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Search - Dance: Rituals of Experience

Dance Rituals of Experience
Author: Jamake Highwater

The phenomenon of dance is timeless. Expressing an indescribable sacredness that touches people the world over, dance is much more than simply the physical movements of the body: it is a moving font of experience that flows from a culture's earliest perceptions of itself and the environment from which it is born. The response of primal people to... more » their environment was, and still is, largely ritualistic. For the ancient Greeks, dance became consciously ceremonialized and was a vehicle for expression of a uniquely western humanistic value system. Later, for the merchant princes of the Middle Ages, dance became an entertainment and a vehicle for aristocratic exhibitionism. With the rise of ballet in the seventeenth century, dance presumed to be an "art" and, as such, was expected to possess the contemporary ideals of beauty: restraint, clarity, and grace. Much later, in the 1970s, Americans played out some of their cultural attitudes toward race and sex through disco, clearly a ritual expression of its era. Dance: Rituals of Experience, Third Edition presents a powerful view of the history of dance which contrasts its role in Western civilization with its significance in other cultures. Jamake Highwater, a renowned critic, author, and lecturer on art, theater, music, and dance, links the history of dance to cultural forces as diverse as Karl Marx and Elvis Presley. Beginning with the original, ritualistic, primal forms of dance, he traces its decline into empty ceremonial forms, while insisting that dance is a fundamental life impulse made visible in motion--a spontaneous transformation of experience into metaphoric meaning. Throughout, Highwater asserts that ritual "is not a product of a primitive people. Rather, it is produced by all people still in touch with the capacity to express themselves in metaphor." Ritual gives people access to the ineffable, providing ways of dealing with forces that seem beyond comprehension or control. Giving particular attention to the influence of American Indian dancing, he argues brilliantly that dance must return to its ritualistic roots if it is to remain a vital art form. Considering the historical and creative context from which dance emerged, Highwater goes on to point out the specific contributions and cultural influences of twentieth-century dance giants, including Isadora Duncan, Twyla Tharp, Robert Wilson, George Balanchine, Martha Graham, Alwin Nikolais, Erick Hawkins, Jose Limon, Merce Cunningham, Meredith Monk, Garth Fagan, and newer artists such as Bebe Miller and the Urban Bush Women. Writing in a style that is at once intellectual and accessible, Jamake Highwater offers a fresh and in-depth perspective on the meaning of dance. Lavishly illustrated with more than 150 stunning photographs by such famous names in dance photography as Barbara Morgan and Martha Swope. Dance is a study of how art, life, and history interweave and how they reflect and affect each other.

ISBN-13: 9780195112054
ISBN-10: 0195112059
Publication Date: 10/14/1996
Pages: 224
Rating:

0 stars, based on 0 rating

Publisher: Oxford University Press
Book Type: Paperback
Other Versions: Hardcover
Members Wishing: 0
Reviews: Amazon | Write a Review

Genres:

Arts & Photography >> Performing Arts >> Dance >> Classical
Arts & Photography >> Performing Arts >> Dance >> General
Literature & Fiction >> World Literature >> Mythology >> General
Nonfiction >> Social Sciences >> Folklore & Mythology

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