【明報專訊】Hi, I am Chattie. I am a cloud. I have been travelling around the world and have seen a lot of people and places.

Last time, after I had talked about musicals, my friends asked me a question. ''What is the difference between musicals and operas?" I simply told her that musicals have some drama parts but operas consist mainly or even solely in singing. In musicals, we see actors act, sing or even dance. In operas, singers sing and we have to listen carefully to the lyrics and how they sing.

This time, I want to talk about one of the very beautiful forms of art. It is DANCE! All around the world, people move their bodies when they listen to music. Or I should say it in another way. Their bodies move along with music. Look at children. They wave their hands and shake their legs in front of television sets. I'll tell you more about different forms of dance so that you can dance with your friends!

In the 1970s, a very special kind of dance became popular in New York. It was hip hop dance. Battle is a special kind of dance competition. B-boys and B-girls showed off their dance skills in battles. The ''B'' of B-boys and B-girls stands for breaking which was an early form of hip hop dance. Moreover, it is a lot of fun seeing hip hop dancers, who usually wear colourful clothes to make themselves more eye-catching.

There are many forms of dance and they are all special. Flamenco comes from Spain. Flamenco dancers wear beautiful costumes, and they often dance to a flamenco guitar. Aerial dance from the United States allows dancers to dance in the air like birds. In fire dance, lots of tools like torches, fire knives and fire staffs (火棒) are used. Fire dancers dance with the high temperature of fire in the dark.

Ballet has originated in Italy. Since the fifteenth century, it has spread to many other countries and inspired many other forms of dance. Ballet is mainly for performances and concerts. It is like a language. It has its own movement vocabulary. Its movements should be done in a very serious way. You would never go to a party and dance ballet with others. And ''ballet'' is a French word that means ''to dance''.

Is it possible to dance without music? In the case of tap dance, the answer is "yes". Tap dancers use their specially designed shoes to make rhythm. There are metal plates under them. When dancers tap or slide their feet, they create sound. Because they can dance without music, some people call them musicians. But of course, you can have tap dance with music too. There are so many forms of dance I can't tell you about all of them one by one. Go and learn some of them so that you can shake your body with me.

■ Vocabulary Words

opera 歌劇

hip hop dance 嘻哈舞

breaking 霹靂舞

flamenco 佛蘭明高舞

aerial dance 空中舞

ballet 芭蕾舞

tap dance 踢踏舞

◆Jeffrey Chan

˙An artist, theatre director and English teacher.

˙He is interested in breaking frames in his living, direction and teaching.

˙A co-founder of Sparky Creative.

◆Travis Ying

˙An artist, theatre stage designer, illustrator and registered teacher.

˙He is interested in spotting arts in daily life and he cannot stop sketching at meetings.

˙The creator of Chatties and Friends, a co-founder of Sparky Creative.

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