Society and the dance : the social anthropology of process and performance / edited by Paul Spencer.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Spencer, Paul, 1932-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Dance--Anthropological aspects.

Dance.

Rites and ceremonies.

Dance--Social aspects.

Physical Description:

x, 224 pages, 1 unnumbered leaf of plates : illustrations ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Cambridge [Cambridgeshire] ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 1985.

Summary:

Dancing has its place in all societies; yet the phenomenon of dance has been oddly neglected by most anthropologists. This volume is intended to further anthropological awareness of its critical relevance. It is claimed that, in a very important sense, society creates the dance, and it is to society and not just to the dancer's experience that we must turn to understand its significance. Performance has meaning within social process. The anthropological analysis of dance can be approached in a variety of ways. These are identified in the introduction to the volume, and then illustrated by seven case examples drawn from Africa, Southeast Asia, Melanesia, and Oceanis. In successive chapters, dancing is presented as a controlled emotional outlet whose form reflects cosmology; as a creative experience that draws adolescent girls into the adult world; as an extension of speech and gesture that adds further levels of meaning to formal occasions; as a strategy for orchestrating the climax of a successful exchange; as a challenge to the power of elders that generates an alternative reality; as a communial response to crisis that recreates order out of confusion; and as a sequence of transformations that periodically resolves an inherent social dilemma. The volume concludes with an assessment of the relevance of the work by a dance scholar. By revealing dance as an aspect - often the most spectacular aspect - of ritual behaviour, this work is intended to stimulate more anthropologists and those in related disciplines to realise the full potential of its study. It also offers insights to those who are principally interested in dance itself, as well as appealing to any reader who shares acuriosity about the ways in which the spectacle of dance can be interpreted.

Contents:

Introduction: Interpretations of the dance in anthropology / Paul Spencer 1

Dance as a safety valve: the cathartic theory (theme 1) 3

Dance as an organ of social control: functionalist theories

(a) The educational role of dance and transmission of sentiments (theme 2) 8

(b) Interaction within the dance and the maintenance of sentiments (theme 3) 11

Dance as a cumulative process: the theory of self-generation (theme 4) 15

The element of competition in dance: theories of boundary display (theme 5) 21

Dance as ritual drama: the theory of communitas and antistructure (theme 6) 27

Conclusion: the uncharted deep structures of dance (theme 7) 35

1 Temiar dance and the maintenance of order / Sue Jennings 47

Children's play and play dance 48

The trance dance 50

Conclusion: Temiar cosmology and dance 58

2 Movement, dance, music, and the Venda girls' initiation cycle / John Blacking 64

Dance forms and contrasting modes of expression 67

Dance and music in Venda (1956-8) 73

Vhusha, tshikanda, and domba: the three-part initiation of girls 80

3 Structured movement systems in Tonga / Adrienne L. Kaeppler 92

Presentation of pigs 94

Enumeration of foodstuffs 96

Kava mixing and drinking 97

Group speeches with choreographed movements 102

Tau'olunga

Tongan 'dance' 110

Dance and nondance

the Tongan view 114

4 'A line of boys': Melpa dance as a symbol of maturation / Andrew Strathern 119

Melpa dances and moka exchange 120

The themes of maturity and climax 127

Function and form in the dance 132

5 Dance as antithesis in the Samburu discourse / Paul Spencer 140

The circumcision dance and the aspirations of boyhood 140

The dances of the moran and their girls 143

Dancing and elderhood 156

The dances of married women 157

6 The dance among the Lugbara of Uganda / John Middleton 165

The Lugbara and their view of the world 166

Death dances 167

Dances of courtship 171

The dances compared 172

Other dances 177

Dance and the resolution of ambiguity 179

7 Style and meaning in Umeda dance / Alfred Gell 183

Graphic analysis 186

Dance and nondance 190

Female dance 195

Male dance 196

Epilogue: Anthropology and the study of dance / Peter Brinson 206.

Notes:

Includes bibliographies and indexes.

ISBN:

0521305217

0521315506

OCLC:

11574791