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DAN365.1001
Prof E Allen
University of Nevada, Reno
Fall 2018 19 Sept 18
James Langelle
Essay: Ballet as Ethnic Dance
Anthropology at best is an inexact science. It is based, as Joann Kealiinohomoku points out in her introductory argument, on deduction for one. The science is divided into many subordinate disciplines such as archaeology and linguistics, the former utilizing exact methods such as radiocarbon dating, the latter confined to phonetics and historical symbolism. Franz Boas introduced the far superior method of induction into fieldwork that paved the way for a new paradigm to be established in drawing conclusions from observation.(1). Why is this important with relation to the study of dance, ballet in particular, by anthropologists? The question needs to be answered not directly, but in the context of Kealiinohomoku it is important to constrain the inquiry within the framework of her essay, An Anthropologist Looks at Ballet as a Form of Ethnic Dance.
In her opening paragraphs, she cites a number of individuals she read in order to gain the necessary background in not just ballet, but dance in general. Here it appears she draws on resources that are genuinely dance history in nature, without any cross consultation with other anthropologists. Walter Sorell was a New York dance critic along with his many books on dance. (2) Walter Terry, another dance critic, became associated with Ted Shawn’s “Jacob’s Pillow” project in Massachusetts. (3) Claire Holt probably has the closest background of any cited in the text to that of a field anthropologist in her extensive work on Indonesian dance and culture; by some actually considered an accredited ethnographer. (4) Many of the other names cited by Kealiinohomoku indicate she had done her homework which may have led her to the rather cynical conclusion drawn of those who documented dance as ethnic.
Next, after debunking deduction, Kealiinohomoku makes an exhaustive effort to interpret ethnology in relation to dance. She can’t find an answer in her readings since all of the historians cited overlook some basic assumptions about ethnology itself, that being its ethnocentric nature. For instance, she compares the Hopi rituals where members of the tribe, even though they don’t have a codified system in place for a particular ritual, nonetheless, everyone seems to be on the same page as to who’s who in the process. Here is where the refutation of the dance critics turned historians, as well as those who were directly involved as Agnes DeMille, come under scrutiny for their rather second-class citizen approach to interpreting ethnic dance in general. Kealiinohomoku rejects the categorization of “African dance” and “Indian dance” as superficial and groundless, preferring to place each particular tribal ritual into its own ethnic framework. Establishing the fact that the historians overlook basic field typology, she then moves on to examination of ballet as an ethnic dance itself.
Ballet as an ethnic dance, according to her analysis, is based on some basic recognizable aspects of the art: the proscenium, the “three part performance,” curtain calls, applause and in particular the use of the French language. What Kealiinohomoku prefers to ignore is that none of that came about by accident. The difference between Western stylized culture (ballet) and the so-called “pagan” or “savage” rituals lies directly in the codified system that evolved from the Renaissance and into the French ballets de cour. Pardon moi if there is no similar structure in African, Indian or Polynesian dance, but one has evolved out of India in Bharatanatyam.(5) Therefore, the argument is weak that dance historians prefer to overlook the various inherent components of non-Western ethnic performances such as the cast, the crew and who does the lighting and stage props, simply because they are from the West.
Another mistaken assumption made by Kealiinohomoku is that ethnic ballet leaves out what isn’t appealing to the eye. Certainly an en pointe pirouette is something to behold and admire when performed by a skilled, young agile ballerina. Her name needs to be in credits, the choreographer congratulated. Kealiinohomoku rejects the use of “horses and swans” as purely Western ballet ethos with no tradition for swine and crocodylinae. In fact, costume design for dancers was not constrained in Fontainebleau in 1546 as mascarades began to appear;
“A number of dancers, resembling some kind of pointed fishes, entered the room….two other mascarades ...griffins, eagles, vultures,” (6)
Also found at the performances were dancing frogs and cockerels (chickens). Note, of course, Kealiinohomoku’s argument that many of her sources had been revised and reprinted with but mere changes in some of the images in the sources, and many are dated. It can be taken into consideration as more historical data is uncovered concerning the evolution of ballet through the Italian and French courts, more important discoveries will be made about the types of costumes and set designs, the characters and animals portrayed. That is the bottom line in anthropology anyway.The same applies to choreographic codification, as if the West purposely wrote down all of the movements on the floor to intimidate other cultures.
As understood in Beauchamp-Feuillet Choregraphie, much of the movement depended not just on the performers, but on the stage itself when it came to striking the proper composition. Etiquette was involved, the dancers might lose the focus of the audience if the set wasn’t properly designed, they could get literally lost onstage in the middle of the performance. (7) In other words, all that was lost in previous civilizations about the status of dance within the culture was directly related to the fact that it was not codified. The purpose of choreography is to preserve the movement, to channel it to a particular venue, to allow for variation and evolution; not to sell dance historians short because they can’t find similar components in other cultures.
Finally, Kealiinohomoku fields a conclusion based on the “pan-human” trait of “we” and “they.” Ironically, I encountered this very argument in a Core Humanities class recently when a student referred to “they” were dropping napalm on the people of Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War of the last century. Pardon moi again Mssr., I had to remind the student that he is an American, that “we” dropped napalm on the villages, not “they.”
Taking it from the top, anthropology is best when used as an inductive process to discover why ballet is an ethnic Western dance. What cannot be emphasized strongly enough is the objective nature of the research in order to separate anthropology, the science, from ballet, the art. Both have codified systems in place and it may be necessary to reject those forms of non-codified expression in other cultures in order to better understand ballet as a distinctly Western ethnic art form.
Supporting Documents:
Boas, http://anth701fall2016.web.unc.edu/2016/10/we-were-waiting-for-you-franz-boas/
Sorell, https://www.nytimes.com/1997/02/24/arts/walter-sorell-91-who-wrote-about-dance-and-culture.html
Terry, http://archives.nypl.org/dan/19832
Holt, https://globenewswire.com/news-release/2009/02/07/392262/159217/en/A-Radiant-Love-for-Indonesian-Culture-Art-and-Dance-Accompany-Claire-Holt-While-Sitting-At-the-Feet-of-Gurus.html
Bharatanatyam, https://www.culturalindia.net/indian-dance/classical/bharatnatyam.html
mascarades, Margaret McGowan, Dance in the Renaissance, Yale, 2008, pp. 141-42
Choregraphie, Wendy Hilton, Dance of Court and Theater, 1690-1725, Princeton, 1981, Ch 6, p. 87.
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