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dance music

• Folk Dance Association - Helping newcomers discover folk dance: from contra dance to Balkan dance. Publishes Folk Dance Directory, an on-line directory of folk dance groups, events and activities in the US and Canada.
  
• Dance Pages.com  - Articles, resources, and related links for ballet and dance teachers.
  
• Wikipedia: Contemporary Dance  - Article explains Contemporary Dance is the name given to a group of 20th century concert dance forms. Linked articles give the history and definition of Modern Dance, a term also commonly used to describe 20th century concert dance forms.
  
• Belly Dancing - Art Of Middle Eastern Dance - Features poetry, translated song lyrics, a glossary of belly dance terms, tips and tricks, finger cymbal rhythms, and Egyptian goddesses.
  
• Single Dance Partners Network Nationwide - Adult single dancers can search for ballroom dance partners or dating by state (43 states in the USA, Canada & Argentina).
  
• The Dance Shop - Shoes, bodywear, accessories, gifts and CDs.
  
• The Calendar of Historical Dance - Upcoming events including classes, summer schools, performances and balls. Plus, links organized by country, period and type, facsimiles of early 18th-century choreographies from the Library of Congress, and photos.
  
• Blue Diamond Dance - Comprehensive website for adult ballet students: how to increase turnout and flexibility, diet for dancers, international listing of teachers of adult students, and a message board.
  
• Country Western Dance Information - Resources for dancers and instructors, including mailing lists and discussion groups.
  
• Sapphire Swan Dance Directory - A directory of internet resources for swing dancing.
  
• Salon: Dance Dance Revolution - Article by Skyler Miller about the popularity of interactive games in America.
  
• Dance Survival Guides - History, technique, basic steps and choreography for Salsa, Mambo, Cha Cha, Samba and Merengue. Plus articles, and gig guides.
  
• Kathy's Square Dance Events Page - Links to square dance events; state conventions, festivals, and jamborees throughout the United States.
  
• Regina's Dance - Information and professional instruction in dance classes, choreography, artist development and private dance lessons.
  

Dance music is music composed, played, or both, specifically to accompany dancing. It can be either the whole musical piece or part of a larger musical arrangement.

Dance music includes a huge variety of music, including traditional dance music such as Irish traditional music, waltzes, rock and roll, country music and tangos. An example of traditional dance music in the United States is the old-time music played at square dances and contra dances.

Very early music contains many dance forms like the Branles or Estampie.

In the Baroque period, the major dance styles were noble court dances, which were often derived from folk dances. Examples include the allemande, courante, sarabande, and gigue.

In the Classical music era, the minuet gained dominance, usually as a third movement in four-movement non-vocal works such as sonatas, string quartets, and symphonies. The waltz also arose later in the Classical era, as the minuet evolved into the scherzo (literally, "joke"; a faster-paced minuet).

Both remained part of the Romantic music period, which also saw the rise of various other nationalistic dance forms like the barcarolle, mazurka, and polonaise. Also in the Romantic music era, the growth and development of ballet extended the composition of dance music to a new height. Frequently dance music was a part of Opera.

The 20th century saw the rise of Modern Dance and also other popular dance forms, sometimes jazz-based or -related, such as the ragtime. As 20th century classical music headed toward more dissonant and non-traditional directions with tonality, frequently dance music provided a cutting edge path for these changes, like Stravinsky's ballet, the Rite of Spring or the work of John Cage for modern dance. Popular genres began to take up the need for social dance music, and produced numerous duple and quadruple dance forms.

From the late 1970s, the term dance music has come to also refer (in the context of nightclubs) more specifically to electronic music offshoots of rock and roll, such as disco, house, techno and trance. Generally, the difference between a disco, or any dance song, and a rock or general popular song is that in dance music the bass hits "four to the floor" at least once a beat (which in 4/4 time is 4 beats per measure), while in rock the bass hits on one and three and lets the snare take the lead on two and four (Michaels, 1990).

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