Folk dance requires not only an ethnic identification, but a "participatory" and aesthetic tradition. It is dance which is an integral and anticipated behavior in the culture and defined by the aesthetics of that culture (whether rural or urban); thus the traditional village dances of Europe, the Hawaiian hula, the American clog, the Chhou are equal members of the folk tradition.

Chhou is the official folk dance of Bengal. The Chhou is unique form of masked dance. The dancer impersonates a god, animal, bird, hunter, flower. He acts out a short theme. And he performs a series of short themes mailny during the month of Chaitra ( April). Chhou masks have predominantly human featur

Dance has always played a part in society. Some aspects of the dance world are closely related to religious practices. Some others aspects of dance are for entertainment or provoking the audiences attention. Choreographers and dancers all use different styles whether it be folk, ballet or modern to achieve the ideas and images for society to view and enjoy.

Changes in Cypriot life occurred but slowly between the first years of the century and the Second World War, they gained pace with Independence in 1960, and became quite abrupt after the Turkish invasion of 1974. Onthe traditionally ritualistic form of the Cypriot dance they have had a wholly negative effect. Cypriot men used to dance mostly during wedding festivities and at various junkets on high days and holidays, but a]so in coffee-houses in the evenings, on threshing-floors, and wherever men gathered together. Social convention restricted occasions when women danced mainly to weddings. In the period roughly from 1910 to the seventies, the basic dance of both men and women was the "kartchilamas" performed by a confronted pair of dancers. The "kartchilamas" consists of a series of dances that vary slightly according to the performers, the locality, or the era. These dances are essentially parts of a whole, or suite, the parts being known as the "kartchilamas" or "first", !

"second", "third", "fourth", and "fifth" or"balos", rounded off by other dances such as the "syrtos", "zeipekkikos", and "mandra". A feast would usually end with one of the pan-hellenic dances, the "kalamatianos", a circle-dance in which all might join. Cypriot dances are mainly of the type performed by a confronted pair, invariably two men or two women, or men's solo dances displaying virtuosity and often performed with a hand-held object, either a sickle, knife, sieve, or tumbler. In their steps and general characteristics, such as the movement of the body and limbs, they have features in common with dances of the historic Greek island area (the Asia Minor seaboard, Aegean islands and cities, and the Ionian isles). Apart from these common features, Cypriot dances are distinguished by steps peculiar to certain localities, such as stamping in one spot with the feet, crossed alternately in front of each other, in the "second" and particularly the "third" ""kartchilamas"" and in!

lacovides,Alecos. Cypriot Dances http://www.kypros.org/Cyprus/dance.html

Ruth St. Denis found her primary inspirations in the exoticism of the Orient. Dance was a very spiritual experience for her. As a teenager, St. Denis appeared with Broadway musicals and was a protege of music hall producer David Belasco. Inspired by an advertisement for Egytian Deities cigarettes, she based the bulk of her career on seductive, highly decorative interpreta

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