Dances of the peoples of the world, their origin and meaning

Different peoples of the world have their own culture, history, religion. These features are reflected in many ways: in the style of communication, everyday behavior, of course, in choreography.

Dances of the peoples of the world convey national, cultural and religious characteristics. They are based on the manifestation of feelings, sensations, some of them are associated with everyday processes. Their root lies in ancient times, when people performed ritual movements, trying to appease the gods or to subdue the forces of nature, imitated the movements of animals before hunting, and so on. Dancing before the battle, they often tried to gather strength and raise morale. Over time, such dances lost their primordial importance.

Dances of the peoples of the world can be conditionally divided into entertaining, imitative, cult, warlike. The number of participants is divided into group, collective or individual.

It is worth paying special attention to Slavic dances. They are rooted in ancient Indo-European customs. The first Slavic dances, according to the old belief, were included in the ritual of generic knowledge, being the link between the world of people and the sky. They were almost always accompanied by singing and music. Sometimes at the same time they drank a special drug, which helps to pass to a specific state. Particularly popular was the round dance.

One Byzantine historian named Leo Deacon noted that in ancient times, the violent dances of the Slavs often drove them to exhaustion. He also wrote that these dances had not only ritual significance, but also contained many combat techniques. According to him, the Slavs were fierce warriors who learned to fight with the help of dances. Interestingly, this legacy was not lost. Centuries later such dances were reflected in the Zaporozhye Hopak. One French traveler, who visited the Sich, was surprised to note that the Cossacks could dance and sing almost all their free time. Hopak was a special dance, which was used to teach combat skills both with weapons and without it. It includes many attacks and various types of defense.

The dances of the peoples of Africa are very diverse. They contain many jumps and imitations to animals. They can be conditionally divided into combat, ritual, hunting, evocative spirits associated with initiation, welcoming. Military dances occupy a considerable place in the life of Africans. Earlier with their help young guys were taught various methods of handling weapons. Famous dance ngolo is very popular in the south and west of Africa. It includes the development of various wrestling techniques. Initially, it arose as a duel, as a result of which the winner became the husband of any girl he liked, without having to pay a ransom for her. Interestingly, ngolo, brought by black slaves to Brazil, became the basis of capoeira - a special kind of single combat.

Dances of the peoples of the world are often of a fighting nature, as already mentioned above. This also includes some Chinese taolu - a set of techniques that practitioners are practicing and practicing this or that kind of martial art. Most likely, the Ukrainian hopak also belongs to this category.

The dances of the peoples of the world are a reflection of the beliefs, culture, history and spirituality of people. In some of them, certain knowledge or skills are transmitted in sign language . Others are extremely entertaining.