The origin of dancing is to be sought in the natural tendency to employ gesture either to supplement or to replace speech. Strong emotions, in particular, key up the organs to a pitch of exaltation which spontaneously manifests itself through more or less rhythmical movements that constitute what may be considered as elementary and natural dances. But in the same manner as speech soon developed into poetry and song, so also did these bodily movements gradually develop into the art of dancing. Both spontaneous and artistic dancing may be described as an expression of the feelings by movements of the body more or less controlled by a sense of rhythm(J. Millar), and are to some degree practised by all peoples. - Catholic Encyclopedia
Posted on: Sat, 22 Nov 2014 21:30:24 +0000
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