Performing arts

Performing arts are creative disciplines performed live for an audience. These arts differ from visual arts, which focus on static objects like paintings. Instead, performing arts rely on the actions of performers to express emotions or feelings.

Common disciplines include music, dance, and theatre. Performers may be actors, musicians, dancers, or circus artists. They often use costumes, stage makeup, and lighting to enhance their work. Other professionals, such as choreographers and songwriters, support these artists behind the scenes.

Theatre is a major branch of performing arts centered on acting. It uses speech, gesture, music, and spectacle to tell stories.

Theatre includes many styles, such as musical theatre, opera, and ballet. It also features forms like mime, puppetry, and improvisational theatre. Some styles are traditional, such as classical Indian dance or Kabuki. Others are contemporary, such as postmodern theatre. These diverse methods allow performers to present narratives in many different ways.

Music is an art form that combines pitch, rhythm, and dynamics to create sound.

It can be performed through various instruments or through the human voice. Music is divided into many genres, including jazz, hip hop, pop, and rock. It can be planned or improvised by the performer. Because music is a protean art, it can easily coordinate with words or physical movement. This ability helps music shape human behaviors and impact our emotions.

Dance involves human movement that is typically rhythmic and set to music.

Definitions of dance vary based on social and cultural constraints. They range from functional folk dance to highly technical ballet. A choreographer is the person who creates these dance movements. In the late 19th century, Isadora Duncan helped develop free dance. She used new choreography to promote physical and spiritual freedom. This movement responded to the strict rules of traditional ballet.

Performing arts have deep roots in human history. In North Africa, ceremonial plays in Ancient Egypt date back to 2000 BC.

These plays often focused on the god Osiris. In Greece, the Classical period began in the 6th century BC with tragic poets like Sophocles. During the Renaissance, performing arts saw a major revival in Italy. The term "ballet" grew from the Italian word "ballo." By the 17th century, opera became a primary form of entertainment for European aristocrats and city dwellers.

Technological changes have transformed how people experience these arts. The Baroque era introduced the proscenium arch in Italy, which established a traditional theatre form. In the 19th century, gaslight was introduced to theatres to improve visibility. The invention of the motion picture by Thomas Edison changed everything.

Film became a dominant medium during the 20th and 21st centuries. Additionally, Jean Rosenthal introduced modern stage lighting in the 1930s. These advancements helped the performing arts reach much larger audiences.

Different cultures offer unique traditions of performance. In West Africa, a Griot serves as an oral historian.

Griots use storytelling, poetry, and instruments like the kora to preserve history. Many African traditions use call and response, where the audience participates with the performers. In West Asia, puppet theatre and shadow plays have been popular for centuries.

Some religious traditions, like the ta'ziya passion plays, re-enact important historical episodes. These global traditions show the shared human desire to perform and connect.