. For example, there are more than 300 ethnic groups in Indonesia: Austronesian roots and Melanesian tribal forms are visible, and influences ranging from neighboring Asian and even western styles through colonization. Each ethnic group has its own dances: there are more than 3,000 original dance forms in Indonesia. 

The dance traditions in Indonesia; such as Balinese, Javanese, Sundanese, Minangkabau, Palembang, Malay, Aceh and many other dances traditions are age old traditions, yet also a living and dynamic traditions. Certain traditional dances might be centuries old, while some others might just created less than a decade ago. The creation of a new dance choreography but still within the frame of respected dance tradition and discipline is still possible. As the result, there is some kreasi baru (newly created) dances. The newly created dance could be the rediscovery and the revival of lost old traditions or a new interpretation, inspiration and exploration of traditional dances.

Example: Tari Piring (Plate dance)

Piring dance is a traditional Minangkabau plate dance from West Sumatra, Indonesia. The dance might be performed by a group of women, men or couples, each of them holds plates in each hands, and vigorously rotate or half rotate them in various formations and fast movements.

The dance demonstrates the skill of the dancers that manage balance and to move the ceramics plate swiftly without dropping or breaking the plates. Sometimes candles are lit on the plate, and this variant is called tari lilin (candle dance). Dancers hold the bottom of plates in the palm of their hands and swing them wildly using the inertia to keep the plate from falling. Dancers tap their plates with a ring on one of their fingers to animate their movement with sonic accompaniment.

This dance is usually performed as a ceremonial welcoming dance to honor the guests and elders to a traditional ceremony. Next to randai, saman, pendet and jaipongan, the dance is also one of popular Indonesian traditional dances performed in festivals abroad to promote Indonesian culture and tourism.