It is obvious that verbal expression is the most common type of communication that has been prevalent throughout history. However, there is another type of non-verbal communication that has been just as much used and articulated throughout time as speech; it is the expression of body language. Body language can be used to express many different emotions, and one of the most basic yet intriguing facets of body language has been, and still is Dance.
Today dance is seen as a form of art, but it did not start out as such. There are records of dance dating as far back as the Greek and Roman Gods. Then, it was used as an offering to fertile animals. This type of ceremonial dance can be found in the history of almost any country (Stodelle, 119). The question is, when exactly did it turn form that type of expression to what we know today as art form and self-expression. Dance dates back to starting in France with Louis XIV. Ballet was the popular form of dance. In fact, the king was the one who set up the first royal ballet academy in early 17th century. As history tells us, the years came and went and all the while dance was evolving into and art that would soon reach to every corner of the globe and be one of the most dynamic art forms. Eventually the 20th century approached, and so did modern dance. Evolution is not necessarily a good thing, and unfortunately, dance is an ever-changing art form, especially evident in the twentieth century.
The art of dance was now a much broader and liberal field (Stodelle, 201). The core of this liberation was centered by women and what they brought to modern dance. It was an expression of who they were rather that just a body moving while following a set of rules that were established more than a hundred years ago. They were the ones who had the drive to do something different and change the structure of dance into something more personal and expressive.
