Dancing?

By Janice Wilson, Pupukea

Dance is one of the oldest human activities that has managed to follow us through our development as a species, our spreading across continents and rise of modern cultures and civilizations. The oldest archeological evidences of dance can be traced to some 9 thousand years ago, and ever since then its presence in historical records grew and took greater significance as they became part of our daily lives, customs and various religious ceremonies.

"Social dancers believe that you don't stop dancing because you grow old -

you grow old because you stopped dancing."

As the music and dance became more complex and advanced, it started to separate in two distinct forms - one for the general population that was practiced openly, and the other one for aristocracy and royalty that was practiced in closed environments during special occasions. This separation of dance became especially noticeable in Europe after the end of the Middle Ages, when Renaissance influences born in Italy and France started drastically changing 16th century European lifestyle.

Ballroom dancing was a product of that time, and it signified the tradition of social dancing of the privileged. It's name was derived from the word ball, which originated from the Latin word “ballare” which means “to dance”. After a while, boundaries between high classes and lower classes began to disappear, transforming the ballrooms across Europe into places where both folk dances and sophisticated dances can be performed. And what do we have in Hawaii?

“Social dancers know that education is the most powerful weapon

which you can use to change the world.”