Timeline

  • 10,000 BCE

    Paleolithic Period

    In the Paleolithic period (roughly 2.5 million years ago to 10,000 B.C.), early humans lived in caves or simple huts or tepees and were hunters and gatherers. They used basic stone and bone tools, as well as crude stone axes, for hunting birds and wild animals.
  • Period: 4300 BCE to 2000 BCE

    Neolithic Age

    The Neolithic period lasted from around 4300 BC down to 2000 BC, so some 6000 years before present. Neolithic means 'New Stone' and so this period is sometimes called the New Stone Age. Famous Neolithic sites in Britain include Avebury, Stonehenge, and Silbury Hill.
  • Period: 900 BCE to 600 BCE

    Ancient Greece

    Ancient Greek civilization began to develop at the end of Greek Dark Ages around 900 BCE, and lasted until 600 CE Over this 1,500-year period there were many social, economic, political, and cultural changes.
  • Period: 753 BCE to 395

    Rome

    In modern historiography, ancient Rome encompasses the founding of the Italian city of Rome in the 8th century BC, the Roman Kingdom (753–509 BC), Roman Republic (509–27 BC), Roman Empire (27 BC– 395 AD), and the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD.
  • 500

    Medieval Era

    The period of European history extending from about 500 to 1400–1500 ce. Traditionally known as the Middle Ages. The term was first used by 15th-century scholars to designate the period between their own time and the fall of the Western Roman Empire.
  • Baroque Era

    The Baroque is a highly ornate and elaborate style of architecture, art and design that flourished in Europe in the 17th and first half of the 18th century. Originating in Italy, its influence quickly spread across Europe and it became the first visual style to have a significant worldwide impact.
  • Musical Theatre

    Musical theater began in ancient Greece and has evolved to include a variety of forms over the centuries. These include opera, which originated in the 1700s. The first musical theater performance to come to America took place in 1735.
  • Classical Ballet

    Classical ballet developed in the late 19th century when Marius Petipa was ballet master in St Petersburg. Classical ballet is a mixture of the French style of Romantic ballet, the techniques developed in Italy in the late 19th century, and Russian teaching.
  • Modern Dance (Early Moderns/Pioneers)

    In the late 19th century, modern dance artists such as Isadora Duncan, Maud Allan, and Loie Fuller were pioneering new forms and practices in what is now called improvisational or free dance.
  • Tap

    Tap dance originated in the United States in the early 19th century at the crossroads of African and Irish American dance forms. When slave owners took away traditional African percussion instruments, slaves turned to percussive dancing to express themselves and retain their cultural identities.
  • Period: to

    Jazz

    Jazz dance is rooted in African traditions, a culture which integrated dance and music into their daily lives. These dances were brought to America via the slave trade. Jazz became very popular in the 19th and 20th century.
  • Ballet (Early Ballet-Romantic Ballet)

    1827 début in Paris of the ballerina Marie Taglioni in the ballet La Sylphide, and to have reached its zenith with the premiere of the divertissement Pas de Quatre staged by the Ballet Master Jules Perrot in London in 1845.
  • Classic Moderns Dance

    Modern Dance was born in America during the turn of the 20th century when a number of choreographers and dancers rebelled against the two forms of dance that were prevalent at the time, ballet and vaudeville.
  • Transitional Moderns

    Transitions are the links between movements, phrases, sequences and sections of the dance. Transitions can differ in length, gradual, or abrupt movements. The complexity is as simple as a plie for a jump, or involving a whole phrase of movement.
  • Period: to

    Contemporary Moderns

    Contemporary dance is versatile and heavily features improvisation. Unlike the structured nature of ballet, this form of dance conveys the freedom of movement. It allows dancers to move their bodies in their own way and focus on emotional and physical expression. (Created in 20th Century)
  • Neoclassical Ballet

    Neoclassical ballet is the style of 20th century classical ballet exemplified by the works of George Balanchine. Opening up ballet to modernist tendencies, neoclassical ballet was first developed in the 1920s by Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes.
  • Post-Moderns

    Postmodern dance started in the early 1960s with a burst of experimentation by a rag-tag group of rebels called Judson Dance Theater in Greenwich Village. They broke with the expressionism of Martha Graham and the theme-and-variations structure of Doris Humphrey.
  • Hip-Hop

    Hip-hop dance began during the late 1960's and early 1970's, originally inspired by the movements of African dancing, and flourished as a new style of dance performed on the street for the people. Hip-hop incorporates aspects of modern dance, tap, and swing, integrating music and complex movements to form artistry.