7) TARANTELLA

Hello viewers, we hope that you guys are in a good health. So, today we will love to update about Italian Folk Dance that is "Tarantella".

What is Tarantella ?

It is a group of various folk dances characterized by a fast upbeat tempo. It also among the most recognized forms of traditional southern Italian music.

It is popular in Southern Italy and Argentina. In the Italian province of Taranto, Apulia, the bite of a locally common type wolf spider, named "tarantula" after the region. It was popularly believed to be highly poisonous and to lead to a hysterical condition known as tarantism, This became known as the Tarantella.

The oldest documents mentioning the relationship between musical exorcism and the tarantula date around 1100 BC. R.Lowe Thompson proposed that the dance is a survival from a "Dianic or  Dionysiac cult", driven underground. Later, John Compton proposed that the the Roman Senate had suppressed these ancient Bacchanalian rites.

Interesting Facts about Tarantella?

• Many young artists, groups and famous musicians continue to keep the tradition alive.
• The music is very different.
• its tempo is faster, but it has similar hypnotic effects.
• especially, when people are exposed to the rhythm for a long period of time.
• The music is used in the of patients with certain forms of depression and hysteria.
• its effect on the endocrine system recently became an object of research.

Example of Tarantella dance

It's a good dance right ? See you next week ..

6) JAIPONGAN

Dear viewers, sorry about the late updates from us. This week we would love to update about  "Jaipongan dance". 

What is Jaipongan?

Jaipongan are known as Jaipong. It is a popular traditional dance of Sundanese people. West Java,Indonesia. The dance was created by Gugum Gumbira. Based on traditional Sudanese Ketuk Tilu music and Pencak Silat movements. A modern Javanese musical style that evolved from the traditional Javanese dance music known as Ketuk Tilu and featuring the inclusion of Western instruments and dance movements. In 1991, Indonesian President Sukarno prohibited rock and roll and other western genres of music and challenged indonesian musicians to revive the indigenous arts. The name Jaipongan came from people mimicking of the sounds created by some of the drums in the ensemble. Audience were often heard shouting Jaipong after specific sections of rhythmic music 
were played.

Gugum Gumbira

Gugum Gumbira is a Sundanese composer, orchestra leader choreographer and entrepreneur from Bandung, Indonesia. After 1961, when the Indonesia President Sukarno banned all forms of western music and challenged his people to revive their cultural music, Gugum Gumbira made this task his own. In order to do this studied the rural, festival dance music for twelve years. His result was Jaipongan. He created his own recording studio in Indonesia called Jugala.

MUSICAL ORIGIN
It is a musical performances genre of the Sundanese language of West Java, Indonesia, Jaipongan includes revive indigenous arts, like Gamelan but it also did not ignore Western music completely despite the ba on rock and roll. It is used its sensuality and the sensuality found in a traditional village music and dance, Ketuk Tilu. However, many believe it is something purely Indonesia or Sundanese in origin and style. It is developed predominately from rural folk forms and traditions as a purely indigenious form. 

The rise of cassettes and films has led to the popularity of the musical form of Jaipongan. It has spread from its home in West Java's Sunda, to greater Java and Indonesia. It can be seen as many regional varities of gong-chime performances found through much of Indonesia. As also an urban dance form. It is based primarily on the village forms of Ketuk Tilu and on the Indonesian martial arts, pencak silat. The musical genre is largely influenced from Ketuk Tilu with traces of the masked theater dance, Topeng Banjet and the Wayang Golek puppet theater. Ketuk Tilu is the biggest influence, as a traditional Sundanese musical entertainment form.

INSTRUMENTATION & CHOREOGRAPHY
Jaipongan is "a more slick and expanded version of Ketuk Tilu"

Jaipongan takes much of its instrumentation from Ketuk Tilu ensembles. The Ketuk Tilu group is composed of pot-gongs. Besides the core three main kettle gongs (ketuk, tilu meaning three), the instruments include a Rebab, a small upright bowed instruments, also known as a sike fiddle, other small gongs- a hanging gong and two iron plates, and two or three barrel drums.

The traditional singer is female or a saiden, but also dances and invites men to dance with her sensually, so it is assumed she is a prostitute or ronggeng. The ensembles i small enough to be carried from village to village to places where saron or kempul may be added.

SOCIAL IMPLICATIONS
President Sukarno created a ban on western music, mainly the genre of rock and roll, due to the fact that western ideas, themes, values and morals began to infiltrate the area. With the ban, Sukarno urged the public to "return to and revive the musical traditions of the past". Gugum Gumbira heard this and decided to create a genre of music that would revive the musical interests of the past and added sexual undertones and a sense of elegance in order to bring it into the future. In addition to being a musical reincarnation, jaipongan also reincarnated martial arts and traditional dance. It became so popular that the government  decided that it needed to be taught to be people of all generations.

FILM
The mass media has helped jaipongan become popular especially in the cinema but not as much as cassettes. There are many filmed performances online from students/audiences and dance documentaries from Java/Indonesia. Jaipongan songs have been taken and set to Mr. Bean, a character created by Rowan Atkinson, and other modern popular cultural references in YouTube videos.

Music videos and performances of Tonggeret by Idijah Hadijah as well as other famous artists can be seen on YouTube and also can be heard and referenced in use by Indian film songs. There is a full-length film called Mistri Ronggeng Jaipong from Indonesia, which was made in 1982 by Mardali Syareif.

There is also a Jean Hellwig film on popular dancing in West Java, from 1989, with accompanying book and jaipongan chapter called Sundanese Pop Culture Alive.^[3] A snippet can be seen in the reference section.

POPULAR ARTIST

• CBMW (Bandung Music Group)
• Jugala Orchestra
• Detty Kurnia
• Yayah Ratnasari & Karawang Group
• Idjah Hadidjah

Jaipong Dance

5) TAP DANCE

One of us is really like the tap dance because of the sound that was produced from the tap shoes. That's why we have decided to update about tap dance. Okay !!

"If you play a tune and a person don't tap their feet, don't play the tune." 

- Count Basie - 

Tap Dance ?

Tap dance is a form of  dance characterized bu using the sounds of tap shoes striking the floor as a form of percussion. The sound is made by shoes that have a metal "tap" on the heel and toe. There are different brands of shoes which sometimes differ in the way they sound.

Tap dance also is a style of dance in which a dancer wearing shoes fitted with heel and toe taps sounds out audible beats by rhythmically striking the floor or any other hard surface.

Tap dancing evolved from a mixture of cultures and peoples, specifically African American slaves and Irish indentured servants. It began to be formally performed on stage in the mid 1800's. Some say, the creation of Tap in America as a theatrical art form and American Jazz dance. Tap dancing originated with African dancers in early America. They would articulate rhythmic patterns through chugging, scooping, brushing and shuffling movements of the feet when dancing.

Interesting Facts about Tap Dance ? 

Tap dance is a unique style of dance involving specific and rapid footwork. "Riverdance" is the most famous tap dance. Other than that, the interesting facts about this dance is:-

• Dancer's foot and shoe essentially act as a drum, and each part of the shoe makes a particular beat and sound.
• Some of the most famous tap dancers is Gregory Hines, Fred Astaire, and Bojangles Robinson.
• Chamizal National Memorial regularly hosts tap dancing performances and recitals for area high schools and organizations
• El Paso's Tip Tap Toe Dance Studio presents youth tap dancing performances, typically during the month of april.
• Sometimes, tap dancers perform solo, with only the rhythmic tapping of their shoes for music.
• This dancing costumes vary, but performers generally wear formal attire-men often wear three-piece suit.
• The shoes are looks like:
• usually made out of a combination of leather, wood, canvas, and plastic.

This is the example of tap dance with the song "Happy" by Pharrel Williams. Hope you guys enjoy the video. Thank you ^_^ .

4) BELLY DANCE

Hello viewers .. Thanks for stay tuned ..

Belly Dance ?

For your information, the origin of the name "belly dance" comes from the French Danse du ventre that means "dance of the stomach" and it is a type of Middle Eastern dance. It have two distinct social contexts: as a folk or social dance, and as a performance art. It also an actively debated subject among dance enthusiasts. This dance takes many different forms depending on the country and region, both in costume and dance style. The new styles have evolved in the West as its popularity has spread globally. It descended from a religious dance that was performed during fertility rituals by temple priestesses. It also descended from ancient Egyptian social dances.

Belly dance Queen 2009 - Jalila

What do you think about the dance ?

It's probably not like what you think !! This dance is not a dance for seduction . This dance is called as "Belly Dance". Throughout Middle Eastern history, the proper term for belly dance has been a family dance done at such occasions as weddings, births, and festivals. Men, women, and children in those cultures have always belly danced for fun, not to entertain or arouse an audience.

Belly dancer in Edinburgh,Scotland in 2011

American tribal fusion dancer
Rachel Brice

A Turkish belly dancing group

Tribal belly dancing in Australia

Movement found in Belly dance 

• Percussive movements 
• it is a Staccato movements, most commonly of the hips.
• be used to punctuate the music or accent a beat.

• Fluid movements
• flowing, sinuous movements in which the body is in continuous motion.
• be used to interpret melodic lines and lyrical sections in the music. 

• Shimmies, shivers and vibration
• small, fast, continuous movements of the hips or ribcage.
• create an impression of texture and depth movement.

Interesting about belly dance ?

1.  It is non-impact, weight-bearing exercise and is thus suitable in all ages.
2.  Good exercise for the prevention of osteoporosis in older people.
3. Improves flexibility of the torso because the moves involve isolations.
4. Can help build strength in the upper body, arm and shoulders when dancing with a veil.
5. Playing the zills trains fingers to work independently and builds strength.

That's all we can update about Belly dance. If you want to know more about the history of the dance you can click this link https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belly_dance. See you in next week .

3) ZAPIN

Hello !! How are you ? Hope you guys are in a good health   ^_^ .

Okay, today we have decided to update a traditional dance in Malaysia. The dance that we are talking about is Zapin. In Asia, many people don't know what is it. That's why we want to story a bit about the dance.

ZAPIN ?

Zapin is a traditional dance of Malay that was most popular in Malaysia. It is believe that has been introduced by Arab,Muslim missionaries from the Middle East in the fourteenth century. The dancers usually perform in pairs and are accompanied by a traditional music ensemble which normally consists of the Gambus,Accordian,Rebab,Marwas,Rebana and Dok. It was also introduced to singapore and brunei before the colonial days of singapore. It was believed that it was introduced to singapore in 1937.

Zapin Dance

Zapin  dance used to be perfomed primarily for religious ceremonies but as time past by it has become a form of traditional entertaiment. Now, there's many forms of Zapin dance and all of it have been changed choreographically from the originals. Among the new "evolved" zapin is Zapin Tengliu from Mersing,Johor,Malaysia. It is said this kind of zapin were created by the fishermen that always gone fishing and within their leisure time on the sea they dance on their big boats or ships follow the flow of the sea waze. If we looked at this Zapin Tengliu, we could say that the dancers dance with their hands holding,gripping the ropes while the body moving around it.

The Interesting Zapin at wedding ceremony

Okay that's all for this week. If you want to know about other dance, so stay tuned !!