Dance music is

music Music is the arrangement of sound to create some combination of Musical form, form, harmony, melody, rhythm, or otherwise Musical expression, expressive content. Music is generally agreed to be a cultural universal that is present in all hum ...

composed specifically to facilitate or accompany dancing. It can be either a whole piece or part of a larger musical arrangement. In terms of performance, the major categories are live dance music and recorded dance music. While there exist attestations of the combination of dance and music in

ancient history Ancient history is a time period from the History of writing, beginning of writing and recorded human history through late antiquity. The span of recorded history is roughly 5,000 years, beginning with the development of Sumerian language, ...

(for example Ancient Greek vases sometimes show dancers accompanied by musicians), the earliest Western dance music that we can still reproduce with a degree of certainty are old-fashioned dances. In the

Baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

period, the major dance styles were noble court dances (see Baroque dance). In the classical music era, the

minuet A minuet (; also spelled menuet) is a social dance of French origin for two people, usually written in time. The English word was adapted from the Italian ''minuetto'' and the French ''menuet''. The term also describes the musical form tha ...

was frequently used as a third movement, although in this context it would not accompany any dancing. The

waltz The waltz ( , meaning "to roll or revolve") is a ballroom dance, ballroom and folk dance, in triple (3/4 time, time), performed primarily in closed position. Along with the ländler and allemande, the waltz was sometimes referred to by the ...

also arose later in the classical era. Both remained part of the romantic music period, which also saw the rise of various other nationalistic dance forms like the barcarolle, mazurka, ecossaise, ballade and polonaise. Modern popular dance music initially emerged from late 19th century's Western ballroom and

social dance Social dances are dances that have social functions and context. Social dances are intended for participation rather than Concert dance, performance. They are often danced merely to socialise and for entertainment, though they may have Ceremoni ...

music. During the early 20th century, ballroom dancing gained popularity among the working class who attended public

dance hall Dance hall in its general meaning is a hall for Dance, dancing, but usually refers to a specific type of twentieth-century venue, with dance clubs (nightclubs) becoming more popular towards the end of the century. The palais de danse was a term ap ...

s. Dance music became enormously popular during the 1920s. In the 1930s, known as the Swing era, Swing music was the popular dance music in America. In the 1950s,

rock and roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock-n-roll, and rock 'n' roll) is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It Origins of rock and roll, originated from African ...

became the popular dance music. The late 1960s saw the rise of soul and R&B music. Dominican and Cuban New Yorkers created the popular salsa dance in the late 1960s which stemmed from the Latin music genre of salsa. The rise of

disco Disco is a music genre, genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the late 1960s from the United States' urban nightclub, nightlife, particularly in African Americans, African-American, Italian-Americans, Italian-American, LGBTQ ...

in the early 1970s led to dance music becoming popular with the public. By the late 1970s, electronic dance music was developing. This music, made using electronics, is a style of

popular music Popular music is music with wide appeal that is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. These forms and styles can be enjoyed and performed by people with little or no musical training.Popular Music. (2015). ''Fun ...

commonly played in nightclubs,

radio station Radio broadcasting is the broadcasting of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based rad ...

s, shows and raves. Many subgenres of electronic dance music have evolved.

Origins

Dancing to rhythmic music has long been a cherished tradition in civilizations around the world, where dynamic movements synchronized with percussion instruments such as drums, bells, and rattles serve as integral expressions of cultural identity, social cohesion, and spiritual significance. Folk dance music accompanies traditional dance and may be contrasted with historical/classical, and popular/commercial dance music. An example of folk dance music in the United States is the old-time music played at square dances and contra dances.

Historical dance music

While there exist attestations of the combination of dance and music in ancient times (for example Ancient Greek vases sometimes show dancers accompanied by musicians), the earliest Western dance music that we can still reproduce with a degree of certainty are the surviving medieval dances such as carols and the Estampie. The earliest of these surviving dances are almost as old as Western staff-based music notation.

By period

The Renaissance dance music was written for instruments such as the lute,

viol The viola da gamba (), or viol, or informally gamba, is a bowed and fretted string instrument that is played (i.e. "on the leg"). It is distinct from the later violin family, violin, or ; and it is any one of the earlier viol family of bow (m ...

, tabor, pipe, and the sackbut. In the

period, the major dance styles were noble court dances (see Baroque dance). Examples of dances include the French courante,

sarabande The sarabande (from ) is a dance in triple metre, or the music written for such a dance. History The Sarabande evolved from a Spanish dance with Arab influences, danced by a lively double line of couples with castanets. A dance called ''zara ...

and gigue. Collections of dances were often collected together as dance suites. In the classical music era, the minuet was frequently used as a third movement in four-movement non-vocal works such as sonatas,

string quartet The term string quartet refers to either a type of musical composition or a group of four people who play them. Many composers from the mid-18th century onwards wrote string quartets. The associated musical ensemble consists of two Violin, violini ...

s, and symphonies, although in this context it would not accompany any dancing. The

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 Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form of ...

extended the composition of dance music to a new height. Frequently, dance music was a part of

opera Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...

Popular dance music

Modern popular dance music initially emerged from late 19th century's Western ballroom and

music.

By genre

Dance music works often bear the name of the corresponding dance, e.g.

es, the tango, the bolero, the can-can,

s, salsa, various kinds of jigs and the breakdown. Other dance forms include contradance, the merengue ( Dominican Republic), and the cha-cha-cha. Often it is difficult to know whether the name of the music came first or the name of the dance.

Ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and song of Great Britain and Ireland from the Late Middle Ages until the 19th century. They were widely used across Eur ...

s are commonly chosen for slow-dance routines. However ballads have been commonly deemed the opposite of dance music in terms of their tempo. Originally, the ballad was a type of dance as well (hence the name "ballad", from the same root as " ballroom" and "

"). Ballads are still danced on the Faeroe Islands.

Dansband

"Dansband" ("Dance band") is a term in Swedish for bands who play a kind of

, "dansbandsmusik" ("Dance band music"), to

partner dance file:Tanzturnier 28.JPG, Ballroom dancers performing the tango. file:dance-At-Bougival.jpg, upPartner dance, ''Dance at Bougival'' by Pierre-Auguste Renoir, 1883 Partner dances are dances whose basic choreography involves coordinated dancing of t ...

to. These terms came into use around 1970, and before that, many of the bands were classified as " pop groups". This type of music is mostly popular in the

Nordic countries The Nordic countries (also known as the Nordics or ''Norden''; ) are a geographical and cultural region in Northern Europe, as well as the Arctic Ocean, Arctic and Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic oceans. It includes the sovereign states of Denm ...

Disco

Disco is a genre of dance music containing elements of funk, soul, pop, and salsa. It was most popular during the mid to late 1970s, though it has had brief resurgences afterwards. The first notable fully synthesized disco hit was " I Feel Love" by Donna Summer. Looping inspired the electronic dance music genre.

Electronic

By 1981, a new form of dance music was developing. This music, made using electronics, is a style of

commonly played in dance music nightclubs,

s, shows and raves. During its gradual decline in the late 1970s,

became influenced by electronic musical instruments such as synthesizers. sampling and segueing as found in disco continued to be used as creative techniques within

trance music Trance is a genre of electronic dance music that emerged from Electronic body music, EBM in Frankfurt, Germany, in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and quickly spread throughout Europe. Trance music is typically characterized by a tempo between ...

, techno music and especially

house music House is a genre of electronic dance music characterized by a repetitive Four on the floor (music), four-on-the-floor beat and a typical tempo of 115–130 beats per minute. It was created by DJs and music producers from Chicago's underground ...

. Electronic dance music experienced a boom in the late 1980s. In the UK, this manifested itself in the dance element of Tony Wilson's Haçienda scene (in Manchester) and London clubs like Delirium, The Trip, and Shoom. The scene rapidly expanded to the Summer Of Love in Ibiza, which became the European capital of house and trance. In 2018, the release o
Fisher's "Losing It
, a significant tech-house crossover by the Australian EDM producer, marked a notable shift in trends within the dance music landscape. Many music genres that made use of electronic instruments developed into contemporary styles mainly due to the

MIDI Musical Instrument Digital Interface (; MIDI) is an American-Japanese technical standard that describes a communication protocol, digital interface, and electrical connectors that connect a wide variety of electronic musical instruments, ...

protocol, which enabled computers, synthesizers, sound cards, samplers, and drum machines to interact with each other and achieve the full synchronization of sounds. Electronic dance music is typically composed using synthesizers and computers, and rarely has any physical instruments. Instead, this is replaced by analogue and digital electronic sounds, with a 4/4 beat. Many producers of this kind of music however, such as Darren Tate and MJ Cole, were trained in classical music before they moved into the electronic medium. Associated with dance music are usually commercial tracks that may not easily be categorized, such as " The Power" by Snap!, " No Limit" by 2 Unlimited, " Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)" by C+C Music Factory, and the Beatmasters' " Rok da House" but the term "dance music" is applied to many forms of

electronic music Electronic music broadly is a group of music genres that employ electronic musical instruments, circuitry-based music technology and software, or general-purpose electronics (such as personal computers) in its creation. It includes both music ...

, both commercial and non-commercial. Some of the most popular upbeat genres include

house A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air c ...

, techno, gqom, drum & bass, jungle, hardcore,

electronica Electronica is both a broad group of electronic-based music styles intended for listening rather than strictly for dancing and a music scene that came to prominence in the early 1990s in the United Kingdom. In the United States, the term is mos ...

, industrial, breakbeat, trance, psychedelic trance, UK garage and electro. There are also much slower styles, such as downtempo, chillout and nu jazz. Many subgenres of electronic dance music have evolved. Subgenres of

include

acid house Acid house (also simply known as just " acid") is a subgenre of house music developed around the mid-1980s by DJs from Chicago. The style is defined primarily by the squelching sounds and basslines of the Roland TB-303 electronic bass synt ...

, kwaito, electro house, hard house, funky house, deep house, afro house, tribal house, hip house, tech house and US garage. Subgenres of drum & bass include techstep, hardstep, jump-up, intelligent D&B/atmospheric D&B, liquid funk, sambass, drumfunk, neurofunk and ragga jungle. Subgenres of other styles include progressive breaks, booty bass, Goa trance, hard trance, hardstyle,

minimal techno Minimal techno is a subgenre of techno music. It is characterized by a stripped-down aesthetic that exploits the use of repetition and understated development. Minimal techno is thought to have been originally developed in the early 1990s by Detro ...

, gabber techno, breakcore, broken beat, trip hop, folktronica and glitch. Speed garage, breakstep, 2-step,

bassline Bassline (also known as a bass line or bass part) is the term used in many styles of music, such as blues, jazz, funk, Dub music, dub and electronic music, electronic, traditional music, traditional, and classical music, for the low-pitched P ...

, grime, UK funky, future garage and the reggae-inspired

dubstep Dubstep is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in South London in the early 2000s. The style emerged as a UK garage offshoot that blended 2-step rhythms and sparse dub production, as well as incorporating elements of broken ...

are all subgenres of UK garage.

By decade

1900s–1910s

During the early 20th century, ballroom dancing gained popularity among the working class who attended public

1920s

Dance music became enormously popular during the 1920s. Nightclubs were frequented by large numbers of people at which a form of

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

, which was characterized by fancy

orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * String instruments, such as the violin, viola, cello, ...

s with strings instruments and complex arrangements, became the standard music at clubs. A particularly popular dance was the fox-trot. At the time this music was simply called jazz, although today people refer to it as "white jazz" or

big band A big band or jazz orchestra is a type of musical ensemble of jazz music that usually consists of ten or more musicians with four sections: saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section. Big bands originated during the early 1910s and ...

. Marabi evolved in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

in the 1920s, rooted in South African folk music, ragtime,

and

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...

. People were able to dance endlessly without having to have been familiar with the songs being played, before.

1930s–1940s

''Genres'': Swing music, mbube, Congolese rumba, Western swing. Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman and Glenn Miller gained swing jazz hits.

1950s

''Genres'':

Rock and roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock-n-roll, and rock 'n' roll) is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It Origins of rock and roll, originated from African ...

, kwela In 1952, the television showed that '' American Bandstand'' switched to a format where teenagers dance along as records are played. ''American Bandstand'' continued to be shown until 1989. Since the late 1950s,

disc jockey A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include Radio personality, radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at nightclubs or music fes ...

s (commonly known as DJs) played recorded music at nightclubs.

1960s

''Genres'':

, R&B, funk, mbaqanga In 1960, Chubby Checker released his song " The Twist" setting off a dance craze. The late 1960s saw the rise of soul and R&B music which used lavish orchestral arrangements.

1970s

''Genres'':

Disco Disco is a music genre, genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the late 1960s from the United States' urban nightclub, nightlife, particularly in African Americans, African-American, Italian-Americans, Italian-American, LGBTQ ...

, funk, R&B, hip hop In 1970, the television show '' Soul Train'' premiered featuring famous soul artists who would play or lipsync their hits while the audience danced along. In the early '70s, Kool and the Gang, Ohio Players, and B.T. Express were popular funk bands. By the mid-1970s,

had become one of the main genres featured. In 1974, '' Billboard'' added a Disco Action chart of top hits to its other charts (see List of ''Billboard'' number one dance club songs). Donna Summer, the Bee Gees, the Village People and Gloria Gaynor gained pop hits. Disco was characterized by the use of real orchestral instruments, such as strings, which had largely been abandoned during the 1950s because of rock music. In contrast to the 1920s, however, the use of live orchestras in night clubs was extremely rare due to its expense. The disco craze reached its peak in the late 1970s when the word "disco" became synonymous with "dance music" and nightclubs were referred to as "discos".

1980s

''Genres'': Funk, hip hop, New jack swing, R&B, bounce, Miami bass, boogie,

, jaiva,

contemporary R&B Contemporary R&B (or simply R&B) is a popular music Music genre, genre, originating from African Americans, African-American musicians in the 1980s that combines rhythm and blues with elements of Pop music, pop, Soul music, soul, funk, Hip-hop, ...

, new wave, dark wave, Italo disco, Euro disco, post-disco,

synth-pop Synth-pop (short for synthesizer pop; also called techno-pop; ) is a music genre that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s and early 1970s b ...

, dance-pop, dance-rock,

, kwaito,

, hip house, techno, freestyle, electro, hi-NRG, EBM, cosmic disco, Balearic beat, new beat

1990s

''Genres'': New jack swing,

, dancehall, hip hop, G-funk, Miami bass,

, Italo dance, Italo house, Eurodance, Europop, hip house, electro, electroclash, progressive house, French house, techno,

, trance, alternative dance, drum and bass, jungle, big beat, breakbeat, breakbeat hardcore, rave, hardcore, happy hardcore, speed garage, UK garage, soca,

reggaeton Reggaeton (, ) is a modern style of popular music, popular and electronic music that originated in Panamanian reggaetón, Panama during the late 1980s, and which rose to prominence in the late 1990s and early 2000s through a plethora of Puert ...

, trance, psytrance, Goa trance, Afro house

2000s

''Genres'':

Electropop Electropop is a popular music fusion genre combining elements of the electronic and pop styles. It has been described as a variant of synth-pop with emphasis on a hard electronic sound. The genre was developed in the 1980s and saw a rev ...

, dance-pop, snap, crunk, dancehall,

, dance-punk, nu-disco, electro house,

, grime,

, UK funky,

, hip hop, drum and bass, progressive house, hardstyle, funky house

2010s

''Genres'':

synthpop Synth-pop (short for synthesizer pop; also called techno-pop; ) is a music genre that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s and early 1970s ...

, gqom, glitchpop, hip house, nu-disco, new wave, new rave, trance,

, hi-NRG, hard NRG, dance-pop, electro-industrial, deep house, drum and bass,

, techstep, liquid funk, electro house, progressive house, breakbeat, hardstyle, dubstyle, drumstep, hip hop, ghetto house, Jersey club, trap, drill, moombahton, moombahcore, dancehall, tropical house, UK garage, Europop, hyperpop

Radio formats

The Dance/Mix Show Airplay chart tracks the most popular tracks played by radio stations using a "dance music" format. Modern dance music is typically a core component of the rhythmic adult contemporary and rhythmic contemporary formats, and an occasional component of the

contemporary hit radio Contemporary hit radio (CHR, also known as contemporary hits, hit list, current hits, hit music, top 40, or pop radio) is a radio format common in many countries that focuses on playing current and recurrent popular music as determined by the Top ...

format in the case of dance songs which chart. Mixshows are radio programmes which feature a sequence of dance music tracks where each track's outro is mixed into the intro of the next.

References

{{Authority control Popular music

Origins

Historical dance music

By period

Popular dance music

By genre

Dansband

Disco

Electronic

By decade

1900s–1910s

1920s

1930s–1940s

1950s

1960s

1970s

1980s

1990s

2000s

2010s

Radio formats

See also

References