Condance or Dance language

[Gruden]

How can I create a language with dancing only?
Also, how can I create a fictional Folk dance for my fictional world?

 

[Miles Lacey]

In Polynesian cultures a key means of telling stories and passing on information was through song and dance. Every hand gesture, every sway of the hips and every gesture from eye rolling to the placing of a hand communicated a message to the audience.

Sign language is communication through hand gestures. Maybe combining sign language with various dance moves could be looked at as a form of communication.

 

[Eduardo Ficaria]

How can I create a language with dancing only?

If you're implying that the only mean of communication for a certain culture is dancing... I don't see it happening at all. The main reason is practicality and I'll give you a very simple example of this:

• Imagine you're this fellow who's coming back to his village after a hunt. You're carrying your prey with you, which implies you're quite loaded. Or maybe you're trotting on your very nice horse. Now you cross with a friend, how do you say hi, how you do in such situation? Certainly NOT by dancing. Even worse, imagine that you're deep in winter and the land is blanketed in snow: you're not going to waste that much energy just for some friendly chit-chat, right?

So, imagine how restrictive could end being such language for children or the elderly, or just people who lacks enough mobility for any reason ranging from injury to disability. And you have to take into account how tiring it would be to communicate like that all the time: even for the most minimal expression you might need to do a decent effort to communicate properly, and you're increasing the risk of injury given how such a language would force people to exercise themselves at all times. Also, let not forget the increase in food consumption: since they're spending much more energy than just by speaking they would need to eat more to recover their energy and to maintain their bodies. If one year their crops fail (and they do tend to fail to less developed cultures), they could end being in a really dire situation.

Now, if we're talking about a language just used in particular situations like rituals, ceremonies, festivities and the like, I'll answer you below your second question.

Also, how can I create a fictional Folk dance for my fictional world?

Miles Lacey has already given you a nice reference you can look up on Internet. Other references you could find useful would be modern dance which in some cases tends to be very experimental, the japanese noh theatre, and many others. Still, for starters, I would start investigating the entry for dance at Wikipedia on one hand, and on the other I would make searchs about folklore in general to find cultures or traditions that could fit your vision for your fictional Folk dance. Now, don't forget that to develop that folk dance properly you'll need also to develop the folklore itself in which is based on, something that will also imply understanding of the culture and the history of that people.

 

[Gruden]

Thanks, guys!