Началото на танца като форма на културно изразяване в Америка през XVII и XVIII век
The beginning of dance, as a form of cultural expression, in America in the 17th, 18th, and the first half of the 19th Century

Summary/Abstract: The art form of dance, which was a centuries-old tradition in European court life, had no breeding ground in the United States. No tradition existed to establish its presence as meaningful in the cultural life of the country. In the 1600s the settlers exerted all their energies merely to sustain life in a rough new land. By the early 1700s colonial cities were growing, and their internal security and prosperity helped to raise people’s expectations of life and their standards of living. When an enthusiasm for theatrical dance did emerge around 1790, it began with performances that included a variety of movements ranging from acrobatics, pantomimes, and imported ballet technique. A number of immigrant French, English, Italian dancing masters arranged the social dancing imparting their knowledge of Minuet, Cotillion, Quadrile, Waltz to more prosperous colonists. During the 19th century in the American ballet there was no continuous development, and no sustained tradition. In America the ballet was entirely left to private initiatives, to enterprising impresarios or theatre owners or to the choreographers and dancers themselves.

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