Study Guide

Posted: August 26th, 2021

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Study Guide

1. Dancing: Chapter 1: The Power of DanceWhat is dancing?

Dancing is part of a cultural display that people practice to entertain or a show of pleasure. By definition, dancing refers to successive steps based on a particular rhythm that an individual undertakes for pleasure and entertainment.  It varies depending on culture, custom and circumstances, usually influenced by the music genre (Foster 17). It is experienced even before an individual is born, where small movements are realized as a baby breath and blink to other large movements such as jumping and running. Hence, every human being experiences impulse to move. 

1. “Encoded in the form (the shapes and colors of the bodies, costumes, and props, the sound and rhythm of music, etc.) the technique (the methods by which dancers and musicians learn the dance), and structure (how the components of the dance are organized into a larger whole) of every dance are meanings and values of importance to the dancers and to those who share their view of the world.”
   1. How does an anthropological view of dancing at a Judeo-Christian wedding shed light on Western society? What do we learn about Judeo-Christian culture from looking at wedding dances?

Most of the wedding dances in western societies are experienced within the secular context of celebration. According to Judea-Christian ways, there has been apprehension about the role of a dancing body in sacred settings. Hence, in the communal religious ceremonies of Judea-Christian cultures, dance usually plays an essential role. The reason is that the assumptions about dance and the body is different from non-Europeans and Europeans. The culture between the two societies often clashes about issues regarding the proper functions of dance and the type of dance movements that are appropriate in a healthy society (Jonas 18).

1. Western missionaries interpreted Tahitians dances as immoral and in 1820 outlawed any practice associated with dancing. Tahitian dances, though, serve a great purpose to enforce gender distinctions. Why is this important to Tahitian society, and how are gender roles enforced through dance?

It is essential to the Tahitians society since it serves to “please” their gods, gives them a way to celebrate their religion and have fun. Usually, men are dominant in the sense of gender since they are traditionally required to take the lead (Jonas 19).

1. When looking at dance from an anthropological view, one must see that “dancing occurs not in isolation but its social and cultural context.”
   1. “Ballet, which is the quintessentially European form of dance-drama, had its origins in the Renaissance Italy and France courts (Jonas 21).”How were court dances structured to reveal the hierarchy of the court?

The court dances were structured in such a way that the first ballet-Le Ballet de la Reine, elaborate costumes that restrict movements, simple floor patterns and poses, slow progression, performed by the nobility for nobility.  The social status was revealed in the order in which an individual dance. Each dance was made by a couple who appear on the stage where those with the highest rank danced first, followed by the subsequent ranks in the descending order (Jonas 22).

1. “Many ideals of courtly behavior were refined into aesthetic principles.” Define aesthetics:

Aesthetics in this context refers to a set of principles concerned with nature and appreciation of beauty, especially in art. An example of a Western European Aesthetic: “In its resolve to prevail over, rather than accommodate, the forces of nature, ballet gives expression to one of the characteristics aspirations of Western societies (Jonas 29).”

1. What shapes or elements of Ballet seek to prevail over the forces of nature?

The audience enjoyed light weightiness, an illusion that ballet dancers created using toe shoes. Such dance visually overcomes gravity, a force of nature instead of accommodating it. As such, Ballet gives an expression of one of Western society’s aspirations (Jonas 22).

1. Europeans danced to be free from the power of nature, while Native Americans danced to access the power of the natural world. “Dance was good for the body and good for the spirit and essential to integrating the tow. The natural world pulsed with power; since the same powers animated the human body, the body could serve as a kind of lever to bring about change in the world (Jonas 26).”
   1. How did the Ghost Dances begin, what did its practitioners believe dancing the dance would accomplish, and how did the American government react?

The ghost dance was a religious movement that incorporates into many American’s belief systems. According to the teaching of the Northern Paiute spiritual leader Wovoka (Jackson Wilson), when a dance move is made correctly, it can provoke reunion with the spirit of the dead which eventually brings peace, wealth and unity among people. Outrage in the eastern United States emerged as the public learned about events that have transpired. The United States government had insisted on several occasions for the pacification of Native Americans (Jonas 27).

1. Theophile Gautier wrote, “The dance is nothing more than the art of displaying beautiful shapes.”

Roger Copeland defined it as, “Any movement designed to be looked at.”

Joann Keali’inohomoki defines dance as “a transient mode of expression performed in a given form and style by the human body moving through space.”

After reading this chapter, which author do you think is the closest to defining what dance is. Why?

I think Joann gives the closest explanation to dance since the definition depicts all that which dance is and how it should be.

1. After reading this chapter, what is your definition of dance? Is your definition of dance beginning to change? Which example has contrasted most with your definition of dance?

According to the chapter reading, my definition of dance changes a bit, and I can define dance as a movement that is used in everyday activities but not only for entertainment purposes (Foster 39). Through the three examples, there is little contradiction with my definition as they all express a move, something beautiful that can be looked at and an expression of a culture or other ways of life.

1. Dancing: Dancing in One WorldAt the beginning of the video, the festival coordinator claims that: “Culture is the only way you can move across the boundary lines of language, race, and economic ghettoization.” Indeed, language, race and economics are part of the culture. How does the speaker define culture for this video? Is culture only the artistic activities of a people (dance, poetry, drama, etc.), or is it the total of all their activities (arts, language, business, education, science, etc.)? How would you define culture?

Culture is the sum of all their activities since everything that society does together defines their way of life, that is, culture. The decision and action that a person makes define the society, culture and values. At Los Angeles Festival, various groups from the Pacific arrive to celebrate their culture, “most brought dance because, for most, dance is at the heart of culture.”

“Culture is absolutely at the center of our lives, our future, and the way we hold our communities together (Jonas 33).”

1. Three different speakers offer examples of how dance represents culture:
2. According to Peter Sellars, what issues of dance are also central issues of government and philosophical issues of human coexistence?

The issues include purpose, clarity of precision, ability to survive in a complex interactive environment in peace with many other individuals.

• According to Mauvaka, what purpose does traditional dance serve?

It serves to exhibit that traditional dance is a way in which one can express joy to their peers.

• According to Mitoma, how does dance allow us to know our own and another culture?

Dance allows us to specify the cultures since every culture has its unique characteristics added to the dance. Unique societies have different factors that trigger diverse movements and rhythms made.

Native American Dance

1. Form: How would you describe this dance? Choose at least five words (adjectives and active verbs) that illustrate the forms that you see.
2. The dance is an awe-inspiring
3. Thought-provoking in nature,
4. It is characterized byunusual movements designed intentionally to match the song rhythm
5. Characterized by expression of deeper meanings and importance
6. Focuses on exemplifying the power of dance to express ideas.

Structure: How is the dance organized? Who dances with whom? How do they relate to each other and the audience?

The dance is organized in such a way that the ground leader announces to indicate he will lead the song. He heads to the ceremonial fire holding a rattle in hand while maintaining the song rhythm. Men and women move in an alternating form on a line, while women wearing rattles around their ankles and maintain the rhythm. The members of the tribe walk in clockwise around the fire. Lead singer calls on the Creator as men respond in a manner indicating that the Creator is speaking through them (Foster 98). The audience who are non-dancers sit in a position with their feet staged as they observe the dancers in their front. They are made to interact directly with the song by reciting in response to the call of the song leader. The audience is compelled or called to dance while others are encouraged by others.

Technique: How is the dance learned and teaching? What cultural traditions are passed on?

The dance is learned through participation. It focuses on passing on a culture of unity, promote interaction and mediation among communities.

1. How have powwows been essential in maintaining Native American cultures?

Powwows are the primary way to educate younger generations and children the culture to be carried on to the next generations.

Hawaiian Dance

1. Form: How would you describe this dance? Choose at least five adjectives that illustrate the forms that you see.

The dance is linear, fast, exciting, upbeat, and happy.

Structure: How is the dance organized? Who dances with whom? How do they relate to each other and the audience?

The dance is linearly organized. Its structure is expressed in particular positions and rows with dancers standing in two lines. The dancers are lined up in windows to remain in the view of everyone. People are standing off the sides singing and beating drums (Foster 143). The moves and motions in the dances are simultaneously expressed together.

Technique: How is the dance learned and /or taught? What cultural traditions are passed on?

The dance had been banned by the government but was secretly being passed by the remaining family members of the Kumu Hulas.

1. How has the hula been essential in maintaining Hawaiian culture?

Hula is the only tradition that has helped pass the old religion down the Hawaiian generations. It was kept alive through music that was composed of the current events while relating on the oral history.

Los Angeles Pop Culture

1. Form:How would you describe this dance? Choose at least five adjectives that illustrate the forms that you see.

Aggressive, joyful, structures, energetic, vibrant

Structure:How is the dance organized? Who dances with whom? How do they relate to each other and the audience?

Men and women were moving erratically by expressing the energetic movements of the body. Women kept drawing the attention of the audience with their dance moves by moving their body parts aggressively and with the right context.

Technique:How did the dancers learn this dance?

The dancers get to learn the dance through hereditary. All the movements they express in the dance are somehow related to the ancestral dance interchanges.

1. How does African celebrate a woman’s body in away that ballet and modern do not? Please list the name of the choreographer.

She is praising the beauty of the body of women, be proud of what they have in order to represent the beauty of African. Choreographer: Pat Hall-Smith and Jawole Willa Jo Zollar.

1. How has television affected the spread of culture?

Through watching pop culture presented on television. Currently, most people are trying to adapt to the moves that were not practiced by their ancestors. However, through watching those moves on the television, there are multicultural aspects that bring people together by understanding their dance moves.

1. You saw the dances of several different cultures in this video. What image of dancing stands out most in your mind? What were the similarities between the dances of different cultures? What were the differences between the dances of different cultures? Try to describe it, as you had to explain what it looked like to someone who had never seen it before.

The similarities of all the dances wereis how all dances attempt to represent particular culture, identity and the way they appeased and pleaded with their ancestors. However, differences are exhibited in the purposes of the dance, which include expression of illness, emotions, prosperity and bad times done through the dance movements. The image that stands out is that of different facial expressions exhibited during the dance where different costumes are worn in each dance, which expresses the uniqueness of every culture.

1. Did you see yourself represented in any of the dances in this video? Even if your culture was not explicitly named, were there any elements of the dances that were similar to dances from your culture?

I am Hawaiian, and hula dance represents the culture of the Hawaiian. This can be exhibited in the facial and eye expression that shows different emotions, happiness and praise of their Creators.

1. Dancing: Chapter 6: New Worlds Dance“When people leave the society they were born into, either voluntarily or involuntarily, dance is one of the things they take with them…Furthermore, when people from different backgrounds find themselves living side by side in a new setting, the result is a fusion of dance forms…as people borrow to reflect new social realities.”Describe how African dance and drumming has remained the same and how it has changed in the new world:

In an African to the new world, African dancing remains the same in terms of the impression of individuality and the improvisation as well as the dancing in the circles, which was among the common instances exhibited in their dance. Before moving to the new world, African dancing concentrated on expressing culture. Once into the new world, African dance has now transitioned to majorly entertaining (Jonas 36). 

1. Describe how the dances performed by enslaved Africans and white masters differed fundamentally:

European Masters Dance	African Slaves Dance
Fixed steps that arranged in a limited number of repeated patternsBack erects while the torso lifts upPromote role to women-male couple	Individual improvisation against the background of basic movement motifsBending forward at the waist while projecting the sense of ground-ness or one with the earthFocused on group and soloists that emerge from the group

1. Describe the origin and meaning of the aesthetic of “cool.” What term describes a similar idea in European court dances?

“Cool” is an expression that refers to a West African body language. A “state of being,” which was usually applied to describe the way a Chief expresses or carries himself in the dance, showing female/male and young/old qualities and exhibiting cool signified power (Jonas 37).

1. Face-to-face couple dancing was an invention of Western Europe. Briefly outline how couples dancing reflected cultural values at different levels of WesternEuropean society.

It began as a hierarchical social setting under which only a single couple featured at a particular period. By the year 1750, group dances started when waltz emerged with the whole floor filled with couples that were dancing together. It started with a low class and later inherited by the upper class (154).

1. Black Ministry was the first unmistakable sign that European and African dance forms were fusing into something new.What Old World elements did this form blend?

The new form inherited movements that were famously called “Trenching.” This enabled an individual style to affect the dance. “Every good dancer whom ‘Trucks’ is trying to make a unique impression. It was the first American musical theater.”

1. The cakewalk “opened the way for the whole series of less demanding if still ‘exotic’ dances.” These were generally called Animal dances (174) and included:
2. Grizzly bear
3. Bunny hug
4. Kangaroo dip
5. Chicken scratch
6. Turkey Trot
7. Camel walk
   1. How did these new dances challenge the status quo? How were these new dances fusion of African and European forms?

The Turkey Trot particularly expressed untamed energy that challenged the status quo. The athletic and bouncy motions were paired with partners holding onto each other and making shaking, wriggling, and twisting motions (mostly the improvised moves) (172).

1. In terms of racial integration, how was The Roseland and Savoy Ballroom different?

The Savoy Ballroom started with the Harlem Renaissance. The Roseland Ballroom began in midtown Manhattan and access to African-American Cutting was limited (178).

1. How were “cutting” contests and “breakaway” representatives of African dance forms?

Cutting and breakaways represented the themes of African dances by allowing a solo improvisation. Many displayed at Savoy. The competition was fed with innovation. The Viruoso improvisations with the European derived a couple of dance (178).

1. “The dynamic tension between Improvised and Partnering that had been the glory of the Lindy did not survive” the rise of rock and doll. How did the Lindy Hop change after World-War II? What happened to the Lindy hop to break that tension?

The Breakaway of the Lindy re-emerged as dance by itself. The twist emerged, followed by the Frug, the Monkey, and the Jerk, among others.

1. Dancing: New Worlds, New Forms

Lindy Hop

1. At the beginning of the video, “classification” and “fusion” are mentioned. Describe “fusion” in terms of the ring samba. Reagan says that the history of black people in American is a history of ‘confiscation.’ Explain what she means by this. How might this be different or the same as “fusion,” as mentioned at the beginning of the resource 1.3 Dancing: Chapter 6 New Worlds of Dance?

‘Confiscating’ implies taking something, although, in this context, she is referring to taking bits of each dance together to “fuse” the dancing and music. It usually keeps sections of both cultures.

1. What was the importance of the Savoy ballroom in terms of racial integration?

Savoy ballroom never restricted the access of black people, and each participant can share their dance. There was mingling and a mixture of white and black, at a social level like never been experienced before in America (173).

1. Compare the dancing from the clips in the Savoy Ballroom to the clips of the white students.

Savoy Ballroom Form	White Students Form
Form: Move rotate hips, swing, suggestive movements; everybody is smooth. It exhibits effortless-looking dance. Most people like the styleStructure: People dancing in a group on the floor, and usually there is a man-woman partner.Technique: Group of people dances on the dance floor and usually, there are couples.	Form: Move rotate hips, swing, and suggestive moves. Everybody is smooth. It is effortless exhibiting a looking dance. Many people like it.Structure: Group of people dancing on a dance floor, and usually, there are couples.Technique: a group of people dancing on a dance floor, mainly couples.

1. What did it mean to be “cool?” How does this compare to be “aesthetic of cool” in resource 1.3?

“Cool “refers to a highly desirable state of being which is associated with most venerable chief exhibits in the manner of their movement. The Lindy Hop is a swing dance that was popularized and originated by the blacks in Harlem.

Buddy Deane Show

1. Describe the dancing from the Buddy Deane Show.

Form: How would you describe this dance? Choose at least five adjectives that illustrate the forms you see.

Joyful, joyful, structured, energetic, vibrant, aggressive

Structure: How is the dance organized? Who dances with whom? How do they relate to each other?

There is one dancer on stage dancing individually. She dances solely to the piano music, and as it builds, she grows more into it and the movements rapidly speed up. It is related to the time through the space of music.

Technique: How is this dance learned and taught? What cultural traditions are passed on?

The dance is passionate and emotional. The style is highly individualized.

1. Based on what we have read and seen so far, what do you think the influences were?

Jazz music dancing, swing dancing, the Lindy Hop, and dances with African influences.

1. The Buddy Deane Show was racially segregated. A white man says that he never thought about black dancers there when he was dancing; he them claims that the black dancers probably never thought about dancing with white dancers. Is his claim correct? Why do you think he believes this?

The White man believes in this case since, at this point in American history, blacks were usually segregated. They were not given equal rights as the whites and he believes that there is no point where they will have equal rights. As such, he did not think they would be dancing on the same floor (183). This correct during the time although for the blacks, they expected such a time would come.

Works Cited

Foster, Susan L. Reading dancing bodies and subjects in contemporary American dance. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1986. Print.

Jonas, Gerald. Dancing. City: Turtleback Books, 1998. Print.