Throughout history, dancing had been a part of culture, whether it was a minor or major part of people's lives. Dancing has been influenced by different traditions of times, allowing one to reasonably assume the social norms and expectations of the era. It is also affected by culture within a society, expressing the needs of people. At the same time, it had been, and still is, a way of depicting emotions. Therefore, despite what many people might think, dancing is not only a form of leisure, but an important factor in our society and culture, as mentioned before.
From the past, and until now, dancing has been the result of the personally and social needs or expectations of people. One example might be the Capoeira, which is a type of dancing that was formed by Brazilian slaves. They created this dancing in order to learn to defend themselves, for they were treated very harshly and violently at the time. Also, slaves were forbidden to learn anything for their own good and were only for the white people's entertainment and work. Therefore, the Brazilian slaves made Capoeira disguising the purpose of protection in the dancing. Now, many people all over the world are interested in Capoeira and think it's such a beautiful form of art. Most people who have seen this think that there is no Brazilian culture without Capoeira. That's how important it had become to the society and culture.
At times, dancing is a way of showing forbidden feelings that violate the social norms, or emotions deep inside that is hard to express with words. For instance, the Krump dance developed by the African Americans might be one big representative. This dance is not ever choreographed, and is danced by powerfully expressing your wills and feelings in dancing. It was created by African Americans who were racially discriminated and were treated unfairly because of the color of their skin. At the time, if a black person treated the whites the same way whites treated them, or expressed their anger and hate, they were scorned and it was considered as going against what was normal As a result, African Americans felt the need of their emotions to come out, which came out as the Krump dance. Although it hasn't been around as long as waltz or tango, it is appreciated by the majority and is favored by many for its powerful and forceful dance. It has become a part of American culture loved by people worldwide.
Many might suggest that dancing does not affect and isn't important in culture in any way, despite all its history. This can proved false by people themselves who travel. Whenever people go to another country, seeing the representative dance of that country is one of the principle things they do. When, explaining about the country's culture, dancing is an obvious component that is explained to let people understand the traditions and history of the country better. Furthermore, dancing has influenced traditions and environments of different places, which cannot be ignored. If dancing is important to certain traditions, and those traditions are obviously part of culture, then it can be easily concluded that dancing is a big factor in culture.
Looking back at history and different types of dances lets us know the vital role dancing plays in culture. It has and will still in the future, affect traditions and the society in a way that is not negligible. There will be many more dances developed ahead of us. However, among those dances, we should never forget its history and what each dance is to remind us.
