Paper short abstract:

The present study deals with the ways people in a Greek city criticize economic crisis in Greece. Cinematic dance facilitates as an explanatory tool inside informal political commentaries at the local level revealing a dialogue with economic crisis, challenging identity.

Paper long abstract:

Certain films remain strikingly popular at a global level, become deeply woven into our life and virtually part of who we are. Taking this into account the present paper explores certain cinematic dance scenes that have fed both public and domestic discourse cultivating deeper the study of the ways people engage dance in their life. I focus on the social engagement of cinematic dance as a cultural significant event in a critical historical time as the period of economic crisis in Greece extending beyond the context of viewer and the reception of audience. Cinematic dance may serve as an explanatory tool inside informal political commentaries at the local level revealing a dialogue with economic crisis.

Ethnographic data was gathered due to fieldwork by open questionnaires, interviews and group analyses based on contemporary visual methodologies. People who live, study, work in Korydallos,a suburb of Athens, shared with me their thoughts about dance, cinema and social life commenting on economic crisis. They introduced me through the cinematic dance and other scenes in a veiled practice of resistance. Their commentary enacts a critical negotiation towards economic crisis in Greece. Through cinematic dance they imbued their critique with the senses of their life, embodying several highlights on thin lines in social negotiation that take place at the field of its performances. Furthermore, through their interpretations, people empower collective as well individual voices that are articulated in cinema and come close to our life revealing how complex, fluid and critical dance can be.