As a well-established and extensively trained dancer I find the long-term misconceptions of dance quite irritating. The definition of dance has become outdated and it is disheartening to recognize that the overall public's opinion of the subject is limited to what is assumed and not actually perceived. Dance is not just ballet. It has developed from its original form and has profoundly changed over time because of significant influences from people, society, and specified cultures. The general public's obsolete perception of dance reveals the hidden ignorance among most and must be changed before another dancer is overlooked as just another means of entertainment.
It is not wrong for a person to associate ballet with dance; however, it is not right for that person to confine his thinking to just that one technique. Ballet was the original dance form that was "made official" Louis XIV, an early patron of this art form, and its original purpose was to entertain kings and courts, but that was over three and a half centuries ago. …
