Writing A Dance - Epistemology For Dance Research

WRITING "A DANCE": EPISTEMOLOGY FOR DANCE RESEARCH
Author(s): Egil Bakka and Gediminas Karoblis

Source: Yearbook for Traditional Music, Vol. 42 (2010), pp. 167-193
Published by: Cambridge University Press
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WRITING A DANCE:
EPISTEMOLOGY FOR DANCE RESEARCH
by Egil Bakka and Gediminas Karoblis
Introduction
Over several years the authors of this article have had intensive discussions to
find common ground in the topic they both specialize in: dance. Egil Bakka is a
Norwegian ethnochoreologist, specializing in Nordic traditional dance/folk dance;
Gediminas Karoblis is a Lithuanian philosopher, specializing in phenomenology
and ballroom dancing. Our starting point was a philosophical question about the
notion of dance knowledge and a shared worry about the empirical basis for many
academic works on dance that other colleagues have also pointed to (Hoerburger
1959; Lange 1983; Adshead-Lansdale 1994; Grau 1998; Farnell 1999; Fügedi
2003). Bakka then brought up the widespread reservation against the use of film/
video for the documentation and analysis of dance.1 We continued with a wish to
clarify to ourselves the epistemological basis for research in dance, and somewhere
along the way we started writing this article. We experienced that a dialogue in
which methodological issues in dance research were confronted with philosophi-
cal scrutiny brought about a number of interesting perspectives. We hope that our
exercise may be of interest to a broader audience. The aim is to explore how our
different disciplinary points of departure - philosophy and ethnochoreology - can
be brought to interact in creating a deeper understanding of our topic, rather than
comparing the disciplines or discussing their differences.
Our writing started out with Bakka innocently sketching a description of field-
work in Numedal, Norway, which was meant to be an illustrative introduction. It
was left as a rough draft. When we returned to revise it, we realized that it illus-
trated a number of epistemological problems that we had dealt with in the mean-
time; therefore, we leave it here in its "innocent" form and will return to it in the
discussions towards the end of the article.
Ethnochoreological fieldwork in Numedal, November 1985
Egil Bakka's description, based on fieldnotes from 1985, was as follows:
The musicians on the stage are playing the third dance this evening, a reinlender,2
and the dance floor of the little countryside community house in eastern Norway is
1 . As we shall see, a number of influential American anthropologists of dance have

pointed to problems in the use of film for such purposes (e.g., Kaeppler 1999; Royce 2002;
Youngerman 1975). The anthropologist Howard Morphy (1994:1 19) finds it surprising that
"films have been so little used as data" in his discipline. A fuller discussion of this subject
appears below.
2. Reinlender is the local name of a couple dance that spread to many European countries
Yearbook for Traditional Music 42 (2010)
1 68 20 1 0 YEARBOOK FOR TRADITIONAL MUSIC
filled with dancers, mostly in their sixties and seventies.

where they picked up the art of dancing as teenagers. It w
master social dancing to be part of the social life in the
teaching of this repertoire was offered. What they picke
through life, and it still comes in handy at weddings and at
group. The dancers typically know six or seven such da
including vals, springar, Hamburg, rei(n) lender, masurk
Numedal is, according to Bakka, one of those places w

conventional structure of the reinlender seems to have b
into a free flow of elements. The conventional structure
(four beats - i.e., two step periods of two beats each) an
beats); these two elements are repeated again and again
the musical periods.4 The free flow of elements can con
ing three beats, which immediately breaks up the regu
becomes longer than two bars and often then becomes q
is also the case for the length of the turning (Bakka e
event, most of the dancers do this freely improvised ver
nineties do the dance with the conventional square str
og Uvdal," 1985, Rff archives). Two couples choose to c
techniques of dancing for a while. One technique has a
A "young" couple in their early fifties starts doing so
motives as a variation (filming logs 1985, Rff archives)
It is hard to find out whether all the dancing on the f
sidered a dance or not. The dancers themselves would h
therefore hardly need any answer. A dance notator, how
such questions or at least needs to clarify how her nota
eral phenomenon of dancing.
Bakka' s fieldwork in Numedal came about, as his fie
younger people from the region with interest in old da
and document the dances. The younger generations had
in the same way as their parents and grandparents did
in the middle of the nineteenth century. The most usual Eng

music is probably schottish.
3. This is what the dancers wrote on Rff questionnaires w
the names of the dances they knew. Some, of course, knew
they had attended a folk dance course and learned dances of
toire taught there or if they had attended a dancing school
"Rff indicates unpublished forms, films, and manuscripts t
the Norsk senter for folkemusikk og folkedans (Norwegian
and Dance), a resource and research centre of the foundati
folkedans (Norwegian Council for Traditional Music and Da
4. This version of the reinlender is described by the dancing
century (Isachsen 1 886) and is also documented as a standard
Norway (Bakka 1970).
5. Steger is a technique where the partners are dancing sid
directions. A similar technique can be used in the waltz, wher
BAKKA AND KAROBLIS EPISTEMOLOGY FOR DANCE RESEARCH 169
Figure 1. The oldest couple dance of Numedal is the springar, which has had t
focus as a local dance tradition since around 1930 and has been connected with
traditional costume in revitalization efforts. The springar has been filmed many
from a recording at Kongsberg in May 1972. Even if newer dances, such as the re
have complex and interesting forms, these were hardly noticed till the mid-198
from film recording, Norwegian Centre for Traditional Music and Dance).
newer dances like slow, swing, or perhaps even disco. Some of them, who
older dances, had gone to courses arranged by the folk dance movement
learnt standardized forms of the same dances. Then they realized that th
did not use the standardized forms and wanted the local dances to be anal
written down so that they could be taught at courses and not be lost com
their parents' and grandparents' dances had become heritage.6
The story above is an illustration of a particular kind of ethnochoreo
which academic research is coupled with an institutional agenda of cultur
This brings a focus on filming and dance notation, which will be topics u
most discussions here. An explicit task of the Norwegian Centre for Tr
Music and Dance is to combine documentation, research, and safeguardin
ures (Bakka 1981). This results in research methodologies that are somew
ferent from those based in more conventional research agendas. The latte
be so explicitly discussed, but they are perhaps equally influential on m
gies and priorities. An agenda that aims to bring dance research into in
6. Here Bakka has taken us back to one of his typical fieldwork situations from
1980s. He has placed himself in a corner opposite the music, with his 16-mm f
and synchronized tape recorder documenting the dancing crowd. The local in
present, helping out. They will later come to Bakka' s institution to assist in the
the documented dances and at the same time learn them (Bakka 1994, 1999, 200
1 70 2010 YEARBOOK FOR TRADITIONAL MUSIC
with the most prestigious discourses of humanistic

in a different manner from research aimed at cultur
Filming and dance notation in anthropology and
In this article we will address dance research within

ology and the anthropology of dance,7 without add
any further; rather, our discussion circles around
knowledge about dance.
We would like to introduce the discussion by refe
ment from anthropologist Howard Morphy:
It is one of the great ironies of anthropology that until

been paid to methods of gathering data, when, in so
of its data which characterizes the uniqueness of anth
human and social sciences. Whereas a great deal of att
ment of anthropological theory, to methods of analy
data gathering remains the poor cousin. (Morphy 199
For Morphy as for us, filming is a particularly eff

Already in 1974 Alan Lomax proposed to launch lar
ture in general: "Film, sound, and videotape record
scientific resource . . . They may contain informatio
analytic schemes yet exist" (American Folklore Soc
basis for much of the broad Central and East Europ
(Giurchescu and Torp 1991) and was also used in
Harper's work in Nigeria (Harper 1969). It still i
dance research institutions and for many dance rese
methodological discussions on the use of film as a
been rare in the field of dance research, at least sin
the reasons for this could be attitudes within the an
The aims of anthropological studies of dance have
ent from the ones underlying the case of the Rff Cen
Traditional Music and Dance in Trondheim discussed above:
While anthropologists of dance and movement study meaning, intention and cultural
evaluation, the activities that generate movement systems, how and by whom they
7 . We do think that our discussion has relevance for academically constructed dance knowl-
edge in general, but we find it too ambitious to claim that we will cover the full range con-
sistently in the format of this article.
8. The Hungarian researcher and notation expert Janos Fügedi is an exception. He has
established exciting new methodologies for movement studies based on film and notation
(Fügedi 1999, 2003). The borrowing of techniques from hard science is also proposed for
learning dance (such as Wiley 1987), but has not drawn much attention from mainstream
dance research.
are judged, their aim is to understand how the examination and analysi
ment systems can illuminate the sociocultural system. (Kaeppler 1999:16
The American dance anthropologist Adrienne L. Kaeppler has stu

in Tonga since she went there as a PhD student in the 1960s. With her
inspired by linguistics, she has influenced generations of dance resear
based her technique upon participatory observation and upon learning
local dancers, having them help her identify structure and meanings. Fo
recordings are not a main resource, but
can be used for instant replay for preliminary analysis, for eliciting in
about intentions, for clarifying movement motifs and movement sequenc
find out about mistakes and if movements (or whole performances) can or
evaluated. (Kaeppler 1999:20)
One reason for this position is perhaps expressed by Anya Peterson R

points to a central reservation toward film from many dance analysts:
vides a record of a particular performance, rather than a record of a par
reography in its 'pure' state" (Royce 2002:53). This is taken further by
Youngerman who argues from a practical point of view:
In many cases, however, a society may not have any set dances; improvisa
be the standard of performance, or the same dance may never be repea
one must see a dance several times in order to transcribe it, an arrangeme
is rarely possible in a fieldwork situation, one must film or videotape
(Youngerman 1975:119)
This statement seems to underlie her argument that filming is somethin

in, if, for some reason, you are not able to see a dance live a sufficient
times in order to transcribe it. It also seems to assume that many dance
repeated the same way, which is in principle problematic, even if it can
less true depending upon the level of detail one is considering.
Arguing for the needs of Labanotation in reconstructing ballet works
neer Labanotator Ann Hutchinson Guest claims that reproduction
would seem an appropriate term for works reproduced from film/vide

viewer separate the structure of the piece, the choreographic work, from
formance? The "learner" too readily takes on the mannerisms and express
performers seen on screen. There is not the accuracy of the notated sco
leeway for personal interpretation which the notated form allows. (Guest
9. Kaeppler makes a distinction between anthropologists of dance and other dan

ers: "it seems to me that these researchers [folklorists who study dance and dan
gists] are more specifically interested in dances and dancing, and take 'a danc
as their primary unit, while anthropologists are more interested in the larg
human movement and the abstract concept of 'dance'" (Kaeppler 1999:15).
As can be seen, there are reservations towards the

the documentation and analysis of dance among som
ing in the field of dance.10 We have selected a few
questions of how we can access and document dance
to challenge some of the assumptions that seem to
reservations. If we ignore the "particular performan
be accessed "in its 'pure' state"? How can the "ma
performers" be separated from the choreographic w
realizations? We acknowledge Labanotation as an exc
(Van Zile 1985), but if a notation represents a dance
tion, we find it problematic in "freezing its form."
(Van Zile 1999) brings about a number of problems, p
between the notation and the realizations - or other
not transparent.11
It strikes us, however, that new artistic tools may
to recorded dance. Susan Kozel debates the objection
she works with motion-capture techniques and virt
"What is human movement in the absence of the bo
referred to as a technology that 'extracts' movement
Kozel responds: "To deny the abstract qualities of th
denying the sensuous qualities of a virtual creation,
and the virtual in definitional constructs that are i
Some dance critics such as the American Marcia B. S
earlier reservations and claim that film and video "o
epistemic ephemerality of dance: On tape we can wa
until it has impressed itself firmly upon our retinas
in Gere 2004:42).
The realization and the concept: Two dimensions
We suggest that dance has two dimensions: the real

realization is the actual dancing of a dance}2 The con
10. There are examples of anthropologists defending fi

Felicia Hughes-Freeland. She argues for the value of film a
ing documentary film-making. She compares editing such
fieldnotes (Hughes-Freeland 1999:120). It is, in other words
to be able to analyse it, but a technique to present dance
distinction between two uses of film: film as ethnography, r
process of data gathering, and "film" as text, referring to
for a viewing audience. The book Dance in the Field (Buc
tributors (i.e., Felföldi, Giurchescu, Bakka) who consistentl
this is not explicitly discussed in any detail as methodolog
1 1 . The Hungarian folkdance notators Ágoston Lányi and
this problem by always transcribing realizations, avoidin
1 2 . We do realize that there are examples where the concep
dancing rather than a dance with a name, as briefly discus
potential of skills, understanding, and knowledge that enables an individua

dance community to dance that particular dance and to recognize and relate
particular realization of it (Bakka, Aksdal, and Flem 1995:21; Gore and
2007:93).13 We argue that the approach to dance through its realization is u
estimated in anthropological research and ethnographic work in general (Ba
2005 :72).14 A realization is the only full and proper way in which a dance be
available for us. We consider demonstrations, rehearsals, and illustrated ex
tions as secondary and only as hints to a full expression of the dance. Conseq
we see the full, normal realization as the primary source to, and the only full
form of, dance.15 The realization makes dance available perceptually. The s
and knowledge of the dance concept are invisible, but they are necessary f
integrated in the realization. As we see it, there is interdependence betwee
realization and the concept. Each realization of a dance can in principle add
dance concept and this influenced concept will in turn affect the next realiz
This will be a continuous process for a dancer: her concept is not fixed, bu
be affected by each new realization, whether it is her own or she is experi
somebody else's realization. The changing concept will in turn affect each n
realization. When someone is in the process of learning a dance, these chan
especially evident (figure 2).16
13. These terms are inspired by Ferdinand de Saussure' s langue-parole disti

(Saussure 2006); they also have a similarity to Noam Chomsky's use of "competen
"performance." It is, however, hardly possible to analyse dance with tools develo
analysing language without making substantial adjustments. For further discussion o
linguistic concepts in dance analysis, see Kaeppler (2001:53).
14. Susan Reed in a summarizing article states that: It is indeed ironic that, desp
considerable growth of interest in the anthropology of the body . . ., the study of movin
ies remains on the periphery" (Reed 1998:504). Alexandra Carter edited what has b
widely used reader for dance studies. She claims that the reader "demonstrates the ran
depth of late twentieth-century scholarship" (Carter 1 998: 1 ). Introducing a later chap
states: "It does not remain, however, at the level of movement analysis, but accom
issues of context, function, meaning and value" (ibid.: 121). Other examples of dis
on movement analysis do not particularly take up the question of the systematic
realizations (Dils and Crosby 2001; Daly 1988; Sklar 1991).
1 5. In some kinds ot dance, the narrative or conceptual aspects may seem prior, like
ballet d'action or sacred dances. In these cases, dance is conceived as means for som
purpose (Karoblis 2007b).
16. I he distinctions ot langue ana parole (Saussure) or competence ana penormance
(Chomsky) do not, as far as we know, take into consideration a level between these two.
Wittgenstein (1958:127-28) has argued that language competence is channelled through
language games. There is the level of a joke, a fairy tale, a poem, etc., where langue or com-
petence is not used for a free flow of parole or performance, but realizes an established form
(Bakka, Aksdal, and Flem 1995). In dance and music, this level is the standard level: most
realizations are based on forms that the musician or dancer refers to a certain piece of music
or a certain dance (work). The lack of attention to the level of "established forms" can also
be seen in performance studies, see, e.g., Bauman and Briggs (1990).
Realization R R RRRRRR
IM
Concept c C CCCCCCC
Figure 2. The concept informs the realization and

The changes are more evident in a learni
The visible and the invisible: Two dimens
The French philosopher Maurice Merleau-Po

losophy of art that may contribute to the d
Ponty concentrated on the relevance of the b
point that naturally captures the attention of
Merleau-Ponty used many dualistic concepts,
in Phenomenology of Perception (1996:111
in The Prose of the World (ibid. 1973:10). Bu
dominating, epistemological split between th
Cartesian split seemed to contradict what his
years Merleau-Ponty concentrated on the ph
(ibid. 1968), observing that the visible and th
are capable of integrating invisible aspects in
one side of an apple at a time, we have an e
because we can fill in the invisible part from
an apple only from one perspective at a time
spectives in succession. Thus each new persp
of our experience.
In the interplay between dance realization
in the previous section, there is obviously an
ibility of the kind that Merleau-Ponty discu
B AKKA AND KAROBLIS EPISTEMOLOG Y FOR DANCE RESEARCH 1 75
The primacy of realization
In his essay "The Primacy of Perception," Merleau-Ponty stresses that "th

ceived world is always the presupposed foundation of all rationality, all v
all existence" (Merleau-Ponty 1964:13). Any speculation should be base
fundamental knowledge we obtain from the perceived world. Moreover, th
of perception for Merleau-Ponty had not only constitutive but regulative v
well. His aim was to move "back to perception." The primacy of perceptio
that perception is the most authoritative source. He contends that we shou
start our interrogation by "allowing" ourselves to perceive what is in fron
lot of things are given for us before we start asking questions.
Following Merleau-Ponty' s argument on the primacy of perception, w
pose the primacy of dance realization. We propose to follow a phenomeno
approach to dance that means concentrating as much as possible on a realiza
dance first of all (Levin 1983:92). As much as possible, we propose to appr
realization of dance without any presuppositions, including the presuppos
the dancers themselves.
This seems to be contrary to attitudes in dance anthropology which often sup-
pose that we cannot be sure of understanding the actions and the interactions of the
people we are observing, but always need to learn in dialogue with them. We agree
that there is an obvious need for us to orient ourselves if we are in a community
we do not know, as is often the case for anthropologists, but this is more a ques-
tion of getting a reasonable, solid understanding of the society, not so much about
approaching dance per se. The dilemma in working with any kind of "concepts"
people may have about cultural systems is that norms and ideals may be strong and
clear enough for people to talk about them, but they may not be carried through
with the same consistency in realization. What people think and say they do, after
all, is not always what they actually do. Analysis of realizations can, in our experi-
ence, really give very surprising results, far more complex than what people may
be able to verbalize about what they do.
A very interesting example can be found in an article by Timothy Rice. As
an American professor of ethnomusicology, Rice worked intensively with a
Bulgarian master of the traditional instrument called gaida to learn to play tradi-
tional Bulgarian music. At a certain point his teacher could not explain and show
him any more. Rice went back to the United States and analysed the recordings of
his teacher:
When I finally solved the mystery of bagpiper's fingers, I did so in dialogue with
Kostadin's tradition of playing, preserved in recordings, after my conversations with
him had ended. In the process, I believe I moved to a place untheorized by the
insider-outsider distinction so crucial to much ethnomusicological thinking. After
talking to a cultural insider, which took me in the direction of an ernie understand-
ing of the tradition but not all the way there, I confronted the tradition directly as a
sound form and kinesthetic activity, and made it my own in an act of appropriation
that transformed me, my self, into something I hadn't been before, a person capable
of playing in this tradition with at least minimal competence. This transformation
176 2010 YEARBOOK FOR TRADITIONAL MUSIC
did not, however, make me into a cultural insider; I

a Bulgarian. While Kostadin couldn't explain his o
detail to make me understand it, I came to be able to
ers; I now understood the finger movements and oth
produce the gaida's characteristic ornamentation. (
The idea of a dance
When someone is dancing, it is mostly thought about as being the realization of a

dance. This means that the dancers, and even other people related to the dancing,
will give it a name, but the name is not targeted only at this one instance of dancing.
It is supposed to be the name for an action that can be repeated. The relationship
between the name and the phenomena it is used to cover is an extremely compli-
cated matter. Remembering the dispute between realists and nominalists in the
philosophy of the Middle Ages (Copleston 1990), let's also imagine two kinds of
dance researchers, the realists and the nominalists.17
The realist, like her colleagues in philosophy, would believe that it is possible
to grasp intuitively the idea of a dance (essence of dance realizations) through
realizations of dance. She would approach an invariant dance through singular
phenomenal variations - realizations of it - and would believe that the basis of her
dance knowledge is the real invariant dance, rather than variant phenomenal reali-
zations of it.
The dance-research nominalist would rather think that a dance doesn't exist
in reality - it is an abstract of our intellectual activity. According to her, our
intellect groups singular dance realizations into the categories of dances either
by constructing concepts or by approximating resemblances. The dance-research
nominalist would believe that our understanding of a dance is constructed by our
categorizations and the concepts we use. The categories are never definitive or
absolute, there are always overlaps and exceptions, and each category is a more
or less arbitrary construction. Consequently, for the dance realist, the concept of
dance would be of primary importance; while for dance nominalist, the realization
of dance would be so. We suppose that the prioritization of notation or filming also
depends on these basic philosophical presuppositions.
In a Nordic context, a dance could be, for instance, a pariserpolka, and a tradi-
tional dancer would probably be a realist seeing mainly his own community. For
him, the dance pariserpolka, as a concept is the stable and real part of life, and
the realizations do not matter much - this is perhaps true even for many dance
notators. A researcher comparing more communities will rapidly get into trou-
17. The discussion of idealist and materialist approaches to dance as proposed by Jack
Anderson refers neither to the philosophical terms of idealism and materialism elaborated in
the German philosophy of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries nor to the problem of uni-
versals that emerged in the philosophy of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. Anderson
(1983:412) himself also stresses that he did not intend to do this. The following part of our
argument is constructed on the basis of the latter epistemological debate (for recent discus-
sions in philosophy, see Armstrong 1978; Gosselin 1990).
BAKKA AND KAROBLIS EPISTEMOLOGY FOR DANCE RESEARCH 1 77
ble with such a position. When we analysed a good number of realiz

pariserpolka in one dance community, Sauda, we found four motives th
continuously repeated in the same order. These four motives represented
through of the dance done to eight bars of music. There were, however,
of variations to most of the four motives. The pariserpolka was done a
motive dance all over western Norway, but different communities could
ent variations of the motives. We could ask: are the pariserpolka varian
dreds of communities all over western Norway one dance, or would it
sense to say that the way pariserpolka is done in Sauda is one dance, "p
from Sauda." If the latter is the case, then all the different communities
their own version of pariserpolka. Would it make sense to call the pari
the neighbouring place of Sand, "pariserpolka from Sand," even if it di
any other variation elements than what we found in Sauda and, to the
had even fewer? Consequently there is hardly any answer to the questi
many traditional dances are there in Norway," mainly because we cannot
a dance is.
As far as I can judge, pure form analyses of all the spoken languages of the world
would probably provide the basis for concluding that language as human expression
can be seen as one enormous, ranging continuum. We can say the same of dance.
It would not seem possible to set absolute, consistent form criteria for division into
smaller units, even though there are many sharp, clear boundaries within the large
pattern. (Bakka, Aksdal, and Flem 1995:22)
Pariserpolka from Sauda was defined as a dance for the practical purpose of
notating it. Video recordings of some fifteen couples, each couple dancing the
dance several times, were transcribed. The transcription was done for one couple's
realization of the dance at a time, although, due to the fairly simple patterns used,
the transcription was done in shorthand. All the transcriptions were then com-
pared and summarized. In this way the structure of the dance with all the recorded
variations could be described (Bakka, Moen, and Sorstronen n.d.). The resulting
description could then be seen as a systematic compilation of the dance knowledge
realized by the filmed couples. We could probably claim that the description would
represent most of the community's dance concept for the pariserpolka at the time
of filming. Such descriptions have become standard teaching material in Norway,
where there has been and continues to be a focus on dance as the heritage of local
communities (figure 3).
Hungarian approaches represent interesting parallels and contrasts. Hungarian
folk dance research and transmission have consistently been based on transcribing
individual realizations in Labanotation. On the other hand, in contrast with Norway,
the transcriptions of individual realizations have also been used as teaching materi-
als. This is probably due to a different structure of the dance material, where geo-
graphical variation seems less obvious. In this way, Hungarian dancers do not ex-
plicitly use the idea of the dance concept in their work (László Felföldi, pers. com.,
December 2008).
178 2010 YEA RBOÜK FOR TRA DITIONA L MUSIC
Figure 3. Pariserpolka at Folkets Hus (the labour union

town of Lokken, April 1976. Folkets Hus was the main
in the town in the mid-twentieth century (frame from a
Traditional Music and Dance).
In the world of dance criticism, the dance realizat

(as in a dance concept) is supposed to be the mai
Croce's refusal to see the realization of the dance-w
Jones created such a great dissonance (Croce 1994-
judge the concept of dance without seeing the dance
a dancer, or an audience expects the dance critic to
sion that is based on the experience of a singular da
dance critic to reveal aspects of the dance work tha
by the choreographer or dancers, and, perhaps, not
all based on her experiences from seeing the dance-
the job of a dance critic is this unique opportunity
dance-work by relying on the trained eye. It was
critic should first of all concentrate on experientia
the singular dance-works, being able to grasp them
1983:92), compare them, and distinguish peculiaritie
shortcomings here and there. Dance criticism is no
and reviewing the newly created and presented da
stantly forms and reforms the concept of the dance
her phenomenological analysis of dance realization
be a dangerous path that may lead a dance critic int
from the realized dances. We do not subscribe to th
BAKKA AND KAROBLIS EPISTEMOLOGY FOR DANCE RESEARCH 1 79
a parasitic discourse (Steiner 1989), but we certainly want to promote the

the primacy of realization should be the first rule for dance criticism.
The lakalaka, made known through Kaeppler's analysis, has totally dif
problems when looking at how to distinguish a dance.
Today there are six Tongan dance genres, each of which has a different com
of structural elements. The three "living" Tongan dance genres (within w
dances are still created), although reputedly created or diffused in histor
are closely related to three traditional dance genres that are still performe
no longer created. Indeed, the living genres seem to be mainly recombin
kinemic, morphokinemic, and motif elements of the older dance genres.
1972:214)
The lakalaka is not a usual participatory dance, but has strong elemen
presentational dimension (Nahachewsky 1995), since, as we understand,
of dancers and musicians from a specific village may choreograph a new
to a large formal event, for instance, to celebrate the king. A singular da
in this context be the preset choreography made by one village. In princi
ever, the lakalaka would be the set of elements and rules for composing a
and a genre of individually composed dances.
Three epistemic approaches: A philosophical point of view
For better understanding of the epistemic position of a dance researche

construct another part of our argument and differentiate between the fir
the other-person (or second-person), and the sub-personal (or third-per
epistemic approaches. This differentiation among the epistemic approac
recently become one of the most relevant methodological topics in the
ciplinary field of consciousness studies (Várela and Shear 1999; Denn
where the traditions of phenomenology and cognitive science converged
and Zahavi 2008). In 1969 the concept "sub-personal" was proposed by
pher Daniel Dennett (1986) as an attempt to separate personal and su
levels of explanation of human life (e.g., we could try to explain human
referring to personal intentions and actions or, otherwise, we could try
it by referring to neural circuits, physical causation, etc.). Although De
deserted his previous stance, other philosophers still argue for preservin
ference (Hornsby 2000) and support the line of thinking that Dennett him
back to Wittgenstein and Ryle (Dennett 1986:95). The differentiation
the first and the other person has been sharpened in the recent metho
debate on "heterophenomenology," a term also proposed by Dennett (20
strongly criticized by phenomenologists (Dennett 2007). As a consequ
18. We do not use the term "third person" as other researchers do (Overg
because it might be misunderstood as implying some kind of personal level, w
sub-personal level is meant. For a "personalized" interpretation of this term, see
Cosmelli (2003).
methodological frames - autophenomenology and

contraposited (Marbach 2007; Dennett 2007). We
possible to reduce one epistemic approach into the
tions drawn between the first-person account (aut
person account (heterophenomenology), and betwe
in general, are preserved and explicated in the fiel
The first-person approach
The first-person approach is most clearly realized

(Marbach 2007).19 One of the aims of autophenom
ysis of phenomenal experiences that were/are acc
ject of these experiences (the first person). The m
autophenomenological description is the descriptio
from. For example, even a small child saying that
an exceptional authority over the truthfulness of t
aspect, a doctor has to take a child's statement fo
the doctor having a clear explanation that a child
Could a small child get a better grasp of this phen
nomenologist of pain who suffers from a headache
phenomenological account of what she or he actua
Autophenomenology does not have standard p
increase knowledge like mathematical formulae, n
plored ways of doing dance research. It just deman
the natural to the phenomenological.20
Autophenomenology is rigorous in distinguishing
a judgement about it, visible from invisible, an ex
experience that belongs to others. Autophenomen
essarily target so-called "inner experiences." In an
tion all our senses can be involved and conseque
participatory observation can be a good exampl
imagine an anthropologist taking down notes durin
I am sitting on a chair in the community house w

across the floor, asking a girl to dance. She gets up
embrace each other and start dancing.
1 9. The term "autophenomenology" is used as a synonym

enology. It is important to stress that it differs from t
"phenomenological . "
20. For further descriptions of how this methodology
Parviainen (2006) and Karoblis (2007a, 2010).
2 1 . Even the concepts "young" and "old" and the conce
ments. There are genetic diseases which can make youn
is usual for their age. We judge age from skin surface
"old" might refer to birth date, but it is then a part of
and "girl" are perhaps mainly based on dressing, and we
ple, cross-dressing.
If I add to this that they seem to be in love, I am making a judgement th

out of strict autophenomenology; but I could make an observation on m
sion - that is, empathy on the basis of which I attribute to this couple m
such as "being in love," etc. We continue the field log:
An individual dressed as is conventional for a man walks over to me and makes a

bow. I interpret it as an invitation to dance with him, and get up. I recognize the
music as being a reinlender and start doing the dance as I usually do. My partner
goes on with the promenade motif, and his steps are clearly different from mine, but
he does not seem to mind or notice that I am dancing differently. Then he starts turn-
ing at a point I do not expect because it does not coincide with the musical phrases
in the way I am used to.
I could easily have made a judgement writing in my field log: "I was invited to
dance a reinlender with a man who did not know the dance at all." The background
could actually be that the dancer did not know the dance or that I was doing the con-
ventional "square version," whereas he did the "free-flowing" Numedal version. In
summary, dance phenomenology is directed toward a perceptual phenomenon of
dancing that is: present-for-me or represented-by-me (remembered or imagined);
given to me, not only visually but to all senses, as kinaesthetic and tactile senses;
given to me, including myself and not-myself dancing (Karoblis 2010). It does
not exclude practical details or technical descriptions and does not prioritize intro-
spection. Autophenomenology could efficiently work as a method in the analysis
of filmed material as it is given to personal observation. Autophenomenological
scrutiny makes it very clear that dancing in filmed material is presented not as a
dance, but as the movement patterns recorded by a moving or nonmoving camera
directed in one or another angle.
The sub-personal approach
In contrast to autophenomenology, the sub-personal approach aims at eliminat-

ing any subjective aspects from the research and is often defined as the third-person
approach (Overgaard 2004:372). The less the sub-personalist researcher is involved
in making personal decisions or judgements, the closer she is to the sub-personal
ideal, as in The View from Nowhere (Nagel 1986). According to this point of view,
data collected with measurement instruments or by recording should always be
the starting point and basis for any interpretation. Measurement made with instru-
ments or by recording provides information that extends the limits of knowledge
and, quite often, transgresses our limited capabilities of judgement based on pure
perceptions. From an extreme sub-personal point of view, the work of adjudicators
at a dance competition should ideally be made impersonal by having it done by
cameras and computers.
Recordings of dance are data stored in their physical sub-personal mode of
being. They are comparable to measurement data in the natural sciences. Data are
in themselves sub-personal, but as soon as we get into interpretation we enter the
personal level. In any science there is the problem of selecting what you docu-
ment and how you document it, which is not on a s

and dispositions of a documentator - whether in fie
urements - determine the selection of data and the mode of documentation. Still
the data recorded in such ways - for example, on film or other media - remain in
themselves sub-personal and are always available for interpretation. Interpretation
is always interpretation of something given. An archaeologist would construct a
story about an implement she finds by interpreting all traces on it and connected
to it. Additionally, she needs perhaps to fill gaps by using other data, such as
similar implements found elsewhere. In this sense science is always construction.
Nevertheless, normal constructions of science are far away from fabrications of
fake material. It is the normal integration of the invisible horizon of understanding
into historic or archaeological material. Moreover, modern technologies allow not
only inscriptions of static images into materialities, such as rock carvings, but can
also inscribe sequences of image and sound into materialities - physical containers
of encoded information, such as film. The problem for dance history is precisely
the lack of such information. The development of the sub-personal approaches in
science and technology - such as the invention of cinematography at the end of
nineteenth century - made historic sub-personal data available to us, thus extend-
ing our empirical field dramatically. If preserved, the films are present with us
and will remain present. Therefore, through film, a researcher of dance history or
anthropology can observe events or dances from the point of view of "an extra eye"
or "an extra ear" that can not be replaced by any other types of sources. It may seem
that the criticism of the superficial and literal interpretation of historical source
material tends to contaminate even the evaluation of the sources themselves (Sparti
and Adshead-Lansdale 1996).
The other-person approach
The other-person approach is based on testimonies and communication from

persons other than the researcher and corresponds to the broadly understood,
but undifferentiated, second-person approach (Depraz and Cosmelli 2003). This
approach originally inspired the hermeneutic turn in phenomenological philosophy
(Heidegger 1993; Gadamer 1960). It questioned if a pure subjective phenomeno-
logical standpoint - unaffected by intersubjective prejudices and preconceptions -
was possible. Although the topic of intersubjectivity (the other-person problem) has
already been discussed by Husserl in 193 1 in his "Cartesian meditations " (Husserl
1991), various criticisms of Husserlian "subjectivism" have been proposed (e.g.,
Derrida 1973) and rejected (e.g., Zahavi 2001).
Leaving aside this very broad philosophical discussion between hermeneutics
and phenomenology, we will concentrate on recent pragmatic methodological
reflections in phenomenology that argue for refined other-person approaches and
intersubjective validation (Depraz, Vermersch, and Várela 2002). These meth-
odological reflections include the evaluation of multiple second-person methods,
ranging from the advice of a spiritual friend to the consensus of the community
of researchers (Depraz and Cosmelli 2003:182).The other-person approach is
involved where the researcher is interviewing other persons or benefits f

mediation of knowledge. Anthropology of dance relies strongly on the
or testimonies of informants, and there are a multitude of ways to inte
ple; for example, it may be possible for a researcher to help her informa
his or her immediate experiences by using the technique of "explicitati
view" (Vermersch 1994). In this way, the interaction between the resea
the informant is a guiding of the informant into autophenomenology an
be based on pragmatics - that is, on the teaching of how to disclose exp
(Depraz, Vermersch, and Várela 2002). The intersubjective interaction r
subjective personal expression to further modes that involve account (i
first-person testimony as directed to the other person), report (detached
tion of the experience of a given subject), and description (which shoul
on the level that is the closest to being objective in a broad sense) (
Cosmelli 2003).
These methodological refinements of the other-person approach
ever, still relatively rare in dance research, even in what could be c
phenomenology.22 The loose, other-person approaches, which draw upo
tives told by other people from other fields of expertise, dominate. These
could have in the background the first-person experience or sub-personal
often mixed in the totality of the narrative. They also often include m
judgements. These narratives are often abstractions of singular cases fro
sources of knowledge. For example, one normally constructs the narrativ
birth by strongly relying on what one's parents say. One may, however,
later first-person perceptions of the place of one's birth or material doc
of the fact such as film. Even genetic tests are available on the sub-pers
But no one has experience from her own birth.
Moreover a multitude of scholars in history, sociology, politics, or a
ogy seem to share influential presuppositions that explain away first-per
ences as fatal interiorizations of social values, prejudices, etc., claiming
experiences are all based in social conventions and linguistic practic
1984). Postcolonial theories share a similar critique of the "first-person
ethnocentrism that is found entrapped in the cultural biases about the O
1978). The adherents of other-person approaches also claim that the pr
the natural sciences are equally dependent on decisions, conventions, sc
22. An example could be the otherwise inspiring article of Parviainen (2006)

important issues in the application of phenomenological method in dance rese
the same time, unfortunately, involves some value statements such as "the ae
observes her/his heart rate by reading the indication on his/her hand. The move
trust the meters of the objective body to the immediately given quality of exper
future, are we all followed by little robots which, measuring constantly our obj
condition, tell us what we should do? The little robot as a 'personal trainer' t
we should eat, drink, have an exercise, go to bed. If we begin more and more to
to the machines concerning our bodies, what does it mean in the moral sense?" (
44). Parviainen misses the point because the aerobic mover actually trusts the in
the friend who advises to use measuring devices that could eventually becom
trainer," but only in a metaphoric sense.
tics, and the consensus of the scientific communit

1962; Feyerabend 1975; Latour and Woolgar 1979
Dance researchers echo these general tendencies in
sciences, criticizing or ignoring first-personal and
example, Philippa Rothfield critiques the phenome
by Sheets-Johnstone (1979):
Taken corporeally, the point is that experience occurs

marked by history. According to this position, Sheet
sion" was not a lack of eidetic vision on her part bu
means by which movement is experienced ... Sheets-J
of her own experience of movement which occurred
intellectual and artistic context. (Rothfield 2005:47)
On the other hand, researchers exploring the poss

study of dance wonder
why and how dancers (or artists in general) might

of their disciplines as intrusions, if not sacrilege.
lems of neuro-science from the dancer's perspecti
scientists to choose almost exclusively quantitative
formulaic tendency of science to reduce the whole to
dency to analyse categorically rather than holistically
diametrically opposed to the ways in which our dan
Hollerman 2007:99)
From our point of view, the critique from the sid

directed at sub-personal and first-personal researc
approaches can supplement, but not substitute,
approaches. These two sources of knowledge are irr
knowledge. They are also inexhaustible within thei
as other-person sources are. The impossibility of a
transparency in the life of the first person or the im
objectiveness of sub-personal research does not disc
We, as dance researchers, often construct narrativ
ences and knowledge, collected through other-pers
personal data. We would like to test if there is a rea
important to us as researchers to remain aware of
use: first-person sources, other-person sources, or
gest that we need to reflect upon how they can be
(Hanna 2002) or confronted.
Philosophy and ethnochoreology in discussion
As a conclusion to this article, we went back to Ba

of his fieldwork in Numedal at the beginning; and
B AKKA AND KAROBLIS EPISTEMOLOG Y FOR DANCE RESEARCH 1 85
'The musicians on the stage are playing.' How high was the stage where t
cians were playing?"
Bakka explained that the draft was meant to be an illustration of field
general. During his 1985 fieldwork in Numedal, he filmed on four evening
ferent localities. For this reason, he was not referring to one singular even
writing, but when he went back over it, planning the referencing he did
problems. On the one hand, he wanted to write an appealing, condensed s
assembling what he felt were typical traits. On the other hand, he realized
those typical and perhaps colourful elements of dance evenings, hardly ev
pen all together in one event. As for the stage, he was idealizing. Norway
have a large number of community houses, often called youth halls, whe
of dancing went on from the 1920s till the 1950s and 1960s. Bakka did a
documentation in such places, often with the set-up as described, but this
the case in Numedal, where he mostly filmed at schools. He certainly cou
filmed in typical community houses if he would have given priority to th
and, in such a case, the stage might have been a bit more than a metre hig
Karoblis had been convinced that Bakka was presenting a singular event
introductory story. Now he understood that Bakka' s story was a compos
his experiences from various places plus stories told by dancers in variou
It was an abstracted story. Narratives that circulate among us are compos
somebody's experiences, abstracted according to the needs of listener
agreed and explained that he composed the story thinking about the peop
would read this article, trying to make it appealing and informative at t
time. Most of the anthropological evidence presented in research papers is
so to say, raw data, but rather elaborated, filtered, and abstracted narrative
Then Karoblis asked: "When you wrote 'They are back in the arena,' cou
distinguish how much of it was from your experience and how much did y
out about from other persons?"
Bakka explained that this part was based on his impressions from a large
of interviews with people born between 1910 and 1930 from all over Nor
that it seemed to be more or less generally valid for most countryside comm
where dancing was important. He felt that there was hardly anything from
experience in this. He could not experience or read anything of this direct
filming or fieldwork situation. As for his personal background, he grew
World War II and his learning to dance took place in a folk dance group. H
went to the ordinary dance parties in his community, but he could still
strong importance of knowing how to dance the popular dances among h
mates in the late 1950s.
Karoblis asked Bakka to explain his basis for writing that "The dancers typi-
cally know six or seven . . . dances." Since Bakka was filming, could he combine
filming and observation?
Bakka said that of course he would observe in a filming situation, but it would
not be his focus, and he would not have time or resources to do any kind of par-
ticipatory observation with the kind of agenda that was and still is the basis for his
work. He does not think that participatory observation and direct learning from
traditional dancers would not have been valuable. Bakka did collect data about
each person present, primarily to get basic information from the dancers and
musicians. The estimate on the number of dances the dancers knew referred to this
kind of information - which he always collected - where the informants gave the
names of the dances they knew. Directly after the filming he also wrote short notes
about the filming situation, taking down what people said about what they did,
and about the mood and the attitude in the situation. Additionally he would tape
interviews with a selection of the dancers and musicians as far as time allowed. The
main problem was that he was extremely pressed by lack of time.
Karoblis asked Bakka to explain his basis for the analysis of the dance tech-
nique in the paragraph beginning "Numedal is ... one of those places." Was it based
on the film material, which would then be a source on the sub-personal level?
Bakka confirmed that the analysis was made on the basis of film material. Bakka
made several attempts to have local people learn from their elders in a systematic
way. It was very difficult for several reasons; his conclusion was that the analysis
of filmed material had to be the first step. The contact with the people who knew
the dances would be a second step. The procedures were then as described above
about pariserpolka: he transcribed singular realizations in cooperation with local
people and compared transcriptions to find a basis for learning and teaching. A lot
of strategic decisions were made by him and the local people. Such source material
has on several occasions been revisited by others to test the interpretations; these
are also quite interesting and inspiring.
Karoblis suggested that the most important aspect of hard science is that inter-
pretations compete on the basis of the same data. In 2001 the New Perspectives
in fMRI Research Award was announced for the most creative and convinc-
ing secondary examination of brain image data. It was established by the fMRI
(Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging) Data Center (http://www.fmridc.org)
and the Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience. Karoblis thinks that the scientific deci-
sion to collect and share raw empirical material is of very great importance. With
this, we then have the common basis on which we can develop theories or interpre-
tations; without this, it would be impossible! How could various interpretations be
falsified? Without such empirical material, we could only have the claims of one
person against the claims of another person.
Bakka suggested that sub-personal data is an eye into another time and space
that hardly any other kinds of sources can replace. We admit that without a compe-
tent reader it does not make sense, but a competent reader does not necessarily need
to have talked with people from the context. Competence can still be developed, as
in, for instance, archaeology.
Conclusion
This article may be read as proposing to resituate, re-actualize, and renew method-
ologies established by early European ethnochoreologists (Grau and Wierre-Gore
2005), particularly as developed in Hungary in the middle of the twentieth cen-
tury (Felföldi 1999) and in Norway and other Nordic countries from th
(Bakka 1981, 1991, 1999). We have tried to do this by looking at th
dance research from the perspective of philosophy, as well as from the
tive of ethnochoreology. Additional perspectives have been based in the
political agenda as represented by the Norwegian Centre for Traditional M
Dance and educational developments within the dance studies programm
Norwegian University of Science and Technology. At the beginning of t
we told a story about how traditional dance is becoming heritage. The s
illustrates the intentions of the UNESCO convention for safeguarding in
cultural heritage (Gore and Bakka 2009; UNESCO 2003). The conven
ates a demand for methodologies handling movement and movement an
the purposes of documentation and transmission, such as some of those
advocated in this article. Film/video recording for documentation purpo
to become a systematic and theoretically grounded tool, and the analysi
recordings needs renewal and development. This would be decisively aid
acceptance of and a new exploration into sub-personal methods and pers
which could and should be done without getting trapped in positivism.
argue for a stricter discipline in the application of first-personal meth
following the way of the philosophical tradition of phenomenology . Acc
our argument, the other-personal methodologies, such as conventional int
have been prioritized at the cost of other methodologies and may have
their potential if they are not renewed and resituated theoretically. A bo
in our argument is that, despite all the cumbersome work it takes, gener
need to be based upon the explorations of singular events, such as realiz
dance. We argue that there is a need in dance research to work systemati
empirical material and to strive for a transparency about how singular ev
us to generalizations.
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Writing A Dance - Epistemology For Dance Research

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WRITING "A DANCE": EPISTEMOLOGY FOR DANCE RESEARCH

Author(s): Egil Bakka and Gediminas Karoblis

by Egil Bakka and Gediminas Karoblis

Ethnochoreological fieldwork in Numedal, November 1985

Egil Bakka's description, based on fieldnotes from 1985, was as follows:

1 . As we shall see, a number of influential American anthropologists of dance have

filled with dancers, mostly in their sixties and seventies.

Numedal is, according to Bakka, one of those places w

in the middle of the nineteenth century. The most usual Eng

with the most prestigious discourses of humanistic

Filming and dance notation in anthropology and

In this article we will address dance research within

It is one of the great ironies of anthropology that until

For Morphy as for us, filming is a particularly eff

The American dance anthropologist Adrienne L. Kaeppler has stu

One reason for this position is perhaps expressed by Anya Peterson R

This statement seems to underlie her argument that filming is somethin

would seem an appropriate term for works reproduced from film/vide

9. Kaeppler makes a distinction between anthropologists of dance and other dan

As can be seen, there are reservations towards the

The realization and the concept: Two dimensions

We suggest that dance has two dimensions: the real

10. There are examples of anthropologists defending fi

potential of skills, understanding, and knowledge that enables an individua

13. These terms are inspired by Ferdinand de Saussure' s langue-parole disti

Figure 2. The concept informs the realization and

The visible and the invisible: Two dimens

The French philosopher Maurice Merleau-Po

The primacy of realization

In his essay "The Primacy of Perception," Merleau-Ponty stresses that "th

did not, however, make me into a cultural insider; I

The idea of a dance

When someone is dancing, it is mostly thought about as being the realization of a

ble with such a position. When we analysed a good number of realiz

Figure 3. Pariserpolka at Folkets Hus (the labour union

In the world of dance criticism, the dance realizat

a parasitic discourse (Steiner 1989), but we certainly want to promote the

Three epistemic approaches: A philosophical point of view

For better understanding of the epistemic position of a dance researche

methodological frames - autophenomenology and

The first-person approach

The first-person approach is most clearly realized

I am sitting on a chair in the community house w

1 9. The term "autophenomenology" is used as a synonym

If I add to this that they seem to be in love, I am making a judgement th

An individual dressed as is conventional for a man walks over to me and makes a

The sub-personal approach

In contrast to autophenomenology, the sub-personal approach aims at eliminat-

ment and how you document it, which is not on a s

The other-person approach

The other-person approach is based on testimonies and communication from

involved where the researcher is interviewing other persons or benefits f

22. An example could be the otherwise inspiring article of Parviainen (2006)

tics, and the consensus of the scientific communit

Taken corporeally, the point is that experience occurs

On the other hand, researchers exploring the poss

why and how dancers (or artists in general) might

From our point of view, the critique from the sid

Philosophy and ethnochoreology in discussion

As a conclusion to this article, we went back to Ba

1991 "The Centre of the Norwegian Council for Folk M

Dale, J. A., Janyce Hyatt, and Jeff Hollerman