Social Dance: Contexts and Definitions

Author(s): Barbara Cohen-Stratyner

Source: Dance Research Journal, Vol. 33, No. 2, Social and Popular Dance (Winter, 2001), pp.
121-124
Published by: Congress on Research in Dance
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 ~
dialogues ~

Issues in Social and VernacularDance

Social Dance: Contexts and
Definitions One of the assumptionsmade about
socialdanceis thatit servesa socialpurpose.
Now thatWhatis dance?is no longerasked, In the ethnographicmodel, it is generally
we have time to discuss what is meantby seenas a formof socialorganizer, reinforcing
popularor social.In the Europeanacademic societalnormswithinthecontextsof celebra-
tradition,populartranslatesas "folk"or "of tionsor matingrituals.Traditional European
the people"andrefersto dancethatis tradi- andnon-Western social danceis believedto
tionalor attachedto traditional behaviors.In function as a communityunifier without
theUnitedStates,popularmeansonly"ofthe directfinancialtransactions. Oneof themany
people" and refers to dance that is new and social uses of dance is that everybodygets
associatedwith the young. Even the basic togetherto celebratesomething.
subject matter is challenged by cultural There once was a culturalbias within
biases. dancestudiesthatreinforcingsocietalnorms
In dancehistory(andfolklore,ethnogra- was a goodthingandan appropriate function
phy, and anthropology),a dancedone by a of popular/social dance.In the currentfield,
group is assumed to be popular/social/ver- there seems to be a biassupporting theroleof
nacular, unless specifically stated as perfor- dance in reinforcing alternativesocial ideas.
mative,created,and/orchoreographed. It is Both biases depend on the questionable
unlikely thatthis assumption is accurate. assumption thatit is possibleto determinethe
Popular dance is the performance vocab- context of social dance.
ularyof class structure. If we thinkof dance Contexts shift with time. In
as compatiblewith real life, we see that it vernacular/social/popular dance, they shift
is-like language, clothing, and food-a almostcontinuously. Whendetermining a use
continuumof discretionary selections within for dance, we need to be very careful to dis-
a socially conditionedset. People choose tinguish context and recontextualization.
whether,when,andhow to movefromwithin Revivalsof vernaculardanceshave layered
a set of choices that they may or may not purposes. A study of twentieth-century
realize are limited by their place in social squaredancingcouldrevealits adoptionfor
hierarchies.Thestudyof danceandits place anynumberof uses:by conservativecommu-
in these historicalhierarchieshas been the nity groups to reinforce "traditional
majorconcernof the field. However,social Americanvalues"of genderandclass;by the
historianshave learnedthat hierarchiesare PopularFrontat the HighlandSchoolto dis-
temporary. Peoplemaybreakthe hierarchies pel traditional notionsof genderandto unify
and choose to "dance up" or "dance down." classes of union and civil rightsorganizers;
Appropriateness tendsto seepdownthe class by kindergarten teachersto introducetheir
structure, so thatanelitistactivityin one gen- classes to geometry;or by researchersinto
erationbecomespopularin the next.It is dif- quilting.A studyof twentieth-century square
to
ficultfor dancehistorians determine, with- dancing could also reveal its use in vernacu-
out corollarydocumentation, whethera pop- laroperas,and,of course,neoclassicaldance.
ulardanceis appropriate to its performers.

33/2 (Winter2001/02) Dance ResearchJournal 121

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 The more that we researchswing, for "Christian in thefilmBookof
Entertairment"
example, the more we realize tat it has Days (1988) and the plausiblyvernacular
always been a collectionof dances tied to songs and dances in The Politics of Quiet
uniqueandever-shiftingcontexts.Capableof (1996). Sally Silvers and composerBruce
being molded or adaptedto differentpur- Andrewsalso use bothmovementandsound
poses, swing has representedboth the most elements, but their samplingsevoke real
radicaland the most reactionary,nostalgia- memories.InHushHush(1998),Silversused
bound populationsover the last sixty-five two veryshortsaplings of ealy 1960spop-
years.As culturalhistorians,we can look at ular dance to representAmericaninfluence
the rival swing partiesthrownby the New on Cuba before the CastroRevolution-a
York City Young People's Socialist and Cubanpachangaand one chorusof "venga
CommunistLeaguesin the late 1930s, by Bebe," a Spanish-language dub of Chubby
radicalizingChicanozoot suiters,or we can Checker's"TheTwist."
studycountry-club dancesor neo-swingWeb Postmodernchoreographersalso use
sites in southem Calfonia (see essay 'mthis socialdanceas a sourceforpedestrianmove-
issue). ment,since it, like walking,can be doneby
Not all recontextualizations
have politi- anyone.TrishaBrownabstracted movements
cal overtones. Vernacular/popular/social fromswing dancesfor the centralsectionof
dance is also recontex lized when it is used her El Trilogy(2001), set to contemporary
as an element of choreography. There are music inspiredby swing. Brownand com-
many examplesfrom the traditionalballet poser David Douglasused the section as a
repertoryof adaptednationalor folk dances. homage to Leon James, celebratedas an
Mostprovidelocationcues forthe setting,as individual Savoy ballroom dancer. Two
in the dances that Hungaricize(or, more worksby third-generation postmoderncho-
properly,Magyanicize)Copptlia to place its reographersmove elements from popular
storyin a specificmiddleEuropeanlocation. and postmoderndanceinto and out of con-
They are often used to show geographical texts set by popularmusic. Doug Elkins's
range,suchas the dancesthataccompanythe Where was Yvonne Rainer on Saturday
eigible princessesin Swan Lake, Act I, Night? (1993) reassemblesmovementpat-
which serve as fillers or suspensemecha- ters from seminal works by Rainer and
nisms,takingupperformance timebeforethe Brown into rock 'n' roll. Neil Greenberg's
plot crux occurs.Manyof these adaptive The Disco Project (1995) presents move-
nationaldances have been discardedfrom mentpattersin silenceandthenrepositions
theirplaces in the nineteenth-century
ballet themwithdisco musicandlighting.
repertory-do we even rememberthatthere
were once Andalusian, German, and HowDo We Definean
Bayadre variationsfor soloistWilis? IndividualDance?
Postmoderchoreographers alsouse ver- Since we know that social dance is seen
nacular/popular/socialdance as a sourceof throughthe filtersof contextandrecontextu
movements to rentextulize. Meredith alization,how can we find definingfactors
Monkinventsfolk traditionsfor danceas she that are clear of contextualbiases? What
has often for her vocalists,using radically codes can we use to differentiateone dance
untraditionalelementsin traditionalenough from another?The standardmethodology
contextsthatthe audienceseems to remem- does not withstandinvestigation.We, as
berthem.Amongthe manyexamplesarethe dancehistorians,knowtoo muchandtoo lit-

122 DanceResearchJournal33/2 (Winter2001/02)

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tie. In mostcases,we acceptlabelsandtitles cretionary to the dancers? How do the
as credits,althoughwithoutenough docu- dancersenter or exit the dance?Are they
mentation.We do not know,for example,if selected,welcomed,tolerated,ignored?The
the Mair who gave her name to Mairi's samequestionscan be askedfor the accom-
Weddingwas the brideor the choreographer panyingmusic:Is it predetermined? Is it ran-
of thatScottishfolk dance.Even well-docu- dom? Does it requirerhythm,melody,or a
mentedtitles of social dancesdo not define combination of thetwo?Is it providedby the
them;they aremostoftenimposedby music dancers?By musicianswho are present?By
and its industry.The titles that seem to be technology?By technologywithaninterven-
descriptive,such as the EagleRock,Turkey ing cuer,suchas a DJ?
Trot,or Twist,rely on a lyricist'suse of gen- Researchfromtheintersectionof popular
erallyaccepted visual imagery. entertainment and performancestudiestells
Thereareempiricalquestionsthatcanbe us that the physical relationshipamong
used in the structureof Talmudicreasoning, space,performer, andaudienceis vital.With
to placea socialdancewithina categoryand this bias, we need to raise other questions
determinewhy it is differentfrom all other aboutthe shapeof a dance.The locationfor
thingsin thatcategory.Onebasicquestionis socialdanceis a prominentpartof the activ-
numerical,settingupa censusforeachdance. ity,so askaboutthe spatialaspects:Is it done
Howmanypeoplearein thedance?Does the inside? Outside? Is that inherent to the
dancelimit the numberof participants? Can dance?Does localeperforma basicfunction
any number play? Does the dance requirean in thedance?Whatis the shapeof thedance,
even number of participants? These ques- if notdetermined by its location?Is it perfor-
tionsleadto morepostmodern inquiries,such mative,in thatdancerspresentthemselvesto
as a gender census. Who is dancingwith an audience,or not?
whom? Does the dancingpopulationstay Socialdancecontemporary to my experi-
within a social hierarchy?Is the answer ence is mostoftenperformative butaimedat
exclusive (always men, always women, its performers.Sound-baseddances (from
alwaysmixed-gendercouples)?Is the dance Irish steppingto tap) often use a variation
adaptiveso thatit canbe doneby anycombi- performative structure;a flattenedsemicircle
nationof people?Is it any of these or all? from which soloistsmove forwardfor their
Queertheoryinvertsthe gendercensus and variations,with theirbacksto the otherper-
askswhy thereis alwaysa heterosexualbias formers.But in rock 'n' roll (and now line
in studyingsocialorvernacular dance,unless dancing),peopledo theirown serialimprov-
thereis a specificallynonheterosexual con- isations between lines of dancers. More
text surrounding the dance. recently,in breakdancing on the streetor in
Choreographiccontent can also be a clubs,the soloistis insidea three-quarter cir-
source for empirical defining questions. cle of his or herpeers.
Whatare the movementsof the feet, torso, Dance historians,includingme in this
and limbs?If thereis a patternthat can be essay, place how and why in frontof who,
discerned,it leadsus intolearningtheory.Are what,when,andwhere.Why?
themovementspredetermined? Do theyneed -Barbara Cohen-Stratyner
If
to be learned? so, how are they taught?
Whenaretheytaught-previousto thedance Barbara Cohen-Stratyneris the Judy R.
or duringthe dance?Arethe stepslearnedby and Alfred A. Rosenberg Curator of
mirroringanotherdancer?Are the stepsdis- Exhibitions at The New YorkPublic Library

33/2 (Winter2001/02) DanceResearchJournal 123

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for the PerformingArts, where she has devel- els as well as every corer of the globe via
WorldWarII servicemen.Recentscholarship
oped more thanfifty exhibitions. She recently
received a Smithsonian Institution has begunan overallassessment(see Stowe
Fellowship sponsored by the Centers for 1994;Erenberg1998),butlittleattentionhas
Museum Practice and for Folklife and been paid to the Lindy Hop's place in
Cultural Heritage. She holds a Ph.D. in Americandance;it has remaineda thing-in-
Performance Studies from New York itself.Thisbriefessaywill suggestits histor-
University, as well as degrees in Theater ical locationandwhy it deservesmoreatten-
Design and Administration of Museum tion.
Education. The LindyHop is partof the "authentic
jazz dance"(AJD)tradition,a workingterm
WhyStudy the LindyHop? thatdescribesthe danceaspectof jazz when
America's vernaculardance tradition,of it was a unified culturalform (Monaghan
whichthe LindyHop is a part,encompasses 2000). AJD aroseout of the Americanver-
a patchworkof culturalfusions of different naculardance traditionthroughits unique
dancemigrants,bothvoluntaryandinvolun- engagement with jazz music. Three other
tary.The way Americafails andsucceedsin maincategoriesof dancecompletethistradi-
preservinganddevelopingthis many-faceted tion-rhythm tap, characteror eccentric
traditionprovidesa valuableinsightinto the dance,and the jazz chorusline, along with
socialwell-beingof thenation.Recentevents associated ballroom social dance forms.
have precipitated new definitionsof citizen- Although sharing a mixed African and
ship,patriotism,andculturalinclusivitythat European heritage, complex rhythmical
underscoretheimportanceof participant cul- structures, and origination by African-
turalformslike the LindyHop and its rela- Americanartists,the Lindy Hop is distin-
tives in theAmericanvernacular dancetradi- guishedfrom the otherthreeby its infinite
tion. gradationsof complexity,rangingfrom the
The brief but energetic"swing craze" most "social"of social dancesto one of the
thatmarkedthe late 1980sand 1990sgave a most dynamic and rhythmicallyintricate
new spasm of life to the Lindy Hop. stagedancesever devised.Whileretaininga
Positioneduncomfortablyon the cusp of a pronouncedaestheticaccessibility,the Lindy
barrageof music industryhype aimed at sustainedenigmaticdimensions,even for its
launching a clutch of new "swing"bands, its practitioners. As RalphEllison conjectured,
associated dance enthusiastsstruggled to "perhapsthe symmetrical frenzy of the
asserttheircreativitywithvaryingdegreesof Lindy-hopconcealsclues to greatpotential
success.It was sufficientto arousethe inter- powers"(quotedin Neal 1970,40).
est of a numberof Broadway,ballet, and Althougha long gestationprecededits
modemdancechoreographers andthe adver- birth,or ratherchristening,the Lindy Hop
tisingindustry,whichtooka renewedinterest was part of the crystallization, which
in this much neglecteddance form. More includedmodemdance,thattook placejust
thanold dancestepswerestirredup, though, before the Wall Street crash in 1929.
by memoriesof the 1930s and 1940s, when Recognizedas part of the new "modern"
the United States achievedan unparalleled ethosby someeminentEuropeancomposers,
degreeof culturalunanimity.Duringits hey- jazz neverthelessfaced difficulties in its
day "swing"affectedvirtuallyall aspectsof homeland,nottheleastof whichwas the ani-
Americanlife, reachingthe uppersociallev- mosityaimedat its dances.This was telling,

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