Эссе к уроку 10 классе. Dance is Mother of all languages.

МБОУ «Юнгинская СОШ имени С.М.Михайлова» Моргаушского района

Чувашской Республики. Учитель английского языка  Ванюшкина Л.В.

Эссе к уроку 10 классе.

Dance is Mother of all languages.

All illnesses of humanity, all tragic misfortunes filling historical books, all political errors, all failures of great leaders arose only from the inability to dance.

 (Jean  Batist Moliere)

Just imagine that the God mixed all the languages again! We are sure people in the world  could understand each other anyway. Even at the dawn of the human civilization, when there  any written language did not exist, there was a language - language of body, language of dance. Dance is one of the ancient forms of human culture. The assumption that the dance appeared to be the first kind of art, is shared by some anthropologists. R. J. Collinwood writes that “any language is… the special form of body gesture, and, in this sense, it is possible to say that dance is the mother of all languages”. It  can be proved by the fact that dance and motions were used for the course of the entire history of humanity as the method of establishing of contact, deliverance from the accumulated stress in the cultures of different peoples. For the duration of millennia in the different cultures there were ritual dances for the celebration of victories, mourning or celebration of death, treatment of the sick.

In our school dance club “Rainbow” we learn and perform dances of different peoples of the world.  It makes us to learn and understand their culture, traditions, their language. When we for instance perform the Chuvash folk dances we seem to appear  at “Akatui” (spring field work festival), “Surkhuri” (Christmas), “Shchavarni” (pancake week).The Chuvash mainly dance on weddings, entertainments and other events. To these celebrations musicians are always invited: violinists, gusly players, pipers , etc. who play national motives cleanly on original tools so pleasant for the Chuvash. Our people perform national dancings to accompanishment of  a violin, a psaltery, bubbles and so forth. Constant attributes here are embroidered towels and Bread. We feel pride of our  homeland – Chuvashia when we dance quiet Chuvash dances, expressing tenderness, smoothness, beauty and diligence of our modest women. The skill of Chuvash dancers causes admiration in the entire world. “The Chuvash woman dances, as if the swan swims”. We also enjoy our national dances and improve our skills in Bolshesundyrskaya  folk  group “Yanash”, which took part in International  Dance Festivals in Sweden and Hungary.

Russian nature is especially vividly presented  in spread and rhythm of  its folk dances: khorovod, barynya, pereplyas. We adore freedom, width and expanse of Russian spirit. Russian dances seem to be as ancient as life itself. Russians  eulogized their homeland  in bylinas and dances, inherited from generation to generation.  Khorovod  history is in legends, and all folk legends tell us about old and present time. There are no days and years, but only deals of our ancestors. Russian dance  not only contains emotions, gives pleasure to both performers and  spectators, but also brings up inner strength, artistic taste and love for beauty. Our dance teacher Elena Anatolyevna often refers to movements of the artists from the  world-known ansemble named after B. Moiseev. Once we happened to visit the concert of this group in Cheboksary and were enormously impressed.

The most expressive  dancing culture of Englishmen in our opinion was preserved in jig. Jig is an ancient people dance of Celtic origin, which, until now is alive in Ireland and Britain. Initially the Irish peasants danced it. They wore  wooden shoes   and danced  it as entertainment. Jig is also considered to be the dance of English sailors. During   sails  when they  went on a deck to be kneaded, they tapped and shuffled legs about the  floor, beating off  to  rhythm. The main feature of an early kind of dance was that  dancers moved legs only, the top part of the  body remained motionless. Frequently, direct on a deck, competitions on the best «dancer » were arranged.

In XVII century  jig became popular saloon dance in many countries of the Western Europe. And, in each country music for jig was written with the  specific features.

Tapping in jig reminds us of the Russian ” trepak”.  As for jig, it was so unusual and new for us, but it is so energetic. We have broaden our minds and decided  to learn it perfectly well to be able to perform it at the next dance contest.

So, dancing art exists from the ancient times. In many countries dance is an essential part of culture, accompanying various social and religious events. In the dances it is possible to see the spiritual life of nation. Dance  is an universal language expressing mood, feelings, intentions with the help of rhythmic steps and moving. Wherever you find yourself – in  village streets or an elegant ball, or in street carnival in Buenos-Ayres – music and dance create the atmosphere, where the dancer can show his or her individuality, telling about him- or herself   by the means of dance, without words. And  that “language”, which exists and is transferred from generation to generation, is understood by everybody. It proves our statement that dance is mother of all languages. This is stimulus for the strengthening peace throughout the world.