Dance

Dance music is electronic music that is produced primarily for the purposes of use within a nightclub setting or in an environment that is centred upon dance-based entertainment. The music is largely created for use by disc jockeys and is produced with the intention of being heard in the context of a continuous DJ set, where the DJ progresses from one record to the next via a synchronized segue or 'mix'.

Dance music is a broad set of percussive music genres that is largely inherited from 1970s disco music and, to some extent, the experimental pop music of Kraftwerk. Such music was originally borne of and popularized via regional nightclub scenes in the 1980s. By the early 1990s, the presence of electronic dance music in contemporary culture was noted widely and its role in society began to be explored in published historical, cultural and social science academic studies.

It is constructed by means of electronic instruments such as synthesizers, drums machines and sequencers, and generally emphasizes the unique sounds of those instruments, even when mimicking traditional acoustic instrumentation. It sometimes encompasses music not primarily meant for dancing, but derived from the dance-oriented styles.

This description is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses materials from the Wikipedia article "Electronic dance music".