The dance traditions of the Native Americans are connected to the earth, and the spiritual and natural world.

When Europeans and Africans arrived, they brought with them their own dances, which they adapted and transformed into styles uniquely American. English Country and Quadrille dances became New England's contra and square dances. Irish step dance has evolved into Appalachian clogging.

Popular social dances like the Cake Walk, the Charleston, the Lindy Hop and Swing, as well as Tap Dance sprang from African American movement styles and were imbued with the American Spirit of individuality, freedom and imagination.

With the same spirit, the Hollywood screen dances and Rock and Roll burst forth in the 1950s and 1960s. And Martha Graham original dance style broke the boundaries of Ballet to give birth to America's modern dance movement.

As new immigrant communities, particularly Asian and Latin American move into the United States, their dance traditions are mingling with other -

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