In the late 19th and early 20th centuries the American dancers Isadora Duncan and Ruth St. Denis rebelled against ballet. In Europe the Swiss educator mile Jaques-Dalcroze, the Hungarian dancer Rudolf von Laban, and the German dancer Mary Wigman also experimented with new ways of expression. The work of these modern dance pioneers led to the development of important new dance idioms. A participatory dance form, folk dance is usually traditional and performed by members of a community. Although not easy to define, the term seems best to fit those dances originated by agricultural peoples for secular and sometimes ritual purposes, in countries that also have an art form of dance.
Folk dances are usually group forms that are passed from one generation to another.
Today, folk dances are frequently performed onstage, for which they are usually adapted for presentation to an audience. Some recreational dance forms, especially in industrialized societies, are termed popular dances or social dances. In that they are for participation, are relatively easy to learn, and generally originate from the people rather than from a choreographer, they resemble folk dances. Unlike most folk dances, these social dances tend to be couple dances and are popular only for a short time. The social dances of the nobility in the Middle Ages, Renaissance, and baroque eras were derived from folk dances.