Dance is practiced in many forms and for many reasons, including social, educative, political and therapeutic reasons. Studying the aesthetics of dance one of the many ways to approach it, in order to better understand what is and why it matters to people. Dictionary of Merriam-Webster define dance as, “to move one’s body rhythmically usually to music: to engage in or perform a dance” It is to move or seem to move up and down or swing it in any direction, jiggle any part of the body in a quick or lively manner is considered as a dance. Every movement is a dance. The philosophical meaning of dance is not necessarily being rhythmical. Any movement for joy, transfer a message, mourn, initiate, resolve problems, or to present a regard is a dance.
From Aakash’s class, the hand gestures as he thought us, are dances giving a message, however, they got perceived differently in each culture. Profeta addresses the question of how did Asako’s dancing make meaning as, “Foremost, I knew enough to know that many of the ‘mudras’ (hand gestures) operated as a code, a sign language and that their meanings were amplified by corresponding eye gestures and body mode of representation at work” (155). This implies dance is an embodied movement to transfer energy from one person to another. It is a language without words. She also added that only a subset of Indian population can translate the meanings of these mudras which means translating dance is not a simple thing. Audiences observe every movement of dance and compare each scene to pick similarities, variations or contrasts and comprehending larger patterns.
I chose ‘dance’ as a keyword in showing how movement makes meaning because in our daily life we move consciously or sub-consciously. Every movement we made interpreted by a second person. It might mean different for two audiences, but a certain message has transferred in that movement. Besides to that, connecting our classes discussion on January 6 that all our movements including hand gestures when we talk and the self-introduction during on the dinner on January 7, most people showed that their favorite movement is the movement that they made with their hands. Hence, I chose dance because it helped me thinking how movement makes meaning.
Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary Accessed 4 Jan 2018. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/refugee. Profeta, Katherine. 2015. "Research" Dramaturgy in Motion: At Work on Dance and Movement Performance. 61-87. USA: University of Wisconsin,
Hi Yohannes,
There is a really critical point in this keyword essay that I’d like to expand upon. Pretty much everyone responds to body movement and I think about City Plaza in particular, where we began a small dance class and it turned into a big dance party. But some only stood around at the edge of the circle. They engaged with the dance by moving their eyes – a dance to be sure, but not the riotous dance that was happening in the inner circle. But there are also dances that transmit a tremendous amount of information, and those have been developed over time – sometimes centuries – handed down from generation to generation in classes, workshops and at public events. They can be culturally specific and have as complex a vocabulary as spoken or written language. To expect that all dance is “transparent” is a mistaken expectation. Audiences are appreciative because they too have been schooled in the language – the study of dance, however it takes place – leads to a greater appreciation. Not only of the skill of the dancer – but of the language of dance itself and how it takes form. Why study dance? It definitely helps understand its expressive meanings and how beautifully it expresses meaning.