Chapter 10: DANCE

Music & Dance

3.2 Dance

Music & Dance

• Dance is usually considered the first art in the cultivation of culture among all civilisations and may have something to do with the possibility that dance expresses and refines the emotional life of the dancer.
• Dances of celebration are associated with weddings around the world, often with precise movements and precise sections that seem to have an ancient pretext associated with fertility and the joy of love. 
• Some dance simply celebrates the joy of life, as in the Nrityagram performance, which reveals an elevation of spirit that interprets an inner life of absolute delight.
• Social dances not only interpret the inner life of feeling, but at times they can both produce an inner life of feeling in us and control that feeling. 
• Dance—moving bodies shaping space—shares common ground with kinetic sculpture. 
• In abstract dance, the centre of interest is upon visual patterns, and thus there is common ground with abstract painting. 
• Dance, however, usually includes a narrative, performed on a stage with scenic effects, and thus has common ground with drama. 
• Dance is rhythmic, unfolding in time, and thus has common ground with music. 
• Most dance is accompanied by music, and dance is often incorporated in opera. 
• According to the psychologist Havelock Ellis: “Dancing is the loftiest, the most moving, the most beautiful of the arts because it is no mere translation or abstraction from life; it is life itself.” 

Subject Matter of Dance

• At its most basic level, the subject matter of dance is an abstract motion of bodies, but a much more pervasive subject matter of the dance is feeling. 
• Our ability to identify with other human bodies is so strong that the perception of feelings exhibited by the dancer often evokes feelings in ourselves. 
• The choreographer, the creator of the dance, interprets those feelings. And if we participate, we may understand those feelings and ourselves with greater insight.
• States of mind are a further dimension that may be the subject matter of dance. Feelings, such as pleasure and pain, are relatively transient/short-lived, but a state of mind is a disposition/character or habit that is not easily superseded/replaced. 
• For example, jealousy usually involves a feeling so strong that it is best described as a passion. Yet jealousy is more than just a passion, for it is an orientation of mind that is relatively enduring.
• Since states of mind are felt as enduring, the serial structure of the dance is an appropriate vehicle for interpreting that endurance.
• Even silence in some dances seems to suggest music since the dancer exhibits visual rhythms, something like the rhythms of music. But the showing of states of mind is achieved only partly through the elements dance shares with music. More basic is the body language of the dancing bodies. Perhaps nothing—not even spoken language—exhibits states of mind more clearly or strongly.

Form

• The subject matter of dance can be moving visual patterns, feelings, states of mind, narrative, or various combinations. The form of the dance—its details and structure—gives us insight into the subject matter.
• In dance, the form is not as clearly visible as it usually is in painting, sculpture, and architecture. The visual arts normally “sit still” long enough for us to reexamine everything. But dance moves on relentlessly.
• Therefore, one requirement for thorough enjoyment of the dance is the development of a memory for dance movements. The dance will usually help us in this task by the use of repetitive movements and variations on them.

• Often the dance builds tension by withholding movements we want to have repeated. Sometimes it creates unusual tension by refusing to repeat any movement at all. Repetition or the lack of it—as in music or any serial art—becomes one of the most important structural features of the dance.
• The dance achieves a number of kinds of balance. In terms of the entire stage, usually, dancers in a company balance themselves across the space allotted to them, moving forward, backward, left, and right as well as in circles. Centrality of focus is important in most dances and helps us unify the shapes of the overall dance. The most important dancers are usually at the centre of the stage, holding our attention while subordinate groups of dancers balance them on the sides of the stage.

Dance & Ritual

• Since the only requirement for dance is a body in motion, dance probably comes before all other arts.
• Dance is usually connected to a ritual that demands careful execution/presentation of movements in precise ways to achieve a precise goal. 
• The dances of most cultures were originally connected with either religious or practical hunting or agricultural acts, all often involving magic.
• Some dance has sexual origins and often is a ritual of courtship.
• Dance of all kinds draws much of its inspiration from the movements and shapes of nature: the motion of a stalk/stem of wheat in a gentle breeze, the scurrying of a rabbit, the curling of a contented cat, the soaring of a bird, the falling of leaves, the sway of waves. These kinds of events have supplied dancers with ideas and examples for their own movement. A favourite movement pattern for the dance is that of the spiral nautilus: 
• The circle is another of the most pervasive shapes of nature. The movements of planets and stars suggest circular motion
• In a magical-religious way, circular dances sometimes have been thought to bring the dancers (and therefore humans in general) into significant harmony with divine forces in the universe. 
• The planets and stars are heavenly objects in a circular motion, so it was reasonable for early dancers to feel that they could align themselves with these divine forces by means of dance.

Ritual Dance

• Tourists can see Peacock/mayur dances in many parts of India and Nepal even today. 
• Mayur dance portrays the beautiful dance performed by the peacock before rainfall. This dance is performed during the monsoon season to celebrate the greenery brought by the rain.
• The Mayur dance depicts the love between Lord Krishna and Radha. Lord Krishna in his eagerness to please his beloved, changes into a peacock and dances.
• He is joined by Radha in this dance. The dancers attire themselves in peacock costumes, which are attached with colourful feathers. The movements capture the mood of the peacock in its full splendour. The beautiful tilts and turns of the head and wings performed by the dancers contain a typical style and charm. 
• Dance in Nepal comprises numerous styles of dances, including folk, ethnic, and classical to modern dances. 
• A legendary Lakhe is one of the cultural symbols of Newar indigenous community of Nepal.
• The Lakhe meaning demon believed to be arrived from South India in the 11th century is worshipped for its divine power and cherished with other deities during a great Indra Jatra festival is one of the distinct intangible cultural heritage within Newar community of Nepal.
• So, it is the dance of a demon in the carnival of God. Durbar Square, a historic plaza in Kathmandu, Nepal, facing ancient palaces and adorned by Hindu temples, is always full of eager crowds on the last day of Indra Jatra, the festival celebrating Indra, the Hindu king of heaven. In this divine stage, Lakhe the demon dances among gods and deities relentlessly and carelessly.

Social Dance

• Social dance is not dominated by religious or practical purposes. It is a form of recreation and social enjoyment. Social dancing is a form of ballroom dancing, but it’s taking place in a friendly environment. It’s designed to be social. 
• Folk dances are the dances of the people—whether ethnic or regional in origin— and they are often carefully preserved. The dancers often wear the peasant costumes of the region they represent. Virtually every nation has its folk dance tradition.
• Social dancing is a non-competitive version of ballroom and Latin dancing. It is comprised of all the same dances, like Foxtrot, Tango, Swing, or Cha-Cha, but designed to be used in practical settings like wedding receptions, nightclubs, business functions, or informal gatherings.

FOXTROT

• Foxtrot is a progressive dance. It’s designed to be very smooth, it comes with continual flowing movements. It’s danced to the big band music, especially vocals. Foxtrot was created during the 1910s, and it reached its peak in the 30s. However, there are still lots of people that practice it now because it’s very distinctive and fun.

RUMBA

• Rumba is very intense it comes with a wide range of musical styles. Most of the time it has a combination of Afro-Cuban Rhythms, American big band music and some other influences. It’s very intense but also a lot of fun.

CHA CHA

• Cha Cha is a dance coming from Cuba and it has a great rhythm to it. The dance has many characteristics, but the primary one is that one has three consecutive quick steps as s/he dances and moves around with their partner. It’s very creative and one of the most interesting social dancing experiences.
• The court dances of the Middle Ages and Renaissance developed into more stylised and less openly energetic modes than folk dance.
• The court dance was performed by a different sort of person and served a different purpose. Participating in court dances signified high social status. Some of the older dances were the volta, a favourite at Queen Elizabeth’s court in the sixteenth century, with the male dancer hoisting the female dancer in the air from time to time.
• Because the dances were also pleasurable to look at, court dance very quickly became commonplace at court to have a group of onlookers as large as or larger than the group of dancers. Soon professional dancers appeared at more-significant court functions.

BALLET

• The court dances of the Middle Ages and Renaissance developed into more stylised and less openly energetic modes than folk dance.
• The court dance was performed by a dfferent sort of person and served a different purpose. Participating in court dances signified high social status. Some of the older dances were the volta, a favourite at Queen Elizabeth’s court in the sixteenth century, with the male dancer hoisting the female dancer in the air from time to time.
• Because the dances were also pleasurable to look at, court dance very quickly became commonplace at court to have a group of onlookers as large as or larger than the group of dancers. Soon professional dancers appeared at more-significant court functions.
• Ballet is theatrical – performed on a stage to an audience utilising costumes, scenic design and lighting. It can tell a story or express a thought, concept or emotion. Ballet dance can be magical, exciting, provoking or disturbing.
• Story ballets tell a story. They contain narrative action, characters, a beginning and an end.
• Plotless ballets have no storyline. Instead, they use the movement of the body and theatrical elements to interpret music, create an image or express or provoke emotion.
• The origins of ballet usually are traced to the early seventeenth century, when dancers performed interludes (a pause between the acts of the play) between scenes of an opera. Eventually, the interludes grew more important, until finally ballets were performed independently.
• Without training, we cannot perform ballet movements, but all of us can perform some dance movements.

BALLET - Swan Lake

• One of the most popular ballets of all time is Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake (Le Lac des Cygnes), composed from 1871 to 1877 and first performed in 1894 (act 2) and 1895 (complete).
• The choreographers were Leon Ivanov and Marius Petipa. Tchaikovsky originally composed the music for a ballet to be performed for children, but its fascination has not been restricted to young audiences.
• Tchaikovsky’s magical ballet tells the story of the doomed love of Prince Siegfried and Princess Odette. Prince Siegfried goes out hunting one night and chases a group of swans – one of them transforms into a young woman, Odette, who explains that she and her companions were turned into swans by the evil Baron Von Rothbart.
• The spell can only be broken if someone who has never loved before swears an oath of undying love and promises to marry her. The Prince declares his love to Odette and promises to be loyal forever.
• At a grand reception at the palace, the Prince must choose a bride – but he can think only of Odette. Suddenly a fanfare announces the arrival of two guests – it is Odette! The prince dances with her and asks for her hand in marriage.
• But it’s not Odette – the mystery woman is the daughter of the evil von Rothbart, Odile. Odette has witnessed the whole scene. Too late, Siegfried realises his mistake.
• Siegfried follows Odette to the lake and begs her forgiveness. She says she forgives him but nothing can change the fact he broke his vow. They decide to die together. The lovers throw themselves into the lake.

ACT I

• Prince Siegfried arrives at his 21st birthday celebration on the palace courtyards. Here, he finds all of the royal families and townspeople dancing and celebrating, while the young girls are anxiously seeking his attention.
• During the exquisite celebration, his mother gives him a crossbow. She informs him that because he is now of age, his marriage will be quickly arranged. Hit with the sudden realization of his future responsibilities, he takes his crossbow and runs to the woods with his hunting buddies. 

ACT II

• Getting ahead of the group, Prince Siegfried finds himself alone in a peaceful spot by an enchanted lake where swans gently float across its surface. While Siegfried watches, he spots the most beautiful swan with a crown on its head.
• His buddies soon catch up, but he orders them to leave so he can be by himself. As dusk falls, the swan with the crown turns into the most beautiful young woman he has ever seen. Her name is Odette, the Swan Queen.
• Odette informs the young prince about an evil sorcerer (magician), Von Rothbart, who happens to be disguised as Prince Siegfried’s mentor. It was Rothbart who turned her and the other girls into swans. The lake was formed by the tears of their parents' weeping. She tells him that the only way the spell can be broken is if a man, pure in heart, pledges his love to her.
• The prince, about to confess his love for her, is quickly interrupted by the evil sorcerer. He takes Odette from Prince Siegfried’s embrace and commands all of the swan maidens to dance upon the lake and its shore so that the prince cannot chase them. Prince Siegfried is left all alone on the shore of Swan Lake.

ACT III

• The next day at the formal celebration in the Royal Hall, Prince Siegfried is presented with many prospective princesses. Although the ladies are worthy of his attention, he cannot stop thinking about Odette.
• His mother commands him to choose a bride, but he cannot. For the time being, he satisfies his mother's request by dancing with them.
• While the prince dances, trumpets announce the arrival of Von Rothbart. He brings his daughter, Odile, on whom he has cast a spell to appear as Odette. The prince is captivated by her beauty and he dances with the imposter/pretender/fake.
• Unbeknownst/Not known to Prince Siegfried, the true Odette is watching him from a window. The prince soon confesses his love to Odile and proposes marriage, thinking that she is Odette.
• Horrified, Odette flees into the night. Prince Siegfried sees the real Odette running from the window and realizes his mistake. Upon his discovery, Von Rothbart reveals to the prince the true appearance of his daughter Odile. Prince Siegfried quickly leaves the party and chases after Odette.

ACT IV

• Odette has fled to the lake and joined the rest of the girls in sadness. Prince Siegfried finds them gathered at the shore consoling each other. He explains to Odette the trickery of Von Rothbart and she grants him her forgiveness.
• It doesn't take long for Von Rothbart and Odile to appear in their evil, un-human, and somewhat bird-like forms. Von Rothbart tells the prince that he must stick to his word and marry his daughter. A fight quickly ensues.
• Prince Siegfried tells Von Rothbart that he would rather die with Odette than marry Odile. He then takes Odette’s hand and together they jump into the lake.
• The spell is broken and the remaining swans turn back into humans. They quickly drive Von Rothbart and Odile into the water where they, too, drown. The girls watch the spirits of Prince Siegfried and Odette ascend into the heavens above Swan Lake.

Modern Dance

• The origins of modern dance are usually traced to the American dancers Isadora Duncan and Ruth St. Denis. They rebelled against the stylisation of ballet, with ballerinas dancing on their toes and executing the same basic movements in every performance. 
• Duncan insisted on natural movement, often dancing in bare feet with gossamer  (spider’s web/silk/thin) drapery (cloth) that revealed her body and legs in motion. 
• She felt that the emphasis ballet places on the movement of the arms and legs was restrictive. Her insistence on placing the center of motion just below the breastbone was based on her feeling that the torso (the main part of the body; not head, arms and legs) had been neglected in the development of ballet. 
• Her intention was to return to natural movement in dance, and this was one effective method of doing so. 
• The developers of modern dance who followed Duncan (she died in 1927) built on her legacy. 
• In her insistence on freedom with respect to clothes and conventions, she infused energy into the dance that no one had ever seen before. 
• Although she was a native Californian, her successes and triumphs were primarily in foreign lands, particularly in France and Russia. 
• Her performances differed greatly from the ballet. Instead of developing a dance built on a pretext of the sort that underlies Swan Lake, Duncan took more-abstract subject matters—especially moods and states of mind—and expressed her understanding of them.
• Duncan’s dances were lyrical, personal, and occasionally unrehearsed. Since she insisted, there were no angular shapes in nature, she would permit herself to use none. Her movements rarely came to a complete rest.
• Martha Graham, Erick Hawkins, José Limón, Doris Humphrey, and other innovators who followed Duncan developed modern dance in a variety of directions. 
• Graham created some dances on themes of Greek tragedies, such as Medea. 
• In addition to his Moor’s Pavane, Limón is well known for his interpretation of Eugene O’Neill’s play The Emperor Jones, in which a slave escapes to an island only to become a despised and hunted tyrant. 
• Humphrey, who was a little older than Graham and Limón, was closer to the original Duncan tradition in such dances as Water Study, Life of the Bee, and New Dance, a 1930s piece that was very successfully revived in 1972.

Alvin Ailey’s Revelations 

• One of the classics of modern dance is Alvin Ailey’s Revelations, based largely on African American spirituals and experiences. 
• It was first performed in January 1960. Its impact has brought audiences to their feet for standing ovations at almost every performance. After Ailey’s untimely death at the age of fifty-eight, the company was directed by Judith Jamison, one of the great dancers in Ailey’s company. 
• This signature masterpiece pays homage to and reflects the cultural heritage of the African-American, which Ailey considered one of America’s richest treasures – “sometimes sorrowful, sometimes jubilant, but always hopeful.” Choreographed when he was only 29 years old, Revelations is an intimate reflection inspired by childhood memories of attending services at Mount Olive Baptist Church in Texas, and by the work of writers James Baldwin and Langston Hughes. 
• Set to a suite of traditional spirituals, Revelations explores the emotional spectrum/variety of the human condition, from the deepest of grief to the holiest joy. A classic tribute to the resolve and determination of a people, the ballet has been seen by more people around the world than any other modern work.
• The subject matter of Revelations is in part that of feelings and states of mind. But it is also more obviously that of the struggle of a people as told—on one level—by their music. 
• The movements of the dance closely attuned/adjusted to the rhythms of the music tend to evoke intense participation since the visual qualities of the dance are powerfully reinforced by the aural qualities of the music. 
• Watch the full video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDXerubF4I4&ab_channel=LincolnCenter

Alvin Ailey’s Revelations 

• The first section of the dance is called “Pilgrim of Sorrow,” with three parts: “I Been Buked,” danced by the entire company (about twenty dancers, male and female);  “Didn’t My Lord Deliver Daniel,” danced by only a few dancers; and “Fix Me Jesus,” danced by one couple. 
• The general pretext is the suffering of African Americans.
• The second section, titled “Take Me to the Water,” is divided into “Processional,” danced by eight dancers; “Wading in the Water,” danced by six dancers; and “I Want to Be Ready,” danced by a single male dancer. 
• The whole idea of “Take Me to the Water” suggests baptism, a ritual that affirms faith in God—the source of energy of the spirituals. 
• “Wading in the Water” is particularly exciting, with dancers holding a stage-long bolt of light-coloured fabric to represent the water. The dancers shimmer the fabric to the rhythm of the music, and one dancer after another crosses over the fabric, symbolising at least two things: the waters of baptism and the Mosaic waters of freedom.
• The third section is called “Move, Members, Move,” with the subsections titled “Sinner Man,” “The Day Is Past and Gone,” “You May Run Home,” and the finale “Rocka My Soul in the Bosom of Abraham.” 
• In this last episode, a sense of triumph over suffering is projected, suggesting the redemption/freeing from sin of a people by using the same kind of Old Testament imagery and musical material that opened the dance. 
• It ends with a powerful rocking spiritual that emphasizes forgiveness and the reception of the people (the “members”) into the bosom of Abraham, according to the prediction of the Bible. This ending features a large amount of ensemble work and is danced by the entire company, with rows of male dancers sliding forward on their outspread knees and then rising all in one sliding gesture, raising their hands high. “Rocka My Soul in the Bosom of Abraham” is powerfully sung again and again until the effect is almost hypnotic.

Modern Dance

Martha Graham 

• Quite different from the Ailey approach is the “Graham technique,” taught in Graham’s own school in New York as well as in colleges and universities across the country. 
• Graham’s technique is reminiscent (similar) of ballet in its rigour (strictness) and discipline. Dancers learn specific kinds of movements and exercises designed to be used as both preparation for and part of the dance.
• Graham’s dances at times have been very literal, with narrative pretexts quite similar to those found in ballet. Night Journey, for instance, is an interpretation of Oedipus Rex by Sophocles. 
• The lines of emotional force linking Jocasta and her son-husband, Oedipus, are strongly accentuated (focused on) by the movements of the dance as well as by certain props onstage, such as ribbons that link the two at times. In Graham’s interpretation, Jocasta becomes much more important than she is in the original drama.
• Watch the full video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9fHayWO9bo&ab_channel=Benjam%C3%ADnSlavutzky

Modern Dance

Batsheva Dance Company 

• The Batsheva Dance Company, founded by Martha Graham and Baroness Batsheva Rothschild in Tel Aviv in 1964, derived from Graham’s performing and teaching in Israel. By the mid-1970s both Graham and Rothschild had withdrawn to let the company find its own way.
• Eventually its current director, Ohad Naharin, who had begun with Graham’s company in New York, took over and re- shaped Batsheva Dance Company into an internationally respected troupe (actors/casts). 
• Batsheva has appeared frequently in the United States and throughout Europe. It is respected for its imaginative dances and the risk-taking that has been its trademark.

Modern Dance

Pilobolus and Momix Dance Companies 

• The innovative modern dance companies Pilobolus and Momix perform around the world and throughout the United States. They originated in 1970 at Dartmouth College with four male dancers and choreographers Alison Chase and Martha Clarke. Their speciality involves placing moving bodies in acrobatic positions.
• Watch the full video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMLmZlpwUaU&ab_channel=iskander21024

Modern Dance

Mark Morris Dance Group 

• The Mark Morris Dance Group was created—“reluctantly,” he has said—in 1980 because he found he could not do the dances he wanted with other existing companies. Morris and his company were a sensation from the first, performing in New York from 1981 to 1988.
• Morris’s Dido and Aeneas was first performed in 1989 but continues to be produced because of its importance and its impact. Based on Virgil’s Aeneid, it focuses on the tragic love affair of a king and queen in ancient Rome. Morris continues to be one of the most forceful figures in modern dance throughout the world.

Popular Dance

• Popular styles in dance change rapidly from generation to generation. Early in the twentieth century, the Charleston was an exciting dance for young people; then in the 1930s and 1940s, it was swing dancing and jitterbugging. In the 1960s, rock dancing took over, then disco; and then in the 1980s break dancing led to the 1990s hip-hop.
• Street dancing can still be seen on the streets of many cities where young dancers put out their hats for tips. But it is also becoming a mainline form of dance seen on the stage and on television.
• In films, great dancers like Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers as well as Donald O’Connor, Gene Kelly, Cyd Charisse, and many more, captivated wide audiences.
• The Nicholas Brothers were among the most dazzling tap dancers on film.
• Fortunately, dance films are almost universally available on DVD and video, and as a result, it is still possible for us to see the great work of our best dancers, what- ever their style. 

Summary:

• Through the medium of the moving human body, the form of dance can reveal visual patterns or feelings or states of mind or narrative or, more probably, some combination. 
• The first step in learning to participate with the dance is to learn the nature of its movements. 
• The second is to be aware of its different kinds of subject matter. The content of dance gives us insights into our inner lives, especially states of mind, that supplement the insights of music. 
• Dance has the capacity to transform a pretext, whether it be a story, a state of mind, or a feeling. Our attention should be drawn into participation with this transformation. The insight we get from the dance experience depends on our awareness of this transformation. 

Note: Many of the dance companies and their dances can be seen in full or in part in online video-sharing services such as YouTube, Hulu, Veoh, Metacafe, Google Videos, and others. 

References

• Havelock Ellis, The Dance of Life (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1923).
• Jacobus, L. A., & David, M. F. (2019). The Humanities Through the Arts. 2 Penn Plaza, New York, NY 10121: McGraw-Hill Education.

© Subodh Bhattarai 2022