Study Questions for Test #2: Court, Social, and Classical Dance Forms
Part 1 of 2 (see chapter 4 guide)
Chapter Three: Social Dance
1. Dance all over the world is used as a way to socialize and celebrate (have
fun).
2. When confronted with another culture whose dances differ from ours, we
become aware of the values that our social dances reflect.
3. During the Industrial Revolution, traditional folk dances began to disappear.
Cecil Sharpe was among dance ethnologists who research, collected, and
notated dances of various cultures. This resurgence of interest led to the
founding of the Country Dance Society of America.
4. Four types of world-wide social dances are: War dance, Work dance,
Communal dance, and Courtship dance.
5. Couple’s dancing is thought to have first arisen in Provence, France and does
not exist in many cultures.
6. The nomadic Wodaabe women, whose marriages have been arranged by
their families, have a chance to leave an unhappy ‘given wife’ marriage in
what way? Men dress up and dance in a line. The women watch the men
dance and then choose one they like the best, and are then married.
7. By the fifteenth century, dancing masters were writing manuals of steps and
etiquette and giving daily dancing lessons in the European courts.
8. Why do you think most of the important dancing masters of the Renaissance
were Jews? Because dancing was essential to their culture and because of
mitzvahs. Who was the most famous? Gugliemo Ebreo/William the Jew
9. Spain’s couple dances in the flamenco style retain a different flavor than
others European couples dances. They are infused with smoldering sexuality
and strong rhythmic foot patterns, a mixture of Andalusian, Moorish, and
Gypsy influences.
10. Where is it though the Gitano originated and through where did they
migrate? From Northern India; then migrated everywhere, including France,
Romania, Poland, Hungary, Germany, Egypt, and Spain
11. How did this style of dance reach the New World? Spanish settlers. Where
can its influence be found? Throughout the southwest, central and south
America. Florida and Mexico
