Worlds Dancing Day: 11 Things You Should Know About Dancing

A lot of us like to dance and are always ready to learn the newest moves. From the days of alanta to etigi to azonto and now shoki, Nigerians don ‘t waste anytime. Surprisingly, many of us, have no idea that today is the International Dance Day, which is celebrated every year on April 29, the birthday of Jean-Georges Noverre (1727-1810), the creator of modern ballet. There are many things about dancing you might not have known. Like how the art came to be, which people of the world first danced and whether your beloved Tupac did ballet before rap. INFORMATION NIGERIA in this piece, brings you answers to these and more…

-The earliest known evidence of dancing comes from 9,000 year-old cave paintings in India.

-Break dancing began in the 1970s in New York as a non-lethal form of street fighting between street gangs

-Some say that ballet was invented in 1459 for a royal wedding in Italy with dances representing the dishes being served.

-St Vitus is the patron saint of dancers.

-St Vitus’ Dance is a neurological disorder characterized by rapid, involuntary movements

-The “Dancing Plague”of 1518 was a mania that lasted a month and killed dozens of people in Strasbourg, France through exhaustion or heart attack. People just danced uncontrollably until they collapsed!One other famous case involved people dancing on a bridge. Eventually so many people danced that they broke the bridge and fell into the river.

-Did you know that know Tupac Shakur, the late rapping legend of the late 80s and early 90s, used to do ballet – Yes! He became a member of the 127th Street Ensemble, a Harlem based theater company.

-African slaves that were brought in Brazil 300-400 years ago were prohibited from practicing martial arts. Therefore, they developed the mix of dancing and fighting that is known today as capoeira.

-The most sensual dance of modern times is without a doubt the Tango. It originated in the 1890s inArgentina, but it quickly became very successful in Europe.

-Unlicensed dancing in public is illegal in Sweden including ‘illegally moving your feet to music’

– In 2008, ballet classes were instituted for police officers in western Romania to help them move elegantly while directing traffic.

Hope you learned something!!!

 

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