Looking for a definition of dance? Find it here! This short essay about dancing explains what it is, talks about the benefits and importance of dancing as a hobby, performance, and profession, and defines the key genres. Introduction Dancing is an art that refers to the movements of body parts and especially to rhythmic and to music. Dancing is taken as a form of nonverbal communication that is used to express emotions, ideas or tell a story. Dances are social, participatory or performed for an audience. Moreover, dancing can also be ceremonial, erotic as well as competitive. Definitions of Dance Genres Jazz dancing is the most famous dancing styles in the 21 st century. It is popular because it’s the most common dancing style in movies, television shows as well commercials. Jazz is considered as fun and energetic dance. It is a form of dancing that portrays a dancer’s individual styles as well as originality. Jazz dancing is a unique dance as it consists of dancers interpreting steps as well as moves in their own way. It is fun and energetic as it involves unique fancy footwork, moves, quick turns and big leaps. In order to ensure uniqueness in jazz dancing, dancers are encouraged to be innovating and to incorporate their own personality in the dancing. Some common jazz leaps include; turning jumps, jazz walks, tour jetes as well as grande jetes, whiles jazz turns, piques, pirouettes and chaines are the most prevalent jazz steps (Giddins 10). Tap dancing very exhilarating. Dancers use special shoes with metal taps to produce exciting sounds. The term Tap originates from the tapping sound that originates when the metal taps hits on hard surfaces. Tap dancers create rhythmic patterns and timely beats using their feet. Classical tap is a common style of Tap dancing that mostly uses jazz or ballet in their tap routines. Some common Tap steps include; flap, shuffle, brush as well as ball change. Tap dancers initially practice single steps before learning incorporating steps as a series of combinations (Bedinghau par.4). Hip hop dance is a dancing style that evolved from several cultures that include; jazz, tap Latino culture, rock and American culture. Hip hop dancing is often danced to Hip hop music. It is a very energetic style of dancing. Jazz dancing encourages dancers to include their own movements in order to make it unique. Hip hop dancers requires a lot of skills and experience to perform the Hip hop steps. Thus, they practice a lot in order to master the Hip hop steps (Bedinghaus par.5). Ballet Dancing is famous because of its elegance and grace. Ballet dancers and especially female dancers use their pointer shoes to raise themselves. When learning ballet dancing, the dancers first learn five fundamental ballet positions. It is necessary for them initially to learn the five ballet positions because every ballet dance starts and ends with one of the five positions. Social dance is any dancing that is mostly done for socializing purposes. The dance is done for pleasure and therefore does not appear very appeasing as it is meant for the people but not entertaining the judges. Most social dances leads to romance and are considered as perfect meeting opportunities for single men and women. It is noted that many successful social gathering are characterized by the use of social dances to break the ice. Social dances do not require mastery of certain turns, moves, leaps or jumps as every participant has his/her own unique style of dancing depending on their past dancing experiences (Williamson par. 2). Conclusion This essay aimed to answer the question “What is dance?”. It gave the definition of dancing, talked about the benefits and importance of dancing as a hobby, performance, and profession, and defined the key genres. Works Cited Bedinghaus, Treva. “Types of Dance.” About.com Guide. 30 Jan. 2012.Web. < https://www.liveabout.com/types-of-dance-1007456 > Giddins, Gary. Vision of Jazz : New York: Prentice Hall, 2000, Print Williamson, Peter. Personal interview. 30 Jan. 2012.