Reed Susan. Politics and Poetics of Dance

The Politics and Poetics of Dance
Author(s): Susan A. Reed

Source: Annual Review of Anthropology, Vol. 27 (1998), pp. 503-532
Published by: Annual Reviews
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Annu. Rev. Anthropol.1998. 27.503-32
Copyright 1998 by AnnualReviews.All rights reserved
THE POLITICSAND POETICSOF

DANCE
Susan A. Reed
Departmentof Anthropology,University of Californiaat Berkeley, Berkeley,
California94720-3710; e-mail: sreedgqal.berkeley.edu
KEYWORDS:performance, movement,identity,folklore
embodiment,
ABSTRACT
Since the mid- 980s, therehas been an explosion of dance studies as scholars
from a variety of disciplines have turned their attention to dance. Anthro-
pologists have played a criticalrole in this new dance scholarship,contribut-
ing comparative analyses, critiquing colonial and ethnocentric categories,
and situating studies of dance and movement within broaderframeworksof
embodimentand the politics of culture.This review highlights ethnographic
and historical studies that foregrounddance and other structuredmovement
systems in the making of colonial cultures;the constitutionof gender, ethnic
and national identities; the formationof discourses of exoticization; and the
production of social bodies. Several works that employ innovative ap-
proaches to the study of dance and movement are explored in detail.
INTRODUCTION
It has been 20 years since Adrienne Kaeppler's review of anthropology and
dance in this series (Kaeppler 1978). At that time, given the marginal status of
dance, Kaeppler wondered about the propriety of devoting an Annual Review
article to such an "esoteric aspect" of anthropology. But in the intervening dec-
ades, the anthropology of dance has gained greater legitimacy as a field of in-
quiry, even as it is being reconfigured within the broader framework of an an-
thropology of human movement (Famell 1995b, Kaeppler 1985). As Lewis
(1995) has argued, this shift to "movement," motivated by a critique of
"dance" as a universally applicable category of analysis, parallels develop-
503
0084-6570/98/1015-0503$08.00

504 REED
ments in otherfields of expressive culturesuch as music and theatre.In ethno-

musicology, for example, Feld (1990b, 1991) has argued for a shift from the
category of "music"to sound, while the creationof"performancestudies"by
Victor Turnerand RichardSchechnerwas, in part,a reactionto the ethnocen-
trism implicit in the use of the term "theater"to referto non-Westernperform-
ance forms (Lewis 1995:223).
Concurrentwith the growing interest in dance and movement within an-
thropology, "dancehistory"has transformedinto "dancestudies,"an interdis-
ciplinaryfield focusing on the social, cultural,political andaestheticaspects of
dance (Daly 1991b). Three recent collections (Desmond 1997, Foster 1995a,
Morris 1996) chartthis emerging field, while the long-awaitedInternational
Encyclopediaof Dance (Cohen 1998) includes several relatedentries.The ex-
pandinginterestin culturalstudies of dance is evidenced by the fact thatmore
than a thirdof the works cited in this article were published since 1995. This
new dance scholarshiphas made significant contributionsto our understand-
ings of culture, movement and the body; the expression and constructionof
identities; the politics of culture;reception and spectatorship;aesthetics; and
ritualpractice.
Although the study of dance and other "structuredmovement systems"
(Kaeppler 1985) has expandedwithin anthropology,such work remainson the
marginsof the discipline. There are at presentonly a few anthropologistswho
specialize in dance and movement analysis, and many are located outside of
anthropology, in departmentsof music, dance, or performancestudies. The
field of anthropologyneeds more specialists in movementanddance;addition-
ally, movement analysis should be included as part of the general anthropol-
ogy graduate curriculum. It is indeed ironic that, despite the considerable
growth of interest in the anthropologyof the body (Lock 1993), the study of
moving bodies remainson the periphery.
Though the emergence of the anthropologyof dance as a distinct subfield
can be tracedto the 1960s and 1970s, dance has been the subjectof anthropo-
logical study since the discipline's inception. Early anthropologistsincluding
Tylor, Evans-Pritchard,Radcliffe-Brown,Malinowski and Boas all addressed
aspects of dance in theirwritings,predictablyemphasizingthe social functions
of dance, with little attentionto the specifics of movement. Williams (1991)
provides a comprehensive survey of these early anthropologicalanalyses of
dance, while Spencer's theoreticalsurvey (1985b), Ness's analysis of selected
anthropologicalworks (1996), and review articles by Kaeppler(1978, 1991)
and Giurchescu& Torp (1991) outline developments in dance studies to the
late 1980s. Youngerman(1998) and Quigley (1998) provide succincthistories
of dance anthropologyand ethnology, while the contributionsof ethnomusi-
cologist John Blacking to the developmentof dance studies within the United
Kingdom are discussed by Grau(1993b).

OFDANCE 505
POLITICS
In the 1960s and 1970s, a small groupof scholars-Adrienne Kaeppler,Jo-

ann Kealiinohomoku, Anya Peterson Royce, Judith Hanna, and Drid Wil-
liams-laid the groundworkfor an anthropology of dance. They examined
dance within theoreticalparadigmsinspiredby Boas and Herskovits (Kealii-
nohomoku, Royce), Chomsky and Saussure (Kaeppler, Williams), ethnosci-
ence (Kaeppler), and communications theory (Hanna). These studies thus
stressed the form and function of dances, the deep structuresof dance, and
dance as nonverbalcommunication.Dance anthropologistsalso critiquedthe
ethnocentrism implicit in much standard dance scholarship. For example,
Kealiinohomoku's article on ballet as "ethnicdance," originally published in
1970, took to task several classic works of dance scholarshippublished from
the 1920s to the 1960s. Kealiinohomokudemonstratedhow dance scholars'
blanketcategorizationof non-Westerndances as ethnic, folk, or primitivewas
based on an evolutionaryparadigmin which Western theatricaldance, espe-
cially ballet, emerged as "...the one great divinely ordainedapogee of the per-
forming arts"(Kealiinohomoku 1983; see also Friedland1998).
Since the 1980s, the most significant developments in dance anthropology
have been in studies of the politics of dance, and the relationsbetween culture,
body, and movement. Studies in these areas,which draw from semiotics, phe-
nomenology, postcolonial, poststructural,and feminist theories, reflect the
dramaticchanges that occurredin anthropologyin the 1980s. In this review, I
focus on studies that address these two dimensions of dance and movement,
giving particularattention to studies that exemplify original and insightful
syntheses of them. Although I focus primarilyon ethnographicand historical
analyses by anthropologists, I also discuss the works of many non-anthro-
pologists whose studies speak to anthropologicalissues.
THE POLITICSOF DANCE

Dance as an expression and practice of relations of power and protest, resis-
tance and complicity, has been the subjectof a numberof historicaland ethno-
graphic analyses in recent years. These analyses complicate issues raised in
earlier works on the politics of dance (Brandes 1979, Hanna 1979, Royce
1977), particularlyin the areas of ethnicity, nationalidentity, gender and, less
commonly, class.
Desmond's anthropologicallyinformedarticle(1993) on how social identi-
ties are "signaled, formed and negotiated"throughbodily movement is par-
ticularly useful for its detailed attentionto the complex ways in which dance
and movement styles are transmittedacross class, ethnic, and national lines.
Desmond makes a powerful case for attendingto movement as a primaryso-
cial text: complex, polysemous, and constantlychanging, signalling group af-
filiation and difference. Desmond shows, for example, how issues of class and

506 REED
locality can be embodied in changing lexicons of movement, resulting in a

form of"bodily bilingualism"(1993:46). While acknowledgingthat the con-
cepts of resistance, appropriation,and culturalimperialismare useful for un-
derstandingchanges in dance across time and place, Desmond stresses that an
overemphasison these concepts may only highlight formal properties,while
ignoring contextualmeanings and processes of hybridization.
Colonialism
Dance studies have much to contributeto recent scholarlydebatesand discus-
sions in colonialism and culture(Cooper & Stoler 1997, Dirks 1992), demon-
stratingthe importanceof dance in the "civilizing process," the control and
regulationof "disorderly"practices,and the profoundrefigurationsof both lo-
cal and Europeanculture.
The suppression,prohibitionandregulationof indigenousdancesunderco-
lonial rule is an index of the significance of dance as a site of considerablepo-
litical and moralanxiety. Colonial administrationsoften perceived indigenous
dance practices as both a political and moral threatto colonial regimes. Local
dances were often viewed as excessively erotic, and colonial agents and mis-
sionariesencouragedand sometimes enforcedthe ban or reformof dance prac-
tices (Comaroff 1985, Kaspin 1993). However, dance was also a site of desire,
and colonial accountsrecordthatmale colonists were often captivatedby "na-
tive dancers,"sometimes even joining them in dances. Thus, in many colonial
arenas,dance tended to generatemultiple and contradictorypolicies and atti-
tudes.
In some colonized areas,dance practicesposed a genuine threatof political
resistanceor rebellion,particularlyin societies where dance was a site of male
collective performance,in which a sense of unity and power was heightened,
potentially spawning uprisings against colonial rulers or slave masters. In
Hazzard-Gordon'sanalysis of dance on slave plantationsin North America, it
is evident thatwhile attitudestowardandregulationof plantationdance varied
widely across time and region, dance was very often perceived as a significant
threat(Hazzard-Gordon1990:3-62). In some states, legislation banningdance
and drummingwas enacted as dances came to be seen as likely sites for plot-
ting insurrections, or even the occasions for the insurrections themselves
(Hazzard-Gordon1990:32-34).
Poole's analysis of the choreographyandhistoryof Andeanritualdance fo-
cuses on the complex ways in which convergences between SpanishCatholic
and Andean conceptions of dance as "devotion"allowed the dance to be sus-
tainedover centuries,in partbecause of the uncomprehendingcultural"blind-
ness" of the Spanishto "non-religious"political meanings of the dance (Poole
1990). Employing vivid descriptions, diagrams,and photographsof Andean

POLITICS
OFDANCE 507
dance movements and patterns,Poole shows how, despite transformationsin

costumes, propsand gestures,Andeandance retainedcharacteristicmovement
patternsthatembeddedconcepts of social hierarchyand social time fundamen-
tally distinct from those of Europeans. While Andean dance was forced to
work within the space of Catholicismandthe church,where it was largely con-
ceptualized as an acceptable "devotional"practice akin to Christianchurch
dances, for the Andeans the dance retainedmuch of its significance as a means
of gaining individual status and power. Taking the dance into the present,
Poole arguesthat, like the colonial Spanish,some contemporary"outside"ob-
servers(mis)readthe dancewithin theirown interpretiveschemes, viewing the
dance as a symbol of an essentialized Andean identity.
Representationsof dance under colonial rule played a critical role in their
transformation.Udall's analysis of the impact of Euro-American image-
makers(photographers,painters,illustrators)on the practiceof the Hopi snake
dance explores the transformativeand intrusiveaspects of colonial (and post-
colonial) visual representationson ritual practice (Udall 1992). Representa-
tions of Javaneseperformancesby the Dutch andthe legacies of colonialism in
contemporaryperformance scholarship are explored by Schechner (1990),
who argues that scholars who establish "normativeexpectations"for "tradi-
tional"performancesperpetuatecolonial thinkingby valorizing one version of
performanceas "true"while dismissing others as corrupted.
The most sustained, and historically and theoretically rich research on
dance undercolonial rule has been done on bharata natyamand the dances of
the devadasis of India,the object of several recentanthropologicalandhistori-
cal studies (Allen 1997; Kersenboom-Story 1987; Marglin 1985; Meduri
1988, 1996; O'Shea 1997, 1998; Srinivasan 1984, 1985, 1988). The deva-
dasis-female temple dancers of South India-are something of a celebrated
case in the colonial history of India, well known because their practices of
dance and ritualwere bannedduringthe Anti-Nautchsocial reformmovement
of the 1890s, which was implementedas part of a series of other reforms de-
signed to "civilize"practicesof Indianwomen. Moreover,bharatanatyam-a
dance form that emerged in the 1930s and is ostensibly derived from the
dances of the devadasis-has now migratedto Europe and the United States,
gaining legitimacy as a form of"world dance"(Meduri 1996).
Meduri's study of the constructionof the devadasi in the 19thand 20th cen-
turies shows the ways in which identities of indigenousdancersshifted as they
became implicated in changing discourses of colonialism, nationalism, and
Orientalism(Meduri 1996). While Kersenboom-Storyand Srinivasanpresent
comprehensive,detailed accounts of the devadasi underprecolonial and colo-
nial rule, from which Meduri draws, Meduri's focus is on demonstratingthe
ways in which the devadasis became implicatedin largerdebatesaboutsexual-
ity, womanhood, and the nation as these developed from the 19th century to

508 REED
the present.She keeps the focus of herresearchon the perspectivesof the deva-
dasis, insofar as these are made visible in documents such as ritual texts and
protestletters,and in the "visible body" of the dancer.Meduritracesthe trans-
figurationof the devadasi from her precolonialpracticeas a temple ritualper-
formerto her naming, in the 19th century,as temple "prostitute"or "dancing
girl" and finally, in the 20th century,to emblem of the nation.
Allen's (1997) work focuses on the complex processes involved in the re-
contextualizationof the devadasi dance duringthe late colonial period. Allen
discusses the multiple influences on the developmentof bharatanatyamin the
1930s and 1940s, and his work illustratesthe complex process by which a rit-
ual dance form was extractedfrom its original context and then domesticated,
reformed, and resanctified for middle-class consumption. Illluminating the
many transformationsthataremaskedby the term"revival,"Allen shows how
this celebratory and seemingly innocent term obscures several processes,
which he succinctly glosses as re-population(one communityappropriatinga
practice from another), re-construction(altering elements of repertoireand
choreography),re-naming(from nautch and other terms to bharata natyam),
re-situation(from temple and courtto the stage), and re-storation(the splicing
togetherof performancesto invent a seemingly ancientpractice)(Allen 1997:
63-64).
The dynamic exchanges that occurredbetween colony and metropole are
the heartof Erdman's(1987) study of the IndianorientaldancerUday Shankar
(Erdman1987) and her critical analysis of the ways in which nationalismhas
affected the constructionof the history of Indian dance (Erdman1996). Erd-
man shows that the importantplace of"oriental dance"-the dances first de-
veloped in Europeand based on orientalthemes-in histories of Indiandance
has long been overlooked for political reasons. After Independence,only two
genres of Indiandanceswere recognizedby nationalists:the "classical"dances
based on regional styles, and the numerous "folk" dances derived from re-
gional and local contexts (Erdman 1996:296). Because histories of Indian
dance were constructedas nationalisthistories-thus erasingthe influences of
Europeansand Americans, such as Anna Pavlova and Ruth St. Denis (Coor-
lawala 1992), as well as European-influenced Indian dancers like
Shankar-Erdman argues that a "new history of Indian dance"is required,a
critical history that questions long-held tenets about the alleged authenticity
and antiquityof classical dance.
Erdman'scritique of Indian dance histories has many implications for the
developmentof a critical dance scholarship,and in calling for new, politically
awarehistoriesof dance, Erdmanis keenly awareof the difficulties of the task,
and leaves open-endedthe forms that such histories might take. In the Indian
case, she argues, they certainlyshould include the many contemporarydevel-
opmentsin the art,the new choreographiesof inventive Indiandancersthatare

POLITICS
OFDANCE 509
both "Indianand modem" (Erdman 1996:297). But Erdmaneven questions

whether the categories of "Indiandance"or "orientaldance"will necessarily
be the most salient ones, emphasizingthat regional, caste, or religious identi-
ties may be more relevantfor understandingthe ways in which dance practices
are understood by the people themselves (Erdman 1996:299). Her critique
raises serious issues about how colonial categories, including the often natu-
ralized classifications of "folk" and "classical" dances, may enact an exclu-
sionary history as well as reify particularpolitically motivated social identi-
ties. Erdman'scall, in fact, is an opportunityfor dance scholarsto intervenein
the often-divisive reificationof ethnic and nationalidentities, an areain which
dance scholarshiphas sometimes been complicit.
Exoticizationtakes many forms, and the representationof the exotic Other,
especially women, has been an importantfeatureof both dance performances
and visual representationsof dance since at least the 18th century.Dance also
played a critical role in the ethnological exhibitions of the 19th century.Franz
Boas, for example, broughtKwakiutlIndiansto performdances at the Chica-
go's World Columbian Exposition in 1893 (Hinsley 1991), while "native
dancers"featuredprominentlyin CarlHagenbeck'sprofitmakingethnological
displays in 19th-centuryEurope.
Dances of the colonized were often appropriatedand refiguredas adjuncts
to the civilizing mission, variously reinforcingstereotypesof mystical spiritu-
ality and excessive sexuality. In the early 20th century,Europeanand Ameri-
can dancers, including Maud Allan, Ruth St. Denis, Ted Shawn, and Anna
Pavlova, appropriatedaspects of non-Europeandance into theirperformances,
creating the exotic in a myriad of ways. Dance historians of Europeanand
American theatredance have made significant contributionsto rethinkingis-
sues of appropriationin theirrepresentationof the Otherin theatricaldance, lo-
cating these within discourses of imperialism,racism, Orientalism,masculin-
ity, and nationalism, among others (Desmond 1991, Koritz 1994, Strong
1998).
Anthropologicalstudies from the early 1970s stressed the ritual reversals,
parody, and satire inherent in festivals and ritual dramas of many societies.
Embedded in many of these studies were brief descriptions of danced paro-
dies of European and nonlocal "Others,"and several of the studies cited
above include such descriptions. But local peoples also adapted, imitated,
and transformedthe dances of colonizers, and many contemporarydances
are social texts that embed long and complex histories of intergroup rela-
tions.
Szwed & Marks (1988) describe how African Americans in the Americas
and the West Indies took up Europeancourt dances of the quadrille,the cotil-
lion, and the contradance,arguingthat these dances were both "Africanized"
and adaptedfor sacredpurposes,as well as restructuredto become the basis of

510 REED
popularculture in the New World (Szwed & Marks 1988:29). Some of these
hybriddances, such as the cakewalk, became phenomenallypopularin North
America in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, even becoming an interna-
tional dance craze (Malone 1996). Rangerdocumentshow the Beni-ngoma or
"drumband"complex of East Africa, a caricatureof the Europeanmilitarypa-
rade, became incorporatedinto social practices that predated colonialism
(Ranger 1975). The matachines dance, performedwidely in Native American
and Hispanic communities throughoutthe Americas, derives from medieval
European folk dramas and was brought to the New World by the Spanish
(Rodriguez 1996:2; see also Poole 1990:114). Most scholars, according to
Rodriguez, agree it was brought for the purpose of "Christianizingthe Indi-
ans," and as it is performedtoday it "symbolically telescopes" centuries of
Iberian-Americanethnic relations as interpretedwithin individual communi-
ties (Rodriguez 1996:2).
In some colonized societies, imitations of European dances became a
means of upwardmobility, much as the speaking of Europeanlanguages and
the wearing of Europeandress could become markersof prestige and status.
Ness, for example, shows how a Phillipine dance, the troupe sinulog, devel-
oped in the late 19thcenturyby incorporatingfeaturesfromHispanicperform-
ance forms such as the war dance/drama,comedia, and the dances of Spanish
Catholicboy choristers(Ness 1992). Ness arguesthatthis process was partof a
wider movement towardsEuropeanizationamong Cebu elites in the 19th cen-
tury, in which elements of European,especially Spanish,culturewere consid-
ered marksof cosmopolitanism.
Nationalism and Ethnicity

Since at least the 19th century,dance and music have emerged as potent sym-
bols of identity for ethnic groups and nations worldwide. Studies of dance,
ethnicity, and national identity have explored the "objectification"of dance
as national culture (Handler 1988), the politics of the category of "art"
(Hughes-Freeland 1997), the reconstruction of tradition (Kaeppler 1993b),
the reinforcementand contestation of gender, ethnic, and class stereotypes
(Daugherty & Pitkow 1991, Mendoza 1998, Mendoza-Walker 1994, Reed
1998), the role of competitive dance in transforming tradition (Stillman
1996), the multiple resonances of dance and national identity (Taylor 1987),
and the practicesof dance as complex social commentarieson interethnicrela-
tions (Rodriguez 1996; Sweet 1980, 1985). Europeandance scholars or "cho-
reologists" have long focused on documentingthe structureof folk dances of
ethnic minorities in a rather decontextualized manner (Giurchescu & Torp
1991), although more recently, several Europeanscholars have turnedto the
study of the politics of folk dance as nationalistpractice (Quigley 1993). Vail

OFDANCE 511
POLITICS
has examined how Balkan folk dance in a New Englandcommunitywas con-

stituted as a site for middle-class white Americans to play both an idealized
egalitarianAmerican "self' and an exotic Old Countrypeasant "Other"(Vail
1996).
Dance is a powerful tool in shapingnationalistideology and in the creation
of national subjects, often more so than are political rhetoric or intellectual
debates (Meyer 1995). The role of stateinstitutionsin the promotionandrefor-
mation of national dances has been documentedin a numberof studies (Aus-
terlitz 1997; Daniel 1991, 1995; Manning 1993, 1995; Mohd 1993; Ramsey
1997; Reed 1991, 1995; Strauss 1977). The appropriationof the culturalprac-
tices of the ruralpeasantryor of the urbanlower classes by the state is a perva-
sive strategy in the development of national cultures throughoutthe world,
whetheras indicationsof the dominanceof one ethnic group or as displays of
culturalpluralism.
In many postcolonial nations, the dancer of the valorized national dance
comes to be idealized as an emblem of an authenticprecolonial past. Where
necessary, dancers come to stand in for the nation at local, regional, national,
and internationalfestivals and other occasions. As an embodimentof cultural
heritage,the dancerbecomes inscribedin nationalisthistories and is refigured
to conform to those histories, yet ambivalence about the dancers and their
practices is often evident because the practices themselves often resist being
fully incorporatedinto nationalist discourses. Indeed, the very aspects that
make dances appealingand colorful as representationsof the past may be pre-
cisely the things that do not easily fit into the self-representationof the nation.
Vestiges of folk religion (Reed 1991), eroticism(Meduri 1996), and social cri-
tique in the performanceof dancesmay sometimesbe a source of discordin the
presentationof an idealized national image.
Political ideologies play a critical role in the selection of national dances.
Strauss'sstudy examines the ideological reasons for the adoptionof ballet dur-
ing China's Cultural Revolution, emphasizing its narrative possibilities,
movement vocabulariesthat stressed strengthand action, and its flexibility in
expressing gender equality throughmovement (Strauss 1977). Daniel's stud-
ies of the Cuban rumbarepresenta particularlystriking case in which a na-
tional dance form was selected almost exclusively for ideological reasons re-
lated to its identity with a particular community-the lower-class, dark-
skinned workersof Cuba(Daniel 1991, 1995). Although therewere two other
legitimate contendersfor the position-the conga, an easier, more participa-
tory form, and the son, the most popularsocial dance of Cuba-the rumbawas
selected by the governmentbecause it was viewed as most closely supporting
the ideals of a socialist, egalitarianstate, and because it expressed an identifi-
cation with African-derived aspects of Cuban culture (Daniel 1995:16). In
Cuba, the Ministry of Culturewas the key agent in the organizationof rumba

512 REED
(indeed, of all the performingarts), directingamateurdances at neighborhood

culturalhouses (casas de cultura) and overseeing three professional folkloric
dance companies.
In the context of state institutions,recontextualizationof dance usually en-
tails the domestication of dance, the taming of its potentially disorderly ele-
ments. Forexample, while in the earlypostrevolutionaryperiodrumbawas as-
sociated with drinking,public revelry, and even fighting, Daniel suggests that
subsequent government support for the dance promoted its shift from this
ratherunrulyatmosphereto the more contained,controlledsites of the culture
house and the stage (Daniel 1995:61). Indeed,today the dance is highly regu-
lated, particularlyin the ConjuntoNacional troupe, where no innovations or
"mixed"dances are allowed. Artistic freedom is limited by the state, and the
original spontaneouscharacterof rumbahas been suppressed.
Regulating purity and authenticityin folkloric dance in a patriarchaland
protective mode is a common featureof state and elite interventions,often in-
dexing notions of a defensive cultureunderseige. In Ireland,such an authori-
tarianapproachto dance is evident in the regulationsof the Gaelic League's
Irish Dancing Commission that "controls virtually every aspect of Irish
dance from transmissionto performance"and forbids the teaching, learning,
and performing of Irish dance without the approval of the Commission
(Meyer 1995:31; see also Hall 1996). Although occurring outside the pa-
rametersof state control, the "ossification"and standardizationof the Catalan
sardana is cited by Brandes as an indicator of the legitimate defense of the
Catalansagainst the threatof Castilian culturalhegemony in Spain (Brandes
1990).
The domestication and regulationof a ritualdance form is exemplified in
Ramsey's study of the relationshipsbetween nationalism,Vodou, and tourism
in postoccupationHaiti of the 1930s throughthe 1950s (Ramsey 1997). Ram-
sey illustrateshow the state transformedthe powerful ritualpracticeof vodou
into a symbol of Haitianidentity. Vodou in Haiti was a potent symbol in two
distinct senses, both of which, from the point of view of the state, necessitated
its domestication.First,while Vodou had been a site of resistancefor over two
centuries in Haiti, in the West it had been an object of sensationalistfascina-
tion for nearlyas long (Ramsey 1997:347). This exotic image, however, which
had proved quite successful in drawingtouristsalso caused considerablecon-
cern for the state, whose efforts to control culturethroughstandardizationof
dance, were, as Ramsey argues, only partially successful. The process by
which the stateattemptedto containcultureis a familiarone of sanitizationand
desacralization,attemptingto separatedance fromritual,andmagic and super-
stition from more appropriateaspects of folklore. The attemptsat state control
over dance were extraordinary;in 1949, for example, when Jean-LeonDes-
tine, Haiti's premierdancer,was asked to organize a nationalfolklore troupe,

POLITICS
OFDANCE 513
state ethnologists attendedhis performancesevery night to monitorhis repre-

sentationsof Haitian identity (Ramsey 1997:365).
National dances are derivedfromthe practicesof specific communities,but
the dynamics of the appropriationof these practices and the effects they have
on the communities of origin have often been overlooked in the literatureon
"inventedtraditions."Reed's ethnographicstudies of the Kandyan dance of
Sri Lankafocus on the centralrole of traditionalritualdancersin the recontex-
tualizationof dance from a specialized ritualpractice to popularsecular form
(Reed 1991, 1995). While acknowledgingthe criticalrole of the statein this re-
figuration,which has resulted in an almost entirely secular form of the dance,
Reed explores the means by which traditionaldancers fought to retain some
semblance of the dance's ritualmeaning, even as it became increasingly sim-
plified and standardizedwithin the structuresof state bureaucraticpractices.
Tracing the development of Kandyan dance since the colonial period, Reed
also shows how the culturalpolitics of Tamil and Sinhalarivalriesmade dance
a focal point for the reification of ethnic identities. In state-sponsoreddance
seminars and programsand in dance history texts, for example, oppositional
categories of Sinhalaand Tamil are reinforced,despite the quite obvious fam-
ily resemblances between the Kandyan dance and its Tamil counterpart,
bharata natyam.
The emotional power of dance as national symbol is evoked in Shapiro's
studies of Cambodian court dance in contemporaryrefugee communities
(Shapiro 1994, 1995). Refugee Cambodiandancers are seen as emblems of
the Cambodiannation as it existed prior to the Khmer Rouge, and the suste-
nance of the elaborateand difficult courtdance form, with its more than 4500
gestures and postures, is experienced by Cambodiansas a continuity with a
place and a past from which they have been severed. Duringthe brutalrepres-
sions of Pol Pot, in which scores of dancersand otherartistswere killed, danc-
ers had to deny theirown identitiesto survive, and they kept the dance alive by
practicing the gestures and movements in the darkness of night (Shapiro
1995). After the devastationsof Cambodiancultureby the KhmerRouge, the
court dance traditions came to stand for all that was lost, "the soul of the
Khmer,"andthe burdenof healing the body politic is now in the handsof mas-
ter dancers.
With few exceptions (Daniel 1996, Kaeppler 1977), tourist dances, al-
though often discussed in passing in the context of other concerns, have re-
ceived surprisinglylittle attentionfrom anthropologists,despite their obvious
importance in constituting ethnic and national representationsof self and
Other.This may well reflect anthropology'scontinued attachmentto authen-
ticity, and the taints of impurityand corruptionoften associated with tourism.
Malefyt's study of the traditionaland commercial forms of the Spanish fla-
menco places touristperformancesin a wider context of genderedconceptions

514 REED
of cultureand authenticity(Malefyt 1998). Malefyt explores how aficionados

of the dance deploy discourses of purityand impurity,"inside"and "outside,"
to create exaggerated distinctions between the public (masculine), commer-
cialized performancesand the closed, private, and intimate(feminine) sphere
of privateflamenco clubs. Malefyt's work thus echoes other studies that show
how protectionof the feminine is linked to the defense of purityin culturaltra-
ditions.
Dance in a Global Context

The study of dance within contemporaryglobal/transnationalcontexts is an
arenaripe for anthropologicalinvestigation. The influences of migrationand
media, especially electronic media (Appadurai1996), on the productionand
receptionof dancehave only recentlyreceived attentionfromdance andmove-
ment analysts.The ways in which ballet has been "indigenized"and trans-
formed is the subject of Ness's study of the Igorot, a Philippinetransnational
ballet (Ness 1997). Arguingagainsta simple view of appropriationas "cultural
imperialism,"Ness demonstrateshow Igorot is produced as an original and
creativeformthatselectively referencesboth ethnic andballetic styles. The re-
sult is neitherentirely Filipino nor Western,but rathera complex hybridthat
produces contradictoryeffects. On the one hand, the Igorot is, Ness argues, a
"decolonizing"dance thatemploys a complex movementvocabularyto create
a form of Philippine self-representation(1997:68). On the other hand, the
dance has the effect of reifying an identificationof the Igorot with all Filipi-
nos, thus promotinga conservative agenda that denies the internalethnic di-
versity and hierarchyof the Philippinenation state (1997:80).
MartaSavigliano's complex text on the tango is a majorwork that engages
feminist, postcolonial, and poststructuralisttheories to producea provocative
accountof the Argentiniannationaldance (Savigliano 1995). Savigliano pres-
ents tango as a complicated,contradictorypracticethathas been producedand
continues to be reproducedthroughmultiple processes of exoticization. With
historical and ethnographicdocumentationand nuancedmovement analyses,
accompaniedby a score of illustrationsof dancers,publicity flyers, programs,
and dance manuals,Savigliano details the very complex lives the tango has led
in Argentina and in the cultural capitals of London, Paris, and Tokyo. As a
symbol of the passionateOtherand of exotic culturein a global capitalistecon-
omy, Savigliano shows the many ways in which the tango has been commodi-
fied for "imperialconsumption."In addition,she demonstrateshow the tango
has become the object of a process of "auto-exoticization"by the colonized
themselves.
Savigliano's focus on the global context of the productionand appropria-
tion of tango is among the book's most significant contributions.As she tells

POLITICS
OFDANCE 515
us, the imperial, bourgeois classes of Europe constituted the exotic as both
desirable and repulsive, fascinating and scandalous. Unlike other exotic
dances (such as the African American cake-walk and the Brazilian maxixe),
the tango did not have a clear-cutclass or race identity, and its erotic character
was displayed as a process of controlled seduction, not instinctive or wild
sexuality. Tango, in short, was highly malleable, an "exotic dance that could
easily be stretched in various directions"(Savigliano 1995:114). In order to
make the exotic palatableas a Europeanpractice,however, elements of its raw
and passionate "primitiveness"had to be reshapedto suit cosmopolitan aes-
thetic sensibilities. Dance mastersin early 20th centuryParisplayed a key role
in standardizingthe dance, simplifying its improvisationalcharacteristicsinto
a morallyacceptableset of steps, while tango manualsand congresses contrib-
uted to its domestication, "a choreographictransformationsuited to French
mannersand good taste" (Savigliano 1995:122).
Of considerable import for anthropologistsis Savigliano's discussion of
"auto-exoticization,"the process by which the colonized come to represent
themselves to themselves throughthe lenses of the colonizers. Globally, dance
has come to play this role in many postcolonial nations, and Savigliano's de-
scriptionof how tango played back home afterits incorporationinto the exotic
dance repertoireof Europeis relevantfor analyzingmore generallythe role of
the arts in constitutingnational identities. Although tango originated among
the low working-class sectors of Argentina's Rio de la Plata region in the
1880s, it was only after it achieved fame in the world's culturalcapitals in the
20th centurythatit became popularthroughoutArgentina.Moreover,this rein-
troductionof tango also broughtwith it new ideas about the social and moral
meanings of dancing-ideas that were culturallydependenton the colonizers
(Savigliano 1995:137). Savigliano's analysis maintains the tension between
two key effects of exoticization:one thatis empowering,grantinglocal recog-
nition to certainsocial groupsandtheirpractices,the otherco-opting andbind-
ing, reifying a "tasteful"exotic that served to maintain the (neo)colonized
population's dependent status. As Savigliano points out, the (neo)colonizers
maintainthe upperhandin this process, the threatof withdrawalof recognition
always being in their power.
The role of media and mediating images in the representationand presen-
tation of bodily practicesis exploredby Zarrilliin his study of the Indianmar-
tial art form kalarippayattu (Zarrilli 1998). Zarrilli, who situates kalarip-
payattu within the contemporarytransnationalzone of late 20th century"pub-
lic culture" (Appadurai& Breckenridge 1988), examines how "an increas-
ingly diverse group of cultureproducersand their audiences"are using mass
media to shape martialpractices (Zarrilli 1998: 4). Zarrilli's interestis in "the
dynamic and shifting relationshipbetween body, bodily practice[s], knowl-
edge, power, agency and the practitioner's'self or identity, as well as the dis-

516 REED
courses and images of the body and practice createdto representthis shifting
relationship"(Zarrilli1998: 4). He outlines a model for the study of these vari-
ous domains as a complex of four interactivearenas:(a) the "literal"arenasof
practice, such as the trainingground, competitions, and the public stage; (b)
the social arenasof the school, lineage, and formal associations;(c) the arena
of"culturalproduction"thatgenerateslive or mediatedpresentationsor repre-
sentations such as films; and (d) the arena of experience and self-
formation-the individual'sexperienceof embodiedpracticein the shapingof
a self (Zarrilli 1998:9).
The impact of media images on popular reception and practices of dance
is explored in Franken'shistorical account of the changing image of female
dancers in Egyptian film and television (Franken 1996). Frankenargues that
the emergence of a "respectable"female dance form in Egypt and other parts
of the Arab world can largely be attributedto the enormouspopularityof the
cinematic dance performances of a single dancer, Farida Fahmy. While
Fahmydancedin a style thatwas recognizablyEgyptian,her modest costumes
and the de-eroticized context of her dancing projected an image of a "sweet
Egyptiangirl who was a truedaughterof the country-the antithesisof the im-
age of the belly-dancer who appeared in cabarets and films" (Franken
1996:279). Though Fahmy's films were made in the 1960s, they are still
shown on television throughoutthe Middle East, and thus continueto popular-
ize ideas about dancing and respectability far beyond Egypt (Franken 1996:
282).
DANCE AND GENDER
If we accept as a given that gender is not an essential quality or characteristic

but one that is largely performative,it is evident that dance studies have much
to contributeto researchon gender identities. In comparisonto otherperform-
ance forms such as theatre(Senelick 1992), dance has been in many societies
one of the few sites where women can legitimatelyperformin public (Thomas
1993:72). While there have been many studies of male and female dances as
evidenced in Hanna's crossculturalsurvey (1988), surprisinglyfew have en-
gaged with the largerdebates in the anthropologyof gender and sexuality as
they have developed in recent decades.
Dance is an importantmeans by which cultural ideologies of gender dif-
ference are reproduced.Throughmovement vocabulary,costuming,body im-
age, training,and technique, discourses of dance are often rooted in ideas of
naturalgenderdifference, as Daly describes for the classical ballet (1987/88).
Movement lexicons of males and females often demonstratethe ideals of gen-
dereddifference in action. In the Cubanrumba,for example, male dancersuse

OFDANCE 517
POLITICS
dance as an arena for exhibiting strength, courage, and bravado, while

women's dance is generally softer, subtler,more cautious, and graceful (Dan-
iel 1995).
However, dance performancesare also sites of gender-crossing, mixing,
and reversal (Grau 1993a, 1995). There are numerousexamples of males per-
forming in the costumes and manners of the stereotypical female, some as
parodiesof female dancing, othersas homoeroticismor provocationsto same-
sex erotic encounters (Hanna 1988:57-59). The meaning of role reversals is
highly complex and not at all self-evident. In Africa, where women adopting
"maletraits"in collective dances is fairly widespread,Spencernotes the wide-
rangingmeanings that anthropologistshave ascribedto these types of dances,
including temporaryrelease from subservience, veiled protest against male
domination, competitiveness between women, and fulfillment of traditional
roles in rites of passage (Spencer 1985:3).
Women, Sexuality, and Dance
Prohibitionson and regulationof dance practicesare often accurateindices of
prevailingsexual moralitieslinked to the regulationof women's bodies. In her
historical account of Americanadversariesof dance from the 17th centuryto
the present, Wagner argues that opposition to dance, propagatedmostly by
white, male Protestantclergy and evangelists, was largely based on a fear of
women, the body and the passions (Wagner 1997). Over the centuries, the
most extensive opposition to dance focused on the alleged or actualsexual im-
moralityof dancingor its environment.Dance opponentscast women as either
"pureand pious"-in need of protection from dance-or "fallen and sinful,"
andthereforeeithervictims or perpetuatorsof the evils of dance. Oppositionto
dance was also relatedto Protestantclerics' emphasis on strictrationalityand
the devaluationof the body. As a "merely"physical activity, dancingwas dis-
missed as a waste of time because "neithermind nor spiritwas edified" (Wag-
ner 1997: 395). Dance is often an ambivalent and problematicperformance
site for women as it demonstratescontradictoryand ambivalentattitudesabout
female sexuality. Cowan discusses how female sexuality is regardedin north-
ern Greece as both pleasurableandthreatening.In dancing,women areencour-
aged to display theirbeauty, energy, skill, sensuality, and even seductiveness,
while they are simultaneouslyviewed with suspicion for drawingtoo much at-
tention to themselves or failing to maintain self-control (Cowan 1990:190).
Because of the inherentambiguityof bodily actions, there is often no consen-
sus on what distinguishes "a 'legitimately' sensual and pleasing gesture from
one that 'goes too far,'" and thus, for women, the pleasures of dance are often
ambiguous (Cowan 1990:190-91).
Furthermore,dance performances can exhibit and generate gender/class
conflicts regardingthe appropriatenessof sexually provocative dance move-

518 REED
ments for women. In urbanSenegal, women's dances range from bawdy and
explicitly sexual to highly restrainedmovements (Heath 1994). While tradi-
tional dancingis consideredto be "women's business,"dancingis also consid-
ered risky for a woman's reputation,particularlyaftermarriage.Yet theirper-
formancesare requiredfor public ceremonies, and men's reputationseven de-
pend on them. However, upper-classmen often try to controlthe dancers-in-
sisting on restraint,ratherthansexual expressivity.Women,however, often re-
sist, testing the limits of appropriatenessby sneaking in risque movements,
thus attemptingto defy total control by males (1994:93).
A numberof studies illustratethe contradictionsand ambiguities of dance
for women in Islamic societies (al Faruqi 1978). In the "Iranianculture
sphere,"which includes diaspora communities, Shay (1995) argues that the
bazi-ha-ye nameyeshi, a women's theatricaldance-play performed only for
women, is simultaneouslya site of bawdy, erotic expression and also a social
critiquethatreinscribesa patriarchalsystem in which women are defined pri-
marilythroughtheirhusbands.Deaver's study of SaudiArabianbelly dancing
(a termused by her informants)echoes this interpretation,as women dance for
each otherin a competitiveway, displayingtheirwealth, social status,and sex-
ual desirability (Deaver 1978). Outside the safety of the feminine private
sphere are professional female dancers. Van Nieuwkerk's historical and eth-
nographic account of professional female belly dancers and singers in Cairo
explores the way in which these performersnegotiatetheiridentitieswithin re-
ligious and classed discourses of honor and shame, while also showing how
Orientaliststereotypesof the dancersstill persist in contemporaryEgypt (van
Nieuwkerk 1995). A key contributionof Buonaventura'slavishly illustrated
book on baladi (belly dance) is her documentationof Orientalistrepresenta-
tions of dancers in 19th and early 20th century paintings, photographs,and
other media (Buonaventura1990).
Kapchan'sanalysis of the many "bodies"ofshikhat, Moroccanfemale per-
formerswho representthe quintessentialtransgressivefemale in Moroccanso-
ciety, highlights the complexity of dancers' identities and both the costs of
marginalityand its freedoms (Kapchan 1994). As exemplarsof the quality of
matluqat-free, unlimited and unrestricted-shikhat are admiredas "lively,
animated,spirited,"embodying featuresof "exhilarationand flowing move-
ment"(1994: 94). At the same time, the "loose language"of the shikha, both
corporealand linguistic, is seen as inseparablefrom her shamefulmoral char-
acter (1994: 86). Describing the multiple "bodies" of the dancers, Kapchan
evokes the complex meanings of these performers.The "competentbody" of
the dancer denotes her as an artist of the physical, exemplifying her sexual
prowess, while the "nonsense body" is an expression of subversion and the
camivalesque(1994: 93-95). However, these more pleasurablebodies come at
the cost of the "exiled body" (1994: 96). Shikhatmay be independentand fun-

POLITICS
OFDANCE 519
loving, but the majorityhave been rejectedby their families and thus uprooted
from place, a state which Kapchandescribes as "...the greatesthardshippossi-
ble" in Moroccan society (1994: 97). Critiquing"resistance"as a limited con-
struct for understandingthe role of the shikhat, Kapchannotes how, despite
their independence,shikhatalso internalize"...the dominantvalue system that
degradestheir materialand spiritualworth"(1994: 96).
Dance and Feminist Theory. Gaze and Reception
As dance historianAnn Daly has indicated,the common interests of feminist
scholarshipand dance studies would suggest a naturalalliance (Daly 1991a),
althoughas yet, few anthropologicalstudies of dance have drawnexplicitly on
feminist theories. Daly's study of Isadora Duncan and American culture
(1995) provides an importantmodel for interpretingthe culturalsignificance
of theatricaldance and the importanceof audiences. Daly presents a complex
and fluid model for understandingthe ways in which dancersmirror,contest,
and transform gender, ethnic, and class identities. One of Daly's primary
points is her definition of the body as a complex, contradictory,and ever
changingculturalsite of"discursive intercourse"which is constructeddialogi-
cally by the dancer and her audiences (1995:17). Daly's extensive research
into primary sources of Duncan's audience of mostly upper-class white
women (dance reviews, articles, and memoirs) provides the basis for her
analysis. In foregroundingthe importanceof reception as co-creation,Daly's
analysis is highly suggestive for anthropologistswho, with few exceptions
(Hanna 1983), have tendedto focus primarilyon performersor the contexts of
performance.
While the "male gaze" (Kaplan 1983, Mulvey 1975) and the genderedre-
ception and readingof dances has been the subjectof considerablecriticaldis-
cussion by dance historians and sociologists (Coorlawala 1996, Daly 1992,
Manning 1997, O'Shea 1997, Thomas 1996), there has been little ethno-
graphicresearchon dance receptionand spectatorship.Miller's study of same-
sex female sexual dancing in the Trinidadiancarnivalunderscoresthe critical
importanceof exploring gender in the interpretationof dance (Miller 1991),
although one wishes he had furtherexplored this dimension of analysis. In
Trinidad,lower-class women's dance groupsperformin a sexually expressive
way, often parodyingmen. Indeed, in the Carnivalof the late 1980s, same-sex
female dancing had become so conspicuous that the Trinidadianmen Miller
interviewed deemed it an expression of "lesbianism gone rife" (1991:333).
This interpretationwas considered incomprehensibleby Miller's female con-
sultants,who, accordingto Miller, did not carewith whom they danced. Situat-
ing his interpretationwithin the wider contexts of cross-gender relations
among the lower classes, Miller argues that this form of sexual dancing,

520 REED
known as "wining,"is not homoerotic,but actuallya dance of"autosexuality,"

a sexuality not dependentupon men (1991:333).
MOVEMENT, BODY, AND CULTURE

In the last ten years, anthropologistsand dance scholarshave made significant
contributionsto culturalanalyses of bodies in motion, situatingtheir studies in
relation to broader issues of social and philosophical theory (Farell 1994,
1995a,b; Foster 1992, 1995b; Lewis 1992, 1995; Novack 1990, 1995). The
works of Bourdieu, Foucault, Merleau-Ponty,and Peirce, in particular,have
provided analysts opportunitiesfor critique and reflection. Anthropologists
Lewis and Farell, for example, have demonstratedhow the legacies of Carte-
sian mind/body dualism permeatethe language and categories of theories of
embodiment,providingdifficulties for movementanalysis (Lewis 1992, 1995;
Farell 1994, 1995b). Famell shows how these categories have resulted in an
"absenceof the person as a moving agent"in the Westernphilosophical tradi-
tion and suggests that the "new realist" philosophy of science espoused by
Harr6holds much promise for transcendingmaterialist/immaterialistcatego-
ries (Famell 1994). Lewis proposes that a dialogue between the phenomenol-
ogical approachesof Peirce and the continental phenomenologists, such as
Merleau-Ponty,can contribute greatly to clarifying cross-culturalissues of
embodiment(Lewis 1995: 228).
The body as a conceptualobjecthas been the subjectof much debateamong
dance scholars,andthe interventionsof CynthiaJeanCohenBull1 have played
a critical role in reconceptualizationsof the body in dance studies. Bull was
one of the pioneers of a phenomenological approach,and her untimely death
frombreastcancerin 1996 left an enormousgap in the world of dance scholar-
ship. Fortunately,Bull's considerablebody of writings remaina rich source of
insight and analysis on the culturalstudy of dance; DeirdreSklarhas provided
an elegant summaryof her life and work (Sklar 1997).
In an article on "the body's endeavors as culturalpractices,"Novack cri-
tiques some dominantconceptualizationsof the body as they have been formu-
lated in anthropology,as well as in the field of dance studies (Novack 1995).
Citing a call for papersfor a 1990 anthropologicalconferenceon the body, No-
vack notes how the categories listed in the notice "positedthe body as an ob-
ject, manipulatedby externalforces in the service of something:religion (body
as icon), the state (the discipline of the body), gender(the feminine body), and
so on" (1995:179). Novack argues that while these categories articulatesome
Most of the works of Cynthia Jean Cohen Bull were published underthe name of Cynthia
Novack. In the last monthsof her life, Cynthiarequestedthather name be changed.

POLITICSOF DANCE 521
aspects of social experience, they do not capturethe full experiential signifi-

cance of the body as a responsive and creative subject(1995:179-80). In addi-
tion, Novack also cautions against reifying "thebody" as the primaryanalytic
category in dance studies. In some contexts, she argues, it may be that ideas
about sound, movement and social ethics are more culturallyrelevant for un-
derstanding"bodily endeavors"(1995:183). This perspective resonates with
Turner'semphasis on the utility of studying "bodiliness"and "productiveac-
tivity" ratherthan isolated individualand boundedbodies (Turner1995:150),
and his insight that the social body is producedas an "ensembleof bodily ac-
tivities" (Turner1995:166).
"Dance, perhapsmore than any otherbody-centeredendeavor,cultivates a
body thatinitiates as well as responds ..." (Foster 1995b:15). Foster's essay on
the body in dance includes an importantcritiqueof Foucault and emphasizes
the agency of the body as a vital counterbalanceto the neglect of agentive bod-
ies in traditionaldance studies: "Thepossibility of a body that is writtenupon
but thatalso writes moves critical studies of the body in new directions.It asks
scholars to approachthe body's involvement in any activity with an assump-
tion of potential agency to participatein or resist whatever forms of cultural
productionareunderway"(Foster 1995b:15). Like Novack and Turner,Foster
does not posit a stablecategoryof the body, but ratherconsiderssuch questions
as "Whatbodies are being constructedhere?"or "How do these values find
embodiment?" or "How does this body figure in this discourse?" (Foster
1995b:12).
The agentive nature of dance has often linked it to notions of resistance
(Martin1990) and control (Limon 1994), althoughrecent criticisms of the use
of the resistance concept (Abu-Lughod 1990, Ortner1995) will undoubtedly
lead to refinementsin futuredance studies. Paradoxically,while some aspects
of the experience of dance may engenderkinestheticsensationsof power, con-
trol, transcendence,and divine union, other aspects may locate it within para-
digms of ideological repressionor subordination.This stress on the paradoxof
agency in dance was early formulatedby ethnomusicologist John Blacking,
who arguedthat"ritualmay be enactedin the service of conservativeand even
oppressive institutions...but the experience of performing the nonverbal
movements and sounds may ultimately liberate the actors...Performancesof
dance and music frequently reflect and reinforce existing ideas and institu-
tions, but they can also stimulatethe imaginationand help to bring coherence
to the sensuous life..." (Blacking 1985:65). This quality of dance as simulta-
neously productive and reproductiveis echoed by Novack, who remarksthat
"Dance may reflect and resist culturalvalues simultaneously,"noting the ex-
ample of the ballerinawho "embodies and enacts stereotypes of the feminine
while she interpretsa role with commandingskill, agency and a subtlety that
denies stereotype"(Novack 1995:181).

522 REED
Novack's major ethnographic work on contact improvisation (1990), a

modem communaldanced "art-sport"that focuses on the physical sensations
of "touching, leaning, supporting, counterbalancing,and falling with other
people" (Novack 1990:8), locatedthis formwithin "Americanculture"(a term
she unfortunatelydid not adequatelyproblematize).Novack provides a com-
prehensive analysis of several aspects of contact improvisation,following her
notion that in orderto understandany dance form, one must take into account
the interplay of its different facets: (a) the "art"(choreographicstructures,
movement styles, techniques of dance); (b) the institutions (local, national,
global) in which it is practicedand performed;and (c) those who participatein
it as performers,producers,spectatorsand commentators(Novack 1995:181).
In her study, Novack addresseseach of these, situatingthe dance in relationto
particularhistorical circumstancesand showing how the meanings of move-
ment and constructionsof the body changedover two decades, from the 1960s
to the 1980s. Drawingon her own long-termexperiencein learningcontactim-
provisation,Novack provides a rich, sensual interpretationof movement that
is sensitive to the centralityof the body, as well as to the ways in which culture
shapes and is shapedby it.
Novack's attentionto historicizing the body in culture is one of her main
contributionsto dance scholarship. In a discussion of theatricaldance forms
in 20th centuryAmerica, for example, Novack articulatesthe differences be-
tween the ways in which bodies are conceptualized in ballet ("as an instru-
ment which must be trained to conform to the classical movement vocabu-
lary"),in moderndances of the 1930s and 1940s ("a more expressionist view
of the body... in which internalfeelings were realized in externalmovement"),
and in dances of the postwar period (a model of the body that was "moreab-
stract, or objective, and more phenomenological") (Novack 1990:31). But
Novack also looks beyond theatrical dance to other cultural influences on
the body, exemplified by rock dancing, experimental theatre, and bodily
based therapiessuch as Alexandertechnique,yoga, and meditation.In taking
this broad perspective, Novack situates contact improvisation in relation to
wider currents of change in the 1960s regarding conceptualizations of the
body.
Both the sensual/sensibleexperience of dance and its culturalmeanings are
the focus of a comparativearticleby Bull thatdrawson Paul Stoller's formula-
tion of"sensibility" and "intelligibility"(Bull 1997; Stoller 1989). Exploring
how ballet, contact improvisation,and West African dance stressthe senses of
sight, touch, and sound, respectively, Bull arguesthatthe particularcharacter-
istics of each dance form, as well as its modes of transmissionand perform-
ance, encourage"prioritiesof sensationthat subtly affect the natureof percep-
tion itself" (1997:285). Bull thus hypothesizes that dance "finely tunes"cul-
turally variable sensibilities, raising importantquestions about the transmis-

OFDANCE 523
POLITICS
sion of dance from one culturalsetting, or historical period, to another(Bull

1997:285).
Body, space, movement, culture, and history are explored in Sally Ness's
ethnographyof the sinulog, a dance form of the Philippine port city of Cebu
(Ness 1992). Throughher interpretationsof the varieties of sinulog dancing,
Ness connects a number of issues in the field of dance and movement in an
original way. Ness's key conceptual innovation is the use of a category she
calls "choreographicphenomena." By deploying this category in contexts
where the term dance would be too narrowor confining, Ness both draws at-
tention to a wider arrayof patternedbody movements-such as those found in
ritualpractices-and provides linkages between these more public and formal
structures and the more commonplace moves of walking or handholding.
Throughthe use of analogies, Ness demonstrateshow both the visual and the
sensory qualities of movement can be expressed in language. Her description
of the opening move in the ritualsinulog is typical: "Imaginegentle currentsof
energy, flowing freely throughand beyond your body, formingwarmpools of
movement in the space just aroundyou. Your hands are broughtto life in this
softly pulsing current.They wave aroundin the watery space, leaving invisible
traces of theirmovement in the air. The currentspreadsdown your legs, which
begin to bear your body's weight alternately,subtly shifting your body from
side to side throughthe liquid space in a slight sway..." (Ness 1992:1).
Interpretingmovement, however, also requires a sensitivity to cultural
space. As Ness shows, space is not an inertbackdropfor movement,but is inte-
gral to it, often providingfundamentalorientationand meaning. In an analysis
of the urbanenvironmentof Cebu,Ness ranges from a descriptionof the street
plans and built environmentto a discussion of the structuredmovements of
walking, traffic, and ritual dance, drawing out patternsof continuitybetween
all of these. These patternsshe identifies as off-verticality,resiliency, and sur-
face values, all of which manifestthemselves in a wide variety of contexts and
constitute the fluidity of life thatNess notes as characteristicof Cebuanocul-
ture.
Williams draws attentionto the importanceof locating movement in space
through an examination of a "bow" in three movement systems-tai chi, a
Latin Mass, and a modem ballet (Williams 1995). In her discussion, drawing
on ideas derived from Hertz and Dumont, Williams attends to the cultural
meaningsof movements anddirectionssuch as up/down,right/left,front/back,
and inside/outside. Employing Dumont's idea of a hierarchyof structuralop-
positions, she notes, for example, thatin Europeanculturemovements forward
and backwardcorrelatewith temporal ideas of the future and the past. Wil-
liams argues that understandingbodies, spaces, and objects in terms of these
structuraloppositions is essential for conceptualizatinghuman movement as
intentionalaction.

524 REED
Lewis's study of the Braziliancapoeira-a complex culturalgenre that in-

cludes elements of martialart,dance, music, ritual,andtheatre-combines de-
tailed analysis of movement with incisive commentarieson its social and cul-
tural significance (Lewis 1992). In his study, Lewis draws on the insights of
Peirceansemiotics and context-sensitive sociolinguistic theories (see also Ur-
ciuoli 1995) to illuminate capoeira as a kind of discourse, a "physical dia-
logue" or "conversation"between two partners,a conversationthattakes place
throughaction, not talk. Viewing his primaryprojectas a contributionto a gen-
eral theory of signs in culture,Lewis attendsto both the formaland contextual
aspects of the capoeira.The voices of capoeiramasters, as well as that of the
anthropologist,are presentthroughoutthe text.
One of the key contributionsof Lewis's study to dance and movement
analysis is his use of a Peirceansemiotic perspectivethatemphasizesthe poly-
semy of sign systems, the multiplicity of interpretations,and the negotiated
and unstablenatureof culturalproduction.While language has long been the
privileged site of analysis in semiotic approaches influenced by Saussure,
Lewis shows how Peirce's attention to the iconic and indexical features of
signs may prove more illuminatingfor analyses ofextralinguistic sign systems
such as dance and music (see also Feld & Fox 1994). While stressingthe con-
ditioned and highly contextualizednatureof such systems, the Peircean per-
spective providesa broadview thatallows the analystto make links with other
sign complexes within a society. Like Ness, Lewis demonstratesthat the rela-
tionships between everyday movements and movements in performanceare
continuous,thoughnot identical,relatingto what Lewis calls a "culturalstyle"
linking everyday life with art(1992:132). Culturalstyles, in Lewis's view "are
composed of signs which are semiotically related but functionally and prag-
matically diverse: able to function in many ways, mean many things, but all in
the same 'way"' (1992:132). As Lewis indicates, culturalstyle is often em-
bedded in physical habits and rarelyarticulated-thus dependenton the keen
eye and body of the participant/observer.
Attentionto the multiple and contested interpretationsof movement in his-
tory, and the dilemmasof the anthropologistin sortingout these contestedhis-
tories, is yet another importantaspect of Lewis's project. Throughouthis
analysis, Lewis relatesthe movementsin capoeirato practitioners'accountsof
their links to the culture of Brazilian slavery, and by extension, to Africa.
While acknowledgingthe political meanings that such links may have in con-
temporaryculture,Lewis does not refrainfrom casting doubt on some promi-
nent oral traditionsexplaining the origins of capoeira and he attemptsto sort
out andexamine its multiple influences-Amerindian, African,and European.
In his discussions of the "multiple semiotic channels" of capoeira-move-
ment, music, and speech-Lewis frequently comments on the African and
Europeaninfluences that are in evidence, or are meaningfulto capoeiramas-

ters. He also shows capoeira's links to other Afro-Brazilianmovement sys-

tems, such as the samba, and to African music and ritual aesthetics, making
again a case for a distinctive culturalstyle (see also Lewis 1995:226).
The threadthat binds this complex semiotic system together and links it to
other facets of Afro-Brazilianculture is the theme of liberation, escape, and
freedom: freedom from slavery, from class domination, from poverty, and
even from the constraints of the body (Lewis 1992:2). Deception is a key
means of achieving liberation,a traitthat Lewis suggests evolved under slav-
ery as a "weaponof the weak" and has now become a centralvalue in contem-
porarysociety. In capoeira,many moves are made to deceive-a blessing that
results in a kick (Lewis 1992:32), or the set of movements Lewis classes as
"pretendto run away," in which a player initially feigns fear, only to turnand
attack (1992:130). These tactics of deception, along with a host of other pre-
tend movements (pretendto lose sight of the opponent,pretendto be injured,
pretendto be angry, and so on), Lewis argues, are viewed as a necessary and
valued aspect of life, both in and out of the capoeiraring. In capoeira,however,
unlike in everyday life, deceptive tactics are revealed, and thus, truthsabout
society are unmasked(1995:194).
BarbaraBrowning's explorationof the Braziliansambaemploys vivid lan-
guage to inscribe the "bodily writing" of dance, drawing the reader into the
worlds of samba, candomble, and capoeira of Bahia and New York City
(Browning 1995). In Brazil, Browningwrites, "Ibegan to thinkwith my body"
(1995:xxii), and it was through her experience of Brazilian dancing that
Browningconceived "entirelydifferentways of thinkingaboutlanguage,writ-
ing, representation,narrative,even irony"(1995:xxi). Browning conceives of
her project as neitherpurely historicalnor purely semiotic analysis, but an ac-
count thatwould "allow for a synthesis of time and signs, which would be the
only way to account for the complex speaking of the body in Brazil"(Brown-
ing 1995:9). The circle or roda of samba, candomble,and capoeirastandsas a
metaphor through Browning's analysis; there is no linear progression, but
ratherexpansion and always return.While Browning discusses the "secular"
samba,the "religious"candomble,andthe "martialdance"of capoeirain sepa-
rate chapters,she makes clear that the boundariesbetween them are not at all
clear, and that references to one may be encoded in another.
The centralityof dance in tranceand healing has long been acknowledged
by anthropologists(Bourguignon 1968), and a number of insightful studies
have stressed body-centered or phenomenological approaches(Deren 1970;
Drewal 1989, 1992; Devisch 1993; Friedson 1996; Kapferer1983; Katz 1982).
In her discussion of the dances of the syncretic Afro-Brazilian Catholic-
Yorubareligion of candomble,Browning explores a critical issue of represen-
tation in describingwhat anthropologistshave generally classified as "posses-
sion." What does it mean to be "mounted"by the gods, and how can one de-

526 REED
scribe its "divine choreography"?Like other writers who describe African

trancedance as a manifestationof divine powers, Browning shifts from read-
ing the body as the centralobject of analysis, to the orixas-the principles of
nature-that standoutside of, and before, humancreativepotential(1995:42).
In making this shift, Browning alters her analytic focus from the individual
body to more culturally salient notions. But how is divinity representedin
dance?
Browning answers this question by undertakinga semiotic analysis of the
ways in which "orixachoreography"is danced. The invocative dances of the
orixas, subduedand subtle dances thatareperformedpriorto theirdescent, are
not evocations or imitationsof the orixas,but a "prayerof significance"and of-
fering to them (Browning 1995:70). For male gods, the dances are performed
in referenceto the metonymic, physical objects that are associated with them;
for goddesses, the dances tend to be embodied in relation to their principles.
The lightning god Xango, for example, is invoked in a mannerin which the
body of the dancercomes to resemblehis implement,the thunderaxe, while in
dancing Yemanja, the goddess of salt waters, the dancer pulls her out-
stretched arms inward as if drawing the waters in at low tide (Browning
1995:65). Browning's conclusion is that representationsof divinity in can-
domble can be made contiguously or metonymically,but not mimetically, and
grasping this essential principle enables one to interpretthe choreographyof
candomble.
Among the many stereotypesthat Browning countersin her book is the ca-
thartictheory of dance and ritual (see Spencer 1985:3-8) that argues that the
dances of the marginaland lower classes are a means to cope with the oppres-
sion of their lives by using dance as a temporary"escape"from everyday suf-
fering. Browningprovidesan alternativereadingto this, assertingthatdance is
not a retreatbut rathera means of remembering,a mode of "culturalrecord
keeping" and a form of "culturalinscription"(Browning 1995:xxii), a "lan-
guage in response to culturalrepression"(1995:174). As she concludes in her
final chapter,"the insistence of Brazilians to keep dancing is not a means of
forgettingbut rathera perseverence,an unrelentingattemptto intellectualize,
theorize, understanda history and a present of social injustice difficult to be-
lieve, let alone explain"(Browning 1995:167).
As Ness, Lewis, andBrowningall demonstrate,patterningandprinciplesof
continuityexist across domains of movement, space, materialobjects, music,
and verbal play. Though still a minor theme in dance scholarship,there is a
small but importantbody of work thatexplores the connectionsbetween dance
and othermodes of expressive culture.Kaeppler's studies of Tongan and Ha-
waiian dance, music, and poetry, for example, illustrate how key aesthetic
principles are manifested in verbal, visual, and musical forms (Kaeppler
1993a, 1995, 1996). Feld's analysis of the Kaluli ceremonial dance of gisalo

explores how the Kaluli concept for style and aesthetics, "lift-up-over-
sounding," reverberates in sound, text, face painting, costume, and dance
movements (Feld 1988, 1990a). Kersenboomhighlights how dance is integral
to an understandingof the Tamil language (muttamil,literally "threeTamil")
which, by definition, includes dance, music, and text (Kersenboom 1995).
Otherstudies examine aesthetic and stylistic relationshipsbetween dance and
music (Cheroff 1983, Erlmann 1996, Thompson 1966), dress (Kealiinoho-
moku 1979), mime (Royce 1984), and sculpture, painting, mythology, and
literature(Gaston 1982, Thompson 1974, Vatsyayan 1968).
CONCLUSION
Since the mid-1980s, there has been an explosion of dance studies as scholars
from a variety of disciplines have turnedtheir attentionto dance. Anthropolo-
gists have played a critical role in this new dance scholarship, contributing
comparativeanalyses, critiquingethnocentriccategories, and situatingstudies
of dance and movement within broaderframeworksof embodiment and the
politics of culture.Counteringtheoriesof the body which view it primarilyas a
site of inscription, dance scholars have demonstratedhow performersinvent
and reinvent identities throughmovement. Dance scholars have also refuted
notions of the body as an isolated entity by showing how a multiplicityof bod-
ies is producedthroughdance.
As scholars of dance and movement explore new ways of thinkingthrough
and with the body, there is no doubt that they will continue to challenge con-
ventions, undermining entrenched dualisms (e.g. mind/body, thinking/feel-
ing), critiquingevolutionary,colonial, and nationalisttypologies (e.g. classi-
cal, folk, ethnic), exposing the limits of conceptualcategories (e.g. dance, art),
and revealing dimensions of dance experience (e.g. the sensual, the divine)
that have often been neglected in scholarly inquiry.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I would like to express my thanks to those friends and colleagues who pro-
vided much encouragementand critical commentaryon this review: E Valen-
tine Daniel, Mary Des Chene, Jeanne Marecek, and Elizabeth Tolbert. I am
grateful to J Lowell Lewis, Bill Smith, and Faye Harrisonfor useful sugges-
tions in the final stages. AdrienneKaeppler,JanetO'Shea andthe late Cynthia
Jean Cohen Bull generously provided numerousreferences.
Visit the Annual Reviews home page at

http://www.AnnualReviews.org.

528 REED
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The Politics and Poetics of Dance

Author(s): Susan A. Reed

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THE POLITICSAND POETICSOF

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ments in otherfields of expressive culturesuch as music and theatre.In ethno-

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In the 1960s and 1970s, a small groupof scholars-Adrienne Kaeppler,Jo-

THE POLITICSOF DANCE

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locality can be embodied in changing lexicons of movement, resulting in a

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dance movements and patterns,Poole shows how, despite transformationsin

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This content downloaded from 137.110.38.223 on Fri, 10 Jan 2014 14:29:26 PM

both "Indianand modem" (Erdman 1996:297). But Erdmaneven questions

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Nationalism and Ethnicity

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has examined how Balkan folk dance in a New Englandcommunitywas con-

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(indeed, of all the performingarts), directingamateurdances at neighborhood

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state ethnologists attendedhis performancesevery night to monitorhis repre-

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of cultureand authenticity(Malefyt 1998). Malefyt explores how aficionados

Dance in a Global Context

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DANCE AND GENDER

If we accept as a given that gender is not an essential quality or characteristic

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dance as an arena for exhibiting strength, courage, and bravado, while

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known as "wining,"is not homoerotic,but actuallya dance of"autosexuality,"

MOVEMENT, BODY, AND CULTURE

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aspects of social experience, they do not capturethe full experiential signifi-

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Novack's major ethnographic work on contact improvisation (1990), a

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sion of dance from one culturalsetting, or historical period, to another(Bull

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Lewis's study of the Braziliancapoeira-a complex culturalgenre that in-

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ters. He also shows capoeira's links to other Afro-Brazilianmovement sys-

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scribe its "divine choreography"?Like other writers who describe African

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Visit the Annual Reviews home page at

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Abu-Lughod L. 1990. The romance of resis- Northern Greece. Princeton: Princeton

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199-234. Bloomington, IN: IndianaUniv. proach to the holistic study of dance.

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This content downloaded from 137.110.38.223 on Fri, 10 Jan 2014 14:29:26 PM

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