Dance is a performing art, which uses the body to complete all kinds of elegant or difficult movements, usually accompanied by music, with rhythmic movements as the main means of expression. It usually uses music as well as other props. Dance itself has multiple social meanings and functions, including sports, socialization, courtship, sacrifice, etiquette and so on. Before the origin of human civilization, dance was very important in ceremony, etiquette, celebration and entertainment. Dance appeared in China 5, years ago. It was born in slave society, and developed into a certain feature in the Qin and Han Dynasties.

Art is a big family of human aesthetic activities, and its members include literature, fine arts, music, dance, drama, movies, folk art and acrobatics. All kinds of art reflect social life and express people's thoughts and feelings, but the reflection and expression of art is not the abstract reflection and expression of general concepts, but the reflection and appearance of individual concrete images and aesthetics. The so-called aesthetic reflection and expression means that artists choose, summarize and process social life according to their own aesthetic tastes and ideals, and creatively reflect and appear according to the characteristics and laws of art.

in the historical development of society, people have created various art forms, and the main difference between these art forms is that each has its own material carrier and different artistic expression means. The material carrier of literature is language and writing; The material carrier of art is paper, canvas, pigment and oil paint, and its main means of expression are color, line, composition and modeling; The material carrier of music is sound; The material carrier of drama is people's actions (performances) on the stage. Besides ballet, language, singing and action are the main means of expression. The material carrier of film is that people's performances are filmed on film by scientific and technological methods and projected on the screen by electro-light; The material carrier of Quyi is the performance of one to two or three people on the stage, and its main means of expression are speaking and singing. Acrobatics and dance have the same material carrier-the human body is its main artistic expression tool, and most acrobatic varieties, like dance, take the movement, posture modeling and composition change of the human body as the main expression means. Acrobatics is also a kind of performing art, and actors also create certain roles. However, it does not emphasize the development process of characters' emotions like dance, and generally does not have plot events. Instead, it shows a general character strength of courage, perseverance and wisdom through difficult skill performances. Therefore, acrobats are more ornamental and entertaining.

The dance movements in the dance works should also have certain artistry, and the dancers should have highly difficult skills such as jumping, rotating, tumbling, softness and control. However, performing highly difficult technical movements in the dance works is not an end in itself, but a means to express the characters' thoughts and feelings, and to shape their character and mental outlook. If, in dance works, means are the purpose, the superb skills of the actors are not based on reflecting life and expressing the thoughts and feelings of the characters, or the corresponding dance action skills are not selected based on the dance content, but based on showing the dance skills and abilities mastered by the actors, then the dance works will fail because of the disconnection between content and form, or the lack of artistic integrity, and the skills of the dancers themselves will fall into acrobatic skill performances and lose the basic character of dance art.

Dance appreciation is a kind of spiritual activity when people watch dance performances, and it is the whole process of feeling, experiencing and understanding dance works. Therefore, it is essentially a cognitive activity. But it is different from general cognitive activities, but a special cognitive activity of dance works. Dance appreciation means that the audience can know the social life, the thoughts and feelings of the characters and the aesthetic evaluation of this life phenomenon by the dancers through the dance images created in the dance works. In the process of appreciating dance works, the audience will often connect with their own life experiences, causing emotional buzz and arousing relevant impressions and experiences in memory. And a series of imaginative thinking activities, such as imagination and association, to enrich and supplement the dance image in dance works and make it more complete, vivid and distinctive. Therefore, we can experience a broader life content and profound ideological meaning in the process of watching dance works.

People must have certain subjective conditions before they can enjoy the aesthetic activities of this dance, that is to say, they must have certain dance knowledge, dance appreciation level and cognitive ability, so that the dance appreciation activities can be carried out normally and smoothly. This is just as Marx said: "If you want to enjoy art, you must be an artistic person." "Only music can arouse people's sense of music; The most beautiful music is meaningless to the ears that don't argue the melody, and music is not the object for it ... "So, it is very necessary for us to understand the characteristics of dance art, the relationship between dance and other arts, the various factors that make up the dance image, and the process of its production. As we have talked before, dance is an art that takes refined, organized and beautified human movements as the main means of expression, expresses people's emotions and thoughts and reflects social life. Judging from the feeling characteristics that dance works appeal to the appreciators, it is a performing art that combines hearing (temporality) and vision (spaciousness).

Art is composed of different artistic varieties. As one of the arts, dance is also a very vast world, and it is also composed of different kinds, styles and styles of dances. According to the function and use of dance, it can be divided into two categories: "practical dance" (self-entertainment) and "performance dance" (entertainment); Under each category, it is divided into traditional and popular according to "time", and then divided into two categories, that is, four categories; According to its function and purpose, dance can be divided into two categories: life dance and artistic dance.

then it can be further subdivided, but no matter which classification method, the boundaries are blurred, and the classification is as follows.

1. "Practical" (self-entertainment)

For the purpose of fitness, delight, puzzle and performance, the participants are often dancers and spectators, but there is no need for spectators.

Traditional practical dance

Popular practical dance

2. "Performing" (entertaining people)

For the purpose of performance or appreciation, participants are divided into performers and spectators.

traditional performance dance

popular performance dance

3. Life-style

Life dance is a dance activity that people carry out for their own needs.

Life dance includes: custom dance, religious sacrifice dance, social dance, self-entertainment dance, sports dance and educational dance.

(1) Custom dance: Also known as festival and ritual dance, it is a variety of mass dance activities held in marriage, funeral, planting, harvest and other festive festivals.

(2) Religious and sacrificial dance: it is a dance form for religious and sacrificial activities. It is mainly used to pray for the protection of the gods, to get rid of disasters and diseases, to turn evil into good luck, to prosper people and animals, to harvest crops, or to thank the gods for their gifts; Sacrificial dance is a ceremonial dance form to sacrifice ancestors. In the past, people used to express their nostalgia for their ancestors or hope that their ancestors and deities would bless and bless them.

(3) Social dance: it is a dance activity that people engage in social communication, enhance friendship and contact feelings. Generally, it refers to all kinds of ballroom dancing at the dance.

(4) Self-entertainment dance: it is a dance activity with the sole purpose of self-entertainment. Use dance to express and vent one's feelings.