29.04.2020

The 29th of April is the International Dance Day

This holiday, dedicated to all styles of dance, was established in 1982 at the initiative of the UNESCO International Dance Council.

Dance has been associated with music since ancient times. Various aspects of life, character, temperament and everyday life have always been reflected in the peculiarities of dance movements of different nations. A dance was constantly changing, the movements improved, the art of dance was formed. As a result, each nation has its own dance traditions.

Dance could not exist without musical accompaniment - the role of rhythm in songs and instrumental music, which has long accompanied dance, is leading. As time passed, dance rhythms served as the basis for multifarious musical compositions - such are pieces, suites, parts of classical sonatas and symphonies, which absorbed the abundance of national temperament, rhythmic features that distinguished dances of different nations and countries.

Interestingly, that some dances have been preserved for centuries, while others - disappeared without a trace. Evidently, every previous dance gave place to a new one. Waltz holds a special place in the history of dance. It captured Vienna, Europe, and then the whole world. Since the late 18th century, a waltz has become the most popular dance thanks to Johann Strauss Sr. and Johann Strauss Jr.

There is a great variety of modern and classical dances, which can be enumerated endlessly. Musicality and rhythm are vitally important in dance, which along with music, is inextricably entwined with a person’s emotional world. Dance music of the 20th century had a tremendous bearing on all actual music – the majority of contemporary songs are composed, as a rule, basing on dance musical accompaniment rhythm.

For the International Dance Day, we have prepared a musical compilation of dance musicthat ranges from the classical - to the 20th century music, recorded from the musical media stored in the museum Collection musical library.