T he origin of dance lies in the ancient human past. Just like birds and animals danced for mating, so it was then. The duet of mating and the need for communal expression were probably the two earliest motivations that brought on dance. The fight of two male animals for a female, for example, has its counterpart in the wedding festivities of certain Bedouins, which include a sword dance between two men. In ancient times, the Plains Indians had dance movements of the wolf, antelope, buffalo and the beaver in their lodge ceremonies. The delicate butterfly is the object of a Samoan dance, and in Japan this creature is depicted with great beauty in the Kabuki drama. In Central America Aztec dancing rituals can still be traced. Among the Israelites, there were sacred processional encircling, ecstatic (trancelike), festival, victory, wedding and funeral dances for the rites of circumcision, which still do exist today in Africa and Australia. Greek gods (such as Apollo, Ares, D...