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.