It’s Rocking!!!

Dance and music are as inseparable as the sun and the sunlight or the flower and the fragrance. There is no dance without music and music without dance is sort of boring. It might not be the dance of the body necessarily but a good piece of music always sets the heart and soul tapping to the rhythm. At times dances owe their origin to a specific type of dance and at times it was the other way around.

One genre of dance and music that has broken all the confines of time and geography is the rock and roll. It is an athletic and competitive form of dance that came in the lime light in the late 1950s. The dance took long to acquire its current form. The dance took to its fetal form when the swing dance came into being, around in the 1920s. From swing branched Lindy hop, it was the first ever partner dance to use acrobatics. With the modifications in the Lindy Hop in the 1940s came the Boogie Woogie. And finally with further modifications to the Boogie Woogie, came the Rock and Roll. The dance was supposed to be highly co- ordinate with the music. It required a flexible body and undue tension on the legs and the arms. The dance tends to leave a personal space for the dancer for display of facial expressions and interpretation in style, movement and at times the manner too.

The dance alternates the speed. It starts on slow beats and move to the faster ones, coming back to the slower ones. The kicks form the somewhat core of the dance. Most of the major moves revolve around the kick. With the kicks in the air the movements like the lifts, flips, jumps and throws take place. The dance form has evolved drastically over the years. The only thing common between the present day dance and the yesteryears form seems to be the name. Now the dance is mostly used in competitions, shows and concerts. The dance is usually done in pairs or a formation. Formerly a six- step basic step was used which was later altered to the nine- step basic step. The degree of the acrobatics used the dance has increased considerably. High demanding movements such as the somersault and the double somersault have been introduced. Even the body wave movement was modified to make it more demanding on the part of the dancers.

As per the dance apparels, the originally worn jeans and petticoat are no longer used. Instead the dancers now use multicolored costumes as their dance dresses that are made of artificial elastic fiber. This makes up for the durability and the flexibility required now. The dance shoes play a very important role in rock and roll dance. The shoes need to be high on both the grip and the slip. Most commonly light jazz shoes are used. In case of high level acrobatics involved, sneakers or shoes made for aerobics are used. All in all rock and roll has been a very popular form of dance and continues to be so.