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- Convenors:
-
Georgiana Gore
(University of Clermont Auvergne)
Hélène Neveu Kringelbach (University College London)
- Discussant:
-
Michael Houseman
(Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes)
- Formats:
- Panels
- Stream:
- Bodies
- Location:
- Magdalen Oscar Wilde Room
- Start time:
- 19 September, 2018 at
Time zone: Europe/London
- Session slots:
- 3
Short Abstract:
This panel pays tribute to the late Andrée Grau's engagement with dance as fundamental to human sociality (Grau 2016) and interrogates advancements in the anthropology of dance since Gertrude Kurath's 1960 article Panorama of dance ethnology published in the first volume of Current Anthropology.
Long Abstract:
This panel pays tribute to the late Andrée Grau's engagement with dance as cultural and biological phenomenon, fundamental to human sociality (Grau 2016) and interrogates advancements in the anthropology of dance since Gertrude Kurath's programmatic 1960 article Panorama of dance ethnology published in the first volume of Current Anthropology. Indeed, in anthropology, dance has often been examined from two perspectives: as an object of study in its own right, and as a practice the study of which enables understanding of other domains of human activity such as gender, politics, memory, kinship, religion, identity, mobility, health, or cognition. These two perspectives have increasingly come together as anthropologists developed new theoretical tools to approach creative bodies in their social contexts.
In this panel, we invite presentations which are ethnographically grounded and/or which engage with theoretically provocative arguments on one or several of the following issues:
- How are creative processes articulated in choreographed movement?
- How may the study of dance advance our understanding of the relationship between the human and the non-human?
- Might a focus on dance help to explore the relationship between movement and cognition?
- To what extent does choreographed movement "create" social relationships, and relationships between people and matter?
- How do dance practices change over time, and what do these processes say about time and memory in their different forms?
- How might the use of technological advances (motion capture, for example) contribute to our understanding of creative bodies in movement?
Accepted papers:
Session 1Paper short abstract:
This presentation explores the idea that dancing was and is, as John Blacking stated 'a primary modelling system' (1984:4) or, in other terms, a means of inventing worlds to come in a context where novel relational configurations and innovative ideas may be tested without any stakes at play.
Paper long abstract:
In what is seemingly her last published article, Why people dance-evolution, sociality and dance (2016), Andrée Grau (1954-2017) draws upon her mentor John Blacking's provocative ideas concerning the significance of dance in human evolution, 'a special kind of exercise of sensory, communicative and co-operative powers that is as fundamental to the making and remaking of human nature as speech' (Blacking in Grau 2016). By the 1970s, he already attributed to dance a precedence in human development. In response to Frank B. Livingstone's 1973 article Did the Australopithecines sing? in which the author suggested that singing was the precursor to speech, Blacking made the counter-intuitive proposal that dancing preceded walking, which requires skills of balance and control to adapt to gravity. Proto-dancing of the kind presumably performed by our prehistoric forbears emerged, however, through a surrendering to the forward thrust of body movement given free rein. I suggest thinking of this as a mode of movement experimentation. Moreover, as Grau (2016) convincingly demonstrated, dancing is a fundamentally relational practice due to the collective and cooperative rhythmic activity it entails and generates. From these two premises, I argue that dancing was and is, as Blacking stated 'a primary modelling system' (1984:4) or, in other terms, a means of inventing worlds to come in a context where novel relational configurations and innovative ideas may be tested without any stakes at play. To substantiate my argument examples will be drawn from a variety of dance cultures from theatre dance to ritual masked dance.
Paper short abstract:
Based on a specific case study, this paper aims to show how the combination of dance competency and practical dance knowledge in Norwegian couple dancing created ‘”transcendental” experiences’ (Grau 2016) or peak moments for its practitioners.
Paper long abstract:
Words such as “Nirvana”, “euphoric feelings” as well as “fun” and “pleasure” arose in connection with peak dancing moments in research which explored dance competency and practical dance knowledge in couple dancing at parties in Trøndelag in rural Norway. Such terms are related to what Andrée Grau (2016) calls a heightened sense of consciousness, which may be an effect derived from dancing amongst other practices. She proposes that dance ‘is powerful because it may allow “transcendental” experiences’ (Grau 2016, 234). This paper aims to show how such experiences and feelings were connected to mastery of the shared dance choreographies, to letting go of their technical control, as well as to creating a shared moment with their dance partners by being present in the rhythm and sensitive to the musical tune. Feelings of “becoming one” resulted from this combination of dance competency and knowledge. A particular case study with one dancing couple, with whom I worked during field work, will be presented in detail to demonstrate how all these elements are articulated in the production of “transcendental experiences”. Moreover, the innovative methodological procedures based on a combination of ethnochoreological movement analysis and of cognitive anthropology of bodily practices that were used in this case study will be discussed.
Paper short abstract:
Based on a pragmatic and sensory ethnography of dancing partnerships in free-form, transformative dance, this paper considers practices that dance anthropology has left largely unexplored, and offers a new perspective on contemporary Western modes of relationship to oneself and to the others.
Paper long abstract:
"Free-form, transformative dance" refers here to the wide array of dance practices first developed in the US in the 1970's, and that are now flourishing in many Western cities (5 Rhythms, Movement Medicine, Authentic Movement, Soul Motion, etc.) Among their common features are free, non-choreographed moves, no talking, a caring ethical stance, and a heightened awareness of movements, sensations, and feelings. Sometimes characterized as "moving meditations", or as spiritual or healing practices, they claim to explore the connection to oneself, to others, and to the world at large.
This account is based on descriptions of danced interactions, as well as the ethnographer's experience of them, interviews with participants, and transcriptions of teachers' guiding discourse. In the absence of words, clear instructions or choreographies, how do participants use gazing, touching, breathing, sound-making and gestures to negotiate their danced interactions? How do they enter into a danced relationship, initiate duets, trios or quartets, judge the appropriateness of a touch, eye contact, or degrees of physical proximity? How do they end their partnerships in keeping with a caring attitude? How do they make sense of these special relationships, and how do they handle interactions once dancing is over?
These popular dance practices have received little anthropological attention, and are sometimes considered to be the rootless result of New Age tinkering or the "self-development" business. However, a pragmatic and sensory ethnography shows that they point to a specifically contemporary Western way of experiencing and defining oneself in relationship with others.
Paper short abstract:
This paper discusses social manifestations of the body and its ability to express cultural knowledge through dancing. It focuses on how dance anthropology as a school of thought and methodological approach reaches in-depth understanding of individual experiences in a Nigerian performative context.
Paper long abstract:
Among the Yoruba of South West Nigeria, dancers have the ability to relate not only to music and rhythms, but also to the Yoruba tonal language. This is due to the fact that instruments being played during a dance event, known as talking drums, can follow the Yoruba language's tonality and articulate poetic and proverbial language. The dancer facilitates the conveyance of meaning by interpretively embodying the content of what is being played. For example, drum language can derive from the Yoruba spoken language and is used by the dancer to share knowledge on Yoruba proverbial language with the drummers and audience. Another drum language consists of onomatopoeic rhythms, which are used by the social actors to verbally direct the dance for educational purposes or in situations of transmission. By exploring the experiences of individual dancers in Yorubaland, this paper aims at contributing to the extended, yet body-less, research on talking drums and tonal language. The dancer's perspective reveals a variety of cognitive layers which connect the drummer, the audience, and the language itself within this complex auditory space. The paper further highlights the significance of the methodological and research tools used in dance anthropology not only to analyse and explain these phenomena, but also to dwelve into the lived experiences of the dancers and their way of 'creating a special quality of being and of relatedness between individuals' (Grau, 2014:3).
Paper short abstract:
In this panel, I will question the negative hands and the mudras as case studies for the 'gestorial third': What happens in-between gestures and images? Between images of gestures (such as archives of theatre, mudras) and images originating from gestures (such as negative hands)?
Paper long abstract:
Based on body techniques and traditional formations of classical repertoires of gestures of Indian theatres (such as mudras), my research questions the ways in which traditional body techniques evolve when transmitted. What happens to the initial shape of the gesture? and how can we map its change in space and time? Here I investigate the recording of gesture: its imprint and traces, as a parallel story of the gesture.
Meanwhile the negative hand gives both an historical and a pictorial counterpoint to gesture analysis, traces printed on cave walls reveal many questions: how to deduce gestures through image analysis?
Aiming at gesture modelisation, by designing tools for 'en-capturing' gesture (capturing & encoding), developing an experimental anthropology (Bernard, 1865), I seek to develop an interactive apparatus to navigate the archive.
Digital images have the ability to inscribe gesture images into code and thus, into scripted forms, coding create space in between text and images. Contrarily to still images (Deleuze, 1983), traditional archival techniques, such as drawings, engravings, photography, and video, generate a specific momentum of perception, which points back at living movements and their relations to its still (re-)presentation (Bergson, 1934). That leads to my research question: Is there a 'gestorial third'?
Analysing the various effects of technology on the body shaping, I will investigate the notion of efficacy (Jullien, 1996) attached to both poiesis and praxis traditions. I will then question how to design conceptual and pragmatic tools in order to "navigate" and "(re)embody" the gesture archives.
Paper short abstract:
The paper discusses the role of bii biyelgee dance in the construction of Oirad (Western Mongol) ethnic categories through the case of the dance "Brown Silk Dress", a dance shared between neighbouring groups, and similar cases of cross-ethnic transmission of dances.
Paper long abstract:
Based on extensive fieldwork among bii biyelgee dancers in Western Mongolia and Ulaanbaatar, the paper examines the distinctive role of dance in the contemporary construction of ethnic categories in Mongolia. The Zahchin and the Torguud are two neighbouring ethnic subgroups of the Oirad of Western Mongolia. Although they claim to have distinctive dance repertories, they also have a single dance, called "Brown silk dress" (Hüren torgot), in common. Each subgroup considers this dance to have been originally theirs, and in symmetrical fashion, both tell of old-time festivals and competitions in which it was borrowed by the neighbouring group. This case is used as a lens through which to consider present-day festivals and competitions, whose ethnography shows how the cross-ethnic transmission of dance can be paradoxically used to reinforce claims of ethnic distinctiveness between neighboring groups. The paper argues that bii biyelgee dance not only contributes to the specific assignation of ethnic identities, but also plays a crucial role in pitting into place a shared regime of ethnicity.
Paper short abstract:
In this presentation, I describe a Tibetan Cham dance performed at a charity event hosted by a church in River City (pseudonym), a major European City with a significant Tibetan migrant population.
Paper long abstract:
From Buddhist Ritual to World Healing: Transforming Cham Dance in a Diasporic Context
In this presentation, I describe a Tibetan Cham dance performed at a charity event hosted by a church in River City (pseudonym), a major European city with a significant Tibetan migrant population. I attended the event as a member of the audience and engaged in participant-observation and informal interviewing of audience members. The event was staged by a Tibetan charity, henceforth referred to as Charity S, at a 17th century Christian church. Charity S was involved in both cultural and political activism. I first describe the origins and traditional meanings ascribed to Cham dance, before giving an account of my experience of the performance and the audience reactions to it. I go on to analyse the responses of the mostly Christian audience to the performance. I draw upon Magowan's (2001) conception of spiritual synchronicity, Pearlman's (2002) work on transformations in Tibetan Buddhist ritual and the work of Minn (2007) and others in the anthropology of humanitarianism, to argue that it is a common ground of commitment to spiritually based humanitarianism that enables a Buddhist ritual dance to appeal to a primarily Christian, European audience that has no prior knowledge of the religious significance of the dance within Buddhist practice.
Paper short abstract:
This paper addresses the study of dancers' experience and the modalities of participation during the practice of traditional ritual dances of the Mapuche people in a contemporary urban context.
Paper long abstract:
Originally coming from the southern part of Chile, the Mapuche people represent the major indigenous group of this country. Today, the majority of its population lives in urban areas, particularly in Santiago (Casen, 2015). After the dictatorship of Pinochet, the urban Mapuche have been organising themselves into sociocultural and political associations that fight for the preservation and visibility of their culture, specifically linked to the transmission of kimun (ancestral knowledge). From the actors' point of view, the performance of traditional rites is fundamental to achieve this objective, Nguillatun being the most important rite.
After a year of immersion by Villegas Silva in urban Mapuche associations with a special focus on the Nguillatun, the actors' different modes of participation have been identified, as well as tensions between discourse and practices linked to the development, significance and proper function of the rite, according to participants' different hierarchical positions.
For this panel, we propose articulating the anthropology of dance, which is dedicated to the study of dance practices and the contexts in which they are performed (Grau and Wierre-Gore, 2006), and cognitive anthropology, which focusses on the cognitive dimensions of experience and the implicit knowledge at work in the activity (Rix & Biache, 2004). This enables us to delve into the dance practices around which the Nguillatun is organized, our aim being to approach the experience of the actors during the ritual celebration, beyond their conventional discourse on the significance of the rite in the urban environment.
Paper short abstract:
The paper discusses how dance practice in a multiethnic refugee camp in Greece transformed the relationship to oneself and to this off-site (out of sight) space: it generated a paradoxal and new relational dynamics of appropriation of an impermanent territoriality in which belonging is temporary.
Paper long abstract:
In March 2016, the closure of the so-called "Balkan migration route" left tens of thousands of refugees stranding in Greece. Fast enough, to answer this emergency, in spring 2016, the Greek government started settling temporary camps (tents and containers) to accommodate the people in different part of the country. After volunteering as a translator and cultural mediator with local and international NGOs at Piraeus port, I arrived in August to Skaramagas camp - in the outskirts of Athens. Skaramagas camp, one of the biggest, counts three thousand refugees from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. A previous naval military base, it is also characterized by its cultural and linguistic diversity (Arabs, Kurds, Yazidis and Tajiks). I offered to implicate myself in artistic educational activities including dance practice and took part in social dancing events.
By analyzing a representative dance moment that took place in Skaramagas, this contribution takes it as a case study to reflect on how in this context of "unwilling waiting" and tensions (specifically - in here - due to cultural prejudices and EU resettlement programs favoring nationalities over others), practicing choreographed movements is connecting again people to their bodies, to each other and reviving cultural pride. In search of an anchor point, it reconstructs as well a lost space people feel the need to identify with. Through transposition and recreation, it generates a new relational dynamics with the space, an attempt to appropriate a territoriality in which belonging continues to be experienced as temporary.