Why do we Dance?

Through my SIG's and reading various reading and research material,s I am really wanting to analysis more deeply the sociological role of engagement in dance.

A recent comment from Mina has outlined an interesting summary of how Dance may fit into society now, and how its role has developed over the years.

In the early years...
Religious (eg. Tribal)
Social (eg. Folk dance, court dance)

Then...

Performance (eg. Theatre performances)
A way to express emotion (not necessarily a performance)

Nowadays...

Fitness (eg. fitness club dance classes)
Educational (eg. 'dance' in P.E.)

And always...( maybe not in ritualistic dances though)
Pleasure and fun!

I think highlighting that throughout society's history the main purpose of dance is its way of making a person feel like they are having fun and enjoying themselves is key. Also, the general opinion seems to be that is includes elements of self - expression, and therefore self - control of ones body. Through learning dance, we learn to take control of how our body moves, and in effect is almost a metaphor for feeling like we are taking charge of life. Hopefully this means Dance's role will be sustainable in society and continue to grow in its popularity.

Regarding my inquiry, I am considering narrowing down my research into the role in which Dance plays, as as Stephanie has pointed out, the subject alone is simply too vast to be recordable. She suggested specifying analysis a certain age group or community. Does anyone have any thoughts on this?

Currently, I am freelancing for a local community Youth Dance Troupe and have been lucky enough to watch them develop a performance piece over the past 3 days under the guidance of a fantastic teacher from Phoenix Dance Company. It really sprung out to me what the ethos of this specific professional organisation is about, promoting dance in the community and making it available and appealing to all 'walks of life'. It was rewarding to see that the exploration of movement was always met with enthusiasm and encouragement, and that the teacher really acted as a means of facilitation for their own expressive ideas to develop. Running a community youth troupe in this way produced students who seemed to thrive from a sense of self - ownership of the piece, which links into the idea of dance being popular in society because of the self - control of ones body idea. Witnessing very individual personalities, from diverse backgrounds collaborate ideas and thoughts to create a performance piece which was both beautifully unique and edgy was very refreshing.

Do any non-dancers here have any thoughts on this? What would/could make you be attracted to giving Dance a go? I am conscious that as Dance is both my passion and my developing profession, I am blinded to thinking in a way someone who has never danced before may think, all ideas welcome!