ABSTRACT
Like the development of professional dance and dance in education since the second world war, community dance emerged with the art of mime as a particular response to the cultural needs of post-modern society during the early 1970s. It is the third element in developing a national dance culture, carrying forward issues and practices from the theatrical art form and from dance at all levels of education. Firmly it operates an ‘Athenian’ approach rather than the ‘Roman’ approach of much established professional dance practice. To do this it has embraced populations generally not touched by theatrical dance or dance education systems, or unable to participate in these areasworking people and young people seeking to develop their own dance ability through classes, workshops and youth dance groups; elderly people; disabled people; unemployed people; people in prisons1 and institutions; people able to see dance more than make dance like those in hospitals;2 people able to perform and show dance from the cultures of the British Commonwealth now becoming part of the national dance culture of Britain. All this represents the application of an art form to current social conditions. It is an important development in public aesthetic education, meaning here arts activity.
