Irish dancing was born from the rituals and folk dances of the celts and druids. Irish dancing was also influenced by the Norman culture when they invaded and settled in Ireland in the 12th century. It was around the 18th century that Irish dance became more formalized and it was common for a dance master to travel from town to town holding lessons for peasants.
If you’ve ever seen Alvin Ailey’s Masterpiece Revelations, you have witnessed the Horton Technique. It is a codified modern dance technique rooted in clear lines and shapes, with an important attention paid to musical dynamics.
Hip Hop as a dance type is a popular form of movement that has evolved since the ’70s from its origins of break dancing. It was when musical rhythms slowed down that hip hop and its cruisy head-nodding beats developed.
Martha Graham once said, “My dancing is not an attempt to interpret life. It is the affirmation of life through movement.” Her choreography is known for its dramatic exploration of the human psyche and interpersonal relationships, with inspiration coming from sources including her childhood in rural Pennsylvania and Greek Mythology.
Fosse Jazz was created in the 1940’s and 50’s by Bob Fosse as an offshoot of Broadway jazz. Fosse pulled inspiration from his background in vaudeville, the teachings of Broadway jazz founder Jack Cole, his work with Fred Astaire, and his own insecurities (he did not like his hands or his thinning hair and didn’t have good turnout), he developed a unique choreographic style and terminology.
Katherine Dunham validated African Americans as performers and brought their cultural heritage to the concert and Broadway stage; along the way she sought to break down racial barriers off stage as well, in addition to codifying her own dance technique.
Demi Character Dance is generally found in addition to classical ballet sections at dance eisteddfods and competitions. They allow the ballet dancer to showcase their technique whilst portraying a character.
Creative Movement refers to a dance practice where the students are responsible for generating movement, in response to a prompt of some kind. Students explore concepts of Body, Effort, Space, Time, and Relationship while developing a personal vocabulary of locomotor and non-locomotor movements.
Contemporary Dance or Contemporary Ballet requires the skills, technique, and flexibility of a ballet dancer. It uses these skills to create movement and choreography that deviates and distorts traditional ballet.
Competitive dance is an umbrella term that encompasses many styles of dance, including but not limited to ballet, jazz, lyrical, tap, contemporary, hip hop, and acro dance. You will normally not see a dance class labeled as simply “Competitive Dance”; rather, the class may be called something like “Competition Team Jazz Class”, which simply indicates that the dancers participating are a part of the studio’s competition team. To best understand competitive dance, you must understand what kind of dance competitions there are.