DANCING, a form of exercise or amusement in which one or more persons make a series of graceful movements in measured steps in accord with music. Aristotle ranked dancing with poetry and Pindar applies the name of "The Dancer" even to Apollo. Dancing corresponds to a universal primitive instinct in man, and is practiced by the South Sea Island ers, the Forest Indians of Brazil, the Zulus, the negroes of central Africa, and the native Australians, exactly as it was in the earlier stages of every civilized modern race. Ferocious war dances were practiced by savage warriors, as the North American Indian braves, who brought on a frantic mechanical intox ication capable of carrying them to vic tory. The Zulu war dance is a noble ex ercise for warriors, like the Pyrrhic dance of the ancient Spartans; and the dancing and spinning dervishes in the East, who work themselves into spasms of physical excitement, are still highly esteemed for devoutness and piety. The idea of magic always enters into savage dancing.
The art of dancing dates back to the early Egyptians, who ascribe that inven tion to their god Thoth. Among the ancient Jews, Miriam danced to a sound of trumpets, itself an act of worship, and David danced in procession before the Ark of God. Religious processions went with song and dance to the temples, the Cretan chorus moving in measured pace sang hymns to the Greek god Apollo, and one of the Muses (Terpsi chore) was the especial patroness of the art. The Spartans practiced dancing as a gymnastic exercise and made it compul sory on all children from the age of five. The Romans in general considered it dis graceful for a free citizen to dance ex cept in connection with religious rites, but willingly witnessed the performances of professional dancers. The early Christians practiced choral dances, which came into discredit with the love-feast or Agapm. A survival of religious dancing is still seen even within the pale of Christendom, where during the Corpus Christi octave a ballet is danced every evening before the high altar of Seville Cathedral by boys from 12 to 17 years of age, in plumed hats and the dress of pages of Philip III.'s time.
The Puritan ancestors saw deadly sin in promiscuous dancing. Many of the mediaeval dances were solemn and stately in character. Dancing reached its height during the reign of Louis XIV., who was himself an enthusiastic dancer in the court ballets.
The minuet was a favorite in France for a century; and then came the qua drille or contre-danse, often connected er roneously with the English country dance ; the Ecossaise was first intro duced in 1760; the galop was introduced from. Germany; the cotillion was fash
ionable under Charles X.; polka was first danced at the Odeon in 1840 by a danc ingmaster from Prague; the polka trem blante or schottisch, was of Bohemian origin and was first brought out in Paris in 1844; the lancers was introduced by Laborde in 1861; and the waltz, originally Bavarian, and now modified from its original form, promises to retain its supremacy. Though the French provide the world with fashions, people have pre served their own old national dances and these are still danced universally. In recent years, however, a notable change has taken place in this respect. Many of the old dances have fallen into disuse.
Characteristic of particular races or merely of classes of people are such forms of the dance as the Scotch reel, Highland fling and strathspey, the Irish jig, the negro break-downs, sailors' horn pipe, step-dances, the can-can, morris dances, etc.
A ballet is a theatrical exhibition com posed of dancing, posturing, and panto mimic action. The Roman pantomimes bore a strong resemblance to the modern ballet d'action. In an entertainment giv en to celebrate the victory of Actium, the "Trachinim" of Sophocles, and an erotic interlude founded on the myth of Leda, were performed in dumb show, the dancers Pylades and Bathyllus taking the leading parts; and the whole wound up with a Pyrrhic war-dance. Some tra dition of this form of entertainment, doubtless, suggested the courtly dances which became fashionable in the early days of the Renaissance. The first on record was that given by Bergonzio di Botta, at Tortona, to celebrate the mar riage of the Duke of Milan in 1489. This was famous throughout the civilized world. From that time great events, such as royal marriages and births, were celebrated by grand productions of ballet on which enormous sums of money were lavished. These ballets were frequently historical in subject, treating of the Siege of Troy, the Conquests of Alex ander, and similar events. There were also mythological, poetical, moral, and fantastic ballets, on such subjects as the Judgment of Paris, the Seasons, Truth, the Diversions of the Carnival, etc. All these were in five acts, each of which consisted of three, six, nine, or twelve en tries, and in all of them singing and re citation mingled with the dancing.