Berna Kurt (2008)
We use an amazing
quantity of terms to classify dances: performance, choreography; tanztheater,
ballet, neo-classical, expressionism, modern dance, contemporary dance; ethnic,
folk or social dance… And there is a hierarchy between those dance genres:
ballet dancers despise “hermetic” contemporary dancers; “transnational”
contemporary dancers dislike too easy and “local” folk dances.
However, such
sterile categories don’t help at all to broaden critical understanding of
dance. As early as 1969, the anthropologist Joann
Kealiinohomoku proposed a reading of classical ballet “as a Form of Ethnic Dance”. Her fundamental critique of the
Eurocentric approach in dance studies enhanced general awareness about the
social context of dances. We know that all dance forms – be they Western or not
– reflect the society within which they
are developed. Differences thus exist, in bodies, in cultures, in thinking. But
the critical appreciation may remain the same. While writing on stage
performances of “dance”, no matter if ballet, folk, or contemporary, there are
common elements. Similarly, the different genres follow similar basic staging
tools.
For
instance, folk dances on stage are quite different from the ones performed for
self-entertainment in daily life. Dance steps, rhythms and timing change
according to the context. If the choreographer’s intention in using folk
material is creating meanings beyond the usual
nationalistic discourses, then dramaturgical
research gains high importance. Within the Bogaziçi Performing Arts Ensemble
(BGST) dedicated to combining traditional dance with contemporary stagings,
collective discussions and readings contribute much to the development of an
alternative to the nationalistic, touristic or commercial forms of spectacle
habitually promoted by official cultural pollitics. The result is a “dance
spectacle”, a complex structure embodying multiple social, cultural and
artistic aspects that can and need to be analysed alike … as “performance”.
Always
more or less arbitrary, it is not the classification, then, that matters for
critical appreciation. As all dance genres are historically defined, the
boundaries between them are ambiguous and always shifting. That’s why dance
criticism wouldn’t have to distinguish genres but dramaturgical, artistic or
choreographic strategies.
(This short paper's translation in German is published in the newspaper "Der Standard" -in the framework of "Critical Endevaour" programme during ImPulsTanz 2008 in Vienna)
