Dance Chapter 1 Summary

Chapter 1 Notes
The impulse to move is the raw material that cultures shapes into evocative sequences of physical activity that we call DANCE
-So intensely personal is dance, so closely linked to cultural identity.
-Some people disagree abou the meaning and value of dance that is results in confusion, anger, and violence.
Cambodia-
-The royal treasury supported thousands of court dancers who played a central role in the fertility rights and ancestor worship.
-King jayavarman VII paid honor to spirits of his mother and father by adding over 3 thousand dancers to those already in service. -The king had an all-female troupe known as “the king’s dancers” -the star of the troupe was the daughter of Prince Sihanouk (the last reigning monarch)
-the royal dancers were hunted down, imprisoned and put to death. -35 royal dancers escaped from the killing fields and formed the Khmer classical dance -each troupe claims to be the true embodiment of the ancient tradition.
-Wedding dances are traced back to the Judeo-Christian tradition, dancing is kept separate from the ceremony itself. Demonstrates the uniting of two families.
Tahitian-
-dance is again a significant part of Tahitian social life.
-words of many traditional chants have been lost or are no longer understood. -perform gender-specific steps.
-tamure: the dance with Tahitians do in nightclubs and dance halls (fuses western-style couple dancing with traditional Tahitian body movements
-embody important aspect of these societies (both nurtured by judeo Christian tradition)
-The relationship between the dancer and the audience is at the heart of one of the world’s oldest uses of dance- the dance performed for an invisible audience of spirits, ancestors, deities and other entities whose good will is considered necessary to the well- being of the community.

HOPI
-arid southwest, have native American societies managed to keep their traditional dances intact in the face of efforts by outsiders.
-the hopi calendar has revolved around a cycle of danced ceremonies that are performed in every hopi community.
-not everyone dances every dance. Everyone who attends is thought as a non dancing participant since their faith helps make it spiritually powerful.
-the hopi get in touch with the forces of nature that govern the world. The ultimate purpose is to bring rain to the patient crops in the
fields.
The Snake Dance- includes gathering of live snakes by the initiated men of the community. -believed that the snakes are the brother of the spirits who control the clouds and the rain. -live snakes are carried reverently in the hands and mouths of the dancers. -the snakes are then released in hope that they will return to their underground homes to tell their brother spirits how well they were treated on the surface. (urge the spirits to answer the people’s prayers)
The Ghost Dance- people would rejoin their resurrected ancestors on a new made earth of peace and plenty. The dance brought together members of the tribes that were formally enemies.
-a series of violent confrontations in which Indians wearing “ghost shirts” as protection against bullets were gunned down by rifle and gatling gun fire
-govt authorities continued to discourage all ceremonial dances until the 1930s -they continued to exist only in the memories of a few tribal elders
-traditional dances were passed from the older generation to younger Indians who had previously had no chance to learn this part of their heritage
-powwows are now major evtnst drawing thousands of participants and spectators from many different tribes to long weekends of dancing and socializing -tourists would attend but performances by Indians FOR Indians
Traditional Native American dances-
-head movements can be elaborate, especially when miming animals, arms are generally kept close to the body
-chants, drums, rattles, and bells attached to the dancers legs
-“fancy dance competition”- young men decked out in ornately beaded and feathered outfits and performed very difficult footwork. Trance- is found in some Native American ceremonies today but not in powwow.
-hypnosis is the most studied trancelike experience in the west, skeptical researches have so far failed to find reliable physical signs to distinguish a hypnotized from an hypnotized person.
-undergoing trance may report being possessed by a supernatural force or being.
-experiences were both dangerous and desirable, they are embedded in rituals that allow the community to support, guide and protect the individuals who go into trance.
-the rituals are communal events structured around rhythmic movements of the body that fit most definitions of dance.
-involves a kind of choreography, everyone present has a well-defined role in helping the initiate attain a state of trance.
Kerala in Southwestern India
-has a reputation for independent thinking and a tolerance for new ideas. Kerala had the only freely elected communist govt in the world.
-`the serpent ritual may be performed for as many as 12 consecutive nights
Mandala- dance of creation – a performance witnessed not only by the family sponsoring the ceremony but by their neighbors in the village who come to be entertained as well as uplifted.
-then the priest will come and bless the offering and remove the stigma of its creation by the family. This blessing takes the form of a dance in which the priest, barefoot and bare chested, circles the mandala clockwise. -when priest is finished, a young pullava man preforms a “fire massage” -the offering is an act of devotion -it is a performance designed to hold the interest of the audience. -the climax of the ceremony is the appearance of two young girls that led the procession earlier
-the deities would speak through the girls mouths, they were known to suggest specific remedies to restore family harmony.
ZEZURU
-southern African people who spoke Shona
--the zezuru had a dance called mbende which means “mouse that runs fast”
ZIMBABWE
-jerusarema is featured in performances of the Ntional Dance company of Zimbabwe -dance of choice at funerals.