Dance Ethnology and the Anthropology of Dance

Author(s): Adrienne L. Kaeppler

Source: Dance Research Journal, Vol. 32, No. 1 (Summer, 2000), pp. 116-125
Published by: Congress on Research in Dance
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I. Dance Ethnology and the

Anthropology of Dance
Choreographers, dancers, and viewers of
dance are socially and historically placed
individuals who operate according to sociocultural conventions and aesthetic systems.
This is also the case with those who study
and write about dance-dance historians,
dance ethnologists, anthropologists. This
essay will focus on dance studies by anthro-

pologists, dance ethnologists, and indig-

enous scholars and how their interpretations

have been presented as well as how they

have evolved and changed.

Although Western dance and its

music have made inroads into the performing arts of even the most remote corers of

the world, the indigenous dance traditions

of most nations are still alive and well, and

indeed continue to influence dance in the

West. Studies of non-Western dance tradi-

tions are usually carried out by anthropologists or dance ethnologists who are likely to
have the background knowledge that would

help them to appreciate and understand

dance and other structured movement systems in the larger scheme of cultural forms.
There are also numerous studies of dance

by indigenous researchers who work on the

dance traditions of their own cultures as well

as the dance traditions of others, including

ballet and modern dance. What these re-

searchers have in common is that they feel

that dance is not transparent, giving up its
secrets to the uninitiated, but that it must be
seen as an integral part of a total way of life.
Unlike most dance in the West, in many other
parts of the world dance is not simply enter-

tainment.

Recent trends in dance studies suggest that the terms "Western dance" and
"non-Western dance" perpetuate false di-

chotomies and that a focus on who studies

the dances, and their points of view, might

be more appropriate. Some studies result

from turning the anthropological eye upon
"ourselves" while others use insights from
dance history to explore the "other." For

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example, Susan Foster's dance history work

is informed by anthropological theory, while

Cynthia Novak's anthropological studies

were informed by dance history. The work

of Margaret Drewal in performance studies
is informed by both-as is evidenced by her
work on African dance and her study of the
Rockettes. Joann Keali'inohomoku also has

written on Hopi dance and ballet as an ethnic dance, while Anya Royce, a ballet dancer,
has written a general book on the anthropology of dance. My own work invokes a

variety of disciplines in my studies of

Polynesian dance-for example, in compar-

ing Polynesian traditions with the Broadway

musical Cats to raise questions about how

poetic and movement idioms are conveyed
and understood in performance, thereby

emphasizing the necessity of understanding

the total culture in order to understand specific performances.
Most anthro/ethno researchers agree
that it is necessary to examine how individu-

als involved in studying dance learn to in-

terpret what they see. The notion that dance

is a "universal language" is still too com-

mon and is often associated with the idea

that "outsiders" can understand body move-

ments of others without knowing the cul-

tural movement language. On the other

hand, many dancers and researchers feel that

ballet and modern dance are universal

movement languages that can (and have

been) adopted "universally." What can we

learn from ways in which anthro/ethno/indigenous researchers have interpreted dance,

dances, and dancing?

Dance as a Structured Movement System

Cultural forms that result from the creative

use of human bodies in time and space are

often glossed as "dance," but the word itself
carries with it preconceptions that mask the
importance and usefulness of analyzing the
movement dimensions of human action and

interaction. Dance is a multi-faceted phe-

nomenon that includes, in addition to what

Movement analyses from anthropological

points of view encompass all structured
movement systems, including those associated with religious and secular ritual, cer-

emony, entertainment, martial arts, sign lan-

guages, sports, and games. What these sys-

tems share is that they result from creative

processes that manipulate (i.e., handle with

skill) human bodies in time and space. Some

categories of structured movement may be
further marked or elaborated, for example,
by being integrally related to "music" (a
specially marked or elaborated category of
"structured sound"), and text.
Analyses that would make it possible
to separate movement systems conceptualized as "dance" and "non-dance" accord-

ing to indigenous points of view (or even

asking if there are such concepts) have not
yet been carried out in many areas. Most

researchers simply use the term "dance" for

any and all body movement associated with

music, but it should be remembered that

"dance" is a Western term and concept (just
as is the term "music").

Structured movement systems are

systems of knowledge-the products of ac-

tion and interaction as well as processes

through which action and interaction take

place-and are usually part of a larger activity or activity system. These systems of
knowledge are socially and culturally con-

structed-created by, known, and agreed

upon by a group of people and primarily
preserved in memory. Though transient,

movement systems have structured content,

they can be visual manifestations of social

relations, the subjects of elaborate aesthetic

systems, and may assist in understanding

cultural values and the deep structure of the

society. Ideal movement studies would ana-

lyze all activities in which human bodies are

manipulated in time and space, the social

processes that produce them according to

the aesthetic precepts of a specific group of

people at a specific point in time, and the

system, the processes that produce both the

components that group or separate the various movement dimensions and activities
they project into kinesthetic and visual form.

litical context. In many societies there tradi-

movement systems, if any, fit these, or other,

we see and hear, the "invisible" underlying

system and the product, and the socio-po-

tionally were no categories comparable to

the Western concept and the word "dance"
has been adopted into many languages.

Indigenous categories can best define what

characterizations and how they should be

classified. Discovering the structure and

content of structured movement systems, as

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well as the creative processes, movement

theories and philosophies from indigenous

points of view are difficult tasks, but they

are necessary for understanding culture and
society.

In order to be understood as dance

(or some other special movement category),

movements must be grammatical, they must

be intended as dance and interpreted as

dance. The grammar of a movement idiomlike the grammar of any language-involves

structure, style, and meaning; and one must
learn to recognize the movements that make
up the system, how they can be stylistically
varied, and their syntax (rules about how
they can be put together to form motifs,
phrases, larger forms, and whole pieces).
Competence to understand specific pieces
depends not only on movement itself, but
on knowledge of cultural context and philosophy.

Anthropological/Ethnological Dance Studies and their Roots

Cultural and academic differences must be

considered when reading dance studies.

Some European traditions derived from comparative musicology and folkloristics, American studies derived primarily from the an-

thropological views of Franz Boas, while

traditions in other parts of the world derive

from historic written accounts, oral tradition,

and colonial encounters. In recent years,

owing to meetings of the ethnochoreological

study group of the International Council for
Traditional Music, there is more understanding of this variety of perspectives that has

led to sharing and adoption of each other's

views.

European dance studies often used

comparative methods to derive classifications, local and regional styles, historical
layers, and intercultural influences-similar

to the aims of musical folklorists at the time.

There was also a focus on dance structure

that was systematized by a group of Eastern

European scholars under the aegis of the

International Folk Music Council (now the

International Council for Traditional Music,

ICTM) which published its syllabus in 1974

(Giurchescu and others). Work on structural

analysis is still part of the ICTM

Ethnochoreology Study Group. Recent

books incorporating structural traditions in-

clude Anca Giurchescu and Sunni Bloland

(1995), Egil Bakka (1995) and Lisbet Torp

(1990).

British traditions include derivations

from folklore (such as Buckland's studies

of Morris dancing) and social anthropology

(such as studies by John Blacking and

Andree Grau [Grau 1993]). Several British

social anthropologists published their dance
perspectives in a book edited by Paul Spencer (1985).
American dance researchers (usually
termed "dance ethnologists" or "anthropolo-

gists of human movement") continue to

question what constitutes the field: should

dance studies be primarily about movement

products or should they incorporate more

anthropological notions about process,

event, ethnoaesthetics, and cultural constructions about structured movement? Unlike

European dance researchers, Americans

have often worked with movement tradi-

tions not their own, and their research tends

to be more diffuse and less detailed in move-

ment content.

Gertrude Kurath noted that the eth-

nographic study of dance was "an approach

toward, and a method of, eliciting the place

of dance in human life-in a word, as a
branch of anthropology" (1960:250). Kurath

was drawn into the study of American Indian dance by William Fenton and Frank
Speck to examine dance in areas where they

had already carried out ethnographic re-

search. Recognizing that movement or

"dance" was an important part of ritual activity in Indian life, they looked for someone who would be able to describe, analyze,
and make sense of the movements. They had
already done the "context," and Kurath's
task was to assist them in amassing the empirical data they were after-descriptions of

choreographic groundplans, generalized

descriptions of body movement, and state-

ments about cultural symbolism as reflected

in choreographic patterns.

Kurath was a pioneer of empirical,

product-oriented studies in America, but her

colleagues were in Europe. They included

Curt Sachs, whom she called "the amiable

wizard," as well as folklorists and musicologists working within their own cultural traditions that focused on systemization, classification, and diffusion. She was also inter-

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ested in comparisons, and often drew them

from European folkdance traditions, such as

studies made by Danica and Ljubica

Jankovic of South Slav populations. Most

of Kurath's publications, however, are descriptions of specific dance occasions, with
detailed information on costumes, musical
instruments, ground plans, postures, gestures, and steps, with some analysis, comparisons, and context.
Franz Boas was one of the founders

of anthropology in the United States; although he came from a German scientific

tradition, he rejected many of the ideas of

his homeland and focussed on cultural vari-

ability, rejecting universal languages of art

or dance and laying a foundation for the
possibility of examining dance in the context of cultural relativism. Boas's daughter,
Franziska, was a dancer and Boas himself

"contrastive analysis," were elaborated as

ethnotheories and ethnoscientific structur-

alism. Movements and choreographies were

analyzed to find underlying systems. Systems, of course, cannot be observed, but

must be derived from the social and cultural

construction of specific movement worlds.

Existing in memory and recalled as movement motifs, as imagery, and as system,
movements are used to create compositions
that produce social and cultural meaning in

performance. Such analyses involve

deconstructing the movements into culturally recognized pieces and learning the rules
for constructing compositions according to

the system. This type of analysis has been

used primarily by anthropologists, for example, Kaeppler on the structure of Tongan

dance (1972); Irene Loutzaki, in a study of

dance style among Greek refugees from

wrote articles about Northwest Coast Indian

Northern Thrace now resident in Greece

dance (1944). The intellectual descendants

(1989); and Frank Hall, in a study of improvisation in American clog dance (1985). Drid
Williams, studying with British anthropolo-

of this Boasian tradition can be followed

from Boas, through Herskovits and Merriam

to Joann Keali'inohomoku and Anya Royce.

Merriam was an important anthropological
voice in American ethnomusicology from
the 1950s until his death, and his students
were imbued with the Boasian doctrine that
dance and music must be considered in the

context of the society of which they are

parts. The Boasian and Herskovitzian em-

phasis on cultural relativism was widespread

in America and was elaborated by propo-

nents of ethnoscience in the 1960s. These

ideas were intermixed with Malinowski's

concept that our goal should be "to grasp

the native's point of view, his relation to life,

to realize his vision of his world" (1922:25)

and Kenneth Pike's dictum that we should

gists, adapted concepts from Chomsky,

Saussure, semiotics, and "semasiology" into

a methodology concerned with the seman-

tics of body languages in which the focus is

on meaning. The methods of semasiology

have been used by Brenda Farnell in her

study of Plains Indian "sign language"

(1994) and by Rajika Puri to investigate the

place of hasta mudra in Indian dance as an
expression of Indian society (1983).
Judith Lynne Hanna has worked on
gender, communication, and emotion, and
has investigated the psychobiological basis
of dance, and in what ways human dance
differs from the so-called "dances" of other

"attempt to discover and to describe the pattern of that particular language or culture in

animals. Christine Loken-Kim explored the

social construction of female gender in Korea by investigating the representation of

elements of that culture are related to each

used by Koreans both in evaluating women's

reference to the way in which the various

other in the functioning of the particular

pattern" (1954:8). From Pike came the "etic/

emic" distinction (1954:11) that has continued as a theoretical basis that informs the

work of many American anthro/ethno dance

researchers. In addition, ideas about competence and performance derived from con-

cepts promulgated by Saussure and

Chomsky remain current.

Etic/emic distinctions, derived by

emotion in dance and the sentiment terms

salp'uri dance and in first-person accounts

of Korean women's lives (1989). Lois Ibsen
Al Faruqi, working in various parts of the
Middle East, delineated aesthetic principles
and examined how they were manifested in
various cultural forms and how they might

be applied to human movement. She noted

that although dance is not considered an art
form in this area, human movements express

the same aesthetic evaluative concepts as

Dance Research Journal 32/1 (Summer 2000) 119

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other Islamic visual arts such as architec-

ture (1978).

What makes movement studies an-

thropological is the focus on system, the

importance of intention, meaning, and cultural evaluation. Anthropologists are interested in socially constructed movement systems, the activities that generate them, how
and by whom they are judged, and how they

can assist in understanding society. Some

anthropologists, such as Cowan (1990) and

Schieffelin (1976) choose not to get involved

in movement detail, but focus primarily on
context and meaning. Other anthropologists

combine detailed attention to the movement

itself with the historical, social and cultural

which they are composed. In addition, her

cross-cultural emphasis and work on dance
symbolism (1974) are important ethnological concerns, which also deal with cultural

identity (1989). Elsie Dunin's extensive

work on Balkan dance, carried out in the

Balkans, California, and Chile, is focused

on movements and choreography and how
these persist or change over time in their area

of origin and when they are transplanted,

plus the events in which they occur and con-

cerns with ethnicity and ethnic identity.

Dancing in the diaspora has also been addressed by Judy Van Zile who has focussed
on the transplantation of Bon dance traditions from Japan to Hawaii (1982). Van Zile

systems in which the movement is embed-

has also carried out research on historical

language focuses on the movements of the

signing tradition, the stories told, and the
culture they express-all of which can be

done extensive work on Labanotation and

ded. Farnell's work on Plains Indian sign

aspects of Korean dance movement and has

its application to non-Western movement

systems. Colin Quigley, in his work on

accessed by reading her monograph or

through a CD ROM which, in addition

Newfoundland traditions and North Ameri-

Kaeppler's monograph on Hawaiian hula

dance cultures within the pluralism of Ameri-

teaches the rudiments of Labanotation.

pahu (1993), focuses on the ritual non-Chris-

tian basis of a moder Hawaiian dance genre

with the underlying theme of how tradition

is negotiated to make it appropriate for its

time. A study by Susan Reed focusses on

the political importance of dance in Sri Lanka

(1998). Other anthropological concerns include Cartesian mind/body dualism (Farnell

1995; Varela 1992), martial arts (Lewis

1992), iconography (Seebass 1991), tourism (Sweet 1985), and urban multiculturalism (Ness 1992). In short, the aim
of anthropological works is not simply to

understand dance in its cultural context, but

rather to understand society through analyz-

ing movement systems.

In contrast to anthropological studies of dance, the focus of dance ethnolo-

gists is often on dance content, and the study

of cultural context aims at illuminating the

dance. For example, research on the court

context of the Javanese Bedhaya is brought

to bear on understanding the dance (rather

than researching the Bedhaya in order to

understand the Javanese court). Allegra
Fuller Snyder's work on Yaqui Easter cer-

can step-dancing (1985), raises the important issue of expressive identity in diverse
can society-how and why distinctive tra-

ditions are perpetuated and/or changed

through contact with other cultural worlds.

Concerns with ethnic identity, minority status, gender, the concepts of body, self, and

personhood are topics receiving attention

within dance ethnology. In these studies, the

social relationships of the people dancing

are often backgrounded while the dance it-

self and its changes over time are

foregrounded.

Beyond Europe and America are

dance researchers from the rest of the world

with numerous studies of dances of their own

traditions and elsewhere-the following lists

only a sampling of the riches that lie beyond:

Dance has been an academic subject at the

University of Ghana since 1962 and several
theses have been written by African scholars. At the School of the Performing Arts at

Hong Kong the three-pronged curriculum

includes ballet, moder, and Chinese dance.

The Japanese scholar Kimiko Ohtani has re-

searched dance in Japan, Okinawa, Hawaii,

and India. Korean scholars have researched

their own dances and their basis in shaman-

emonies deals with the events within which

ism and Buddhism as well as ballet and

dances occur and the syncretism of Christian and pre-Christian movements from

modem dance. Kapila Vatsyayan has published extensively on Indian dance and cul-

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ture. Mohawk Indian Nina de Shane has

worked on the political importance of dance

to ethnic identity. Arzu Ozturkman has

worked on dance and nationalism in her

native Turkey. Indonesian scholars includ-

ing I Made Bandem, Soedarsono, Sal

Murygianto, and I Yayan Dibia have done

extensive research on dance traditions of

their own culture as well as elsewhere in

2. Movement and Meaning. Perhaps most

difficult is the analysis of meaning of specific movements and meanings of a movement system as a whole. Meaning is usually
associated with communication and the presentation of the self to others and ourselves.

Concepts that can be usefully employed are

those derived from Chomsky, based on com-

Amy Ku'uleialoha Stillman on Hawaiian

petence and performance, and Saussure,

based on langue and parole. "Competence"
or knowledge about a specific dance tradition is acquired in much the same way as

values, as art, and as a marker of ethnic and

cultural identity throughout the world.

quired. Competence relates to the cognitive

learning of the shared rules of a specific
dance tradition as langue is acquired in a
Saussurian mode. Competence enables the
viewer to understand a grammatical movement sequence that he/she has never seen

Indonesia and beyond. The research of

Mohd Anis Md Nor in his native Malaysia,

dance, Kauraka Kauraka and Jon Jonassen
on Cook Island dance, Maria Susana Azzi
on Tango, and a myriad of others suggest
that we have only begun to realize the importance of dance to political and national

Studies of Dance in the New Century

Finally, I want to mention two types of analy-

sis which I believe will be important in the

21st century-ethnotheory and meaning.
1. Theoretical and Ethnotheoretical Analysis. Important in the study of human movement systems is the study of movement
theory and philosophy of movement from

the point of view of the society in which the

movement takes place. The use of Western

dance theory for analysis of non-Western

competence in a spoken language is ac-

before. "Performance" refers to an actual

rendering of a movement sequence, parole

of Saussure, which assumes that the per-

former has a certain level of competence and

the skill to carry it out. A viewer must have

communicative competence in order to understand movement messages.

Anthro/ethno researchers derive

their data from a wide variety of sources,

but basic to their studies is the importance

of fieldwork. A recent book edited by

Theresa Buckland has focussed our atten-

dance is inappropriate, and a researcher must

tion on the importance of fieldwork to dance

about movement. How did the structured

enous fieldworkers do with their data and

attempt to discover indigenous theories

movement systems originate? Are they codi-

fied into genres? How and by whom can

dances be composed? How can (and can-

not) movements and postures be combined?

Is there a vocabulary of motifs and a grammar for their use? Are there notions about

energy and how it should be visually dis-

played? On the basis of movement, can

dance be separated from ritual? And more

basic still, does a culture have such concepts?

studies (1999). What anthro/ethno/indig-

how it is presented in publication varies

widely. But all of these researchers focus our

attention on movement content as well as

social, cultural and political concerns such

as gender, the body, ethnic, cultural and national identity, the negotiation of tradition,

and turning the ethnographic eye on any

society. In order to find the larger view as
advocated here, fieldwork is not only recommended but is necessary in order to bring
movement into focus as part of a total cultural system.
Adrienne L. Kaeppler

Smithsonian Institution

Dance Research Journal 32/1 (Summer 2000) 121

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III. Dance Theory, Sociology, and Aesthetics

My brief is to discuss recent developments
in dance theory, touching on the areas of
sociology and aesthetics in the light of the

coming millennium. In considering how

current my focus should be, I have reflected

upon the pace at which dance scholarship

and indeed knowledge as a whole can some-

times move. My initial plan was to point out

that dance theory is not just for dance schol-

ars; dance artists like Isadora Duncan and

Yvonne Rainer have recognised the need to
articulate the theoretical aspects of their art
in order to create a discursive context for
the reception of their work. Indeed, progress

and change in dance practice necessitate

reciprocal developments within dance scholarship. I was therefore going to look at the
ways in which some of the more radical as-

pects of recent dance theory and practice

issue a challenge to rethink the relationship

between the sociology of dance and aesthetics. While I still intend to cover this area,

two recent incidents have caused me to

change my focus and look more critically

than I originally intended at the work which

I and others have been doing on dance and

representation.

The first incident is a conversation

during a conference in April 1999 with an

American who teaches performance stud-

ies. Why, she asked me, were so many dance

scholars working on issues concerning identity? My reply at the time was that in my

opinion the majority of dance scholars ac-

tively publishing work were concerned with

establishing a history of canonical artists,

Dance Research Journal 32/1 (Summer 2000) 125

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