Anthropology of Dance
The anthropological study of dance as a meaningful, culturally structured form of human behavior.
Definition
The theoretical study of dance as a culturally meaningful form of human social behavior and communication.
Scope
This topic covers the theoretical foundations of studying dance anthropologically: dance as nonverbal communication, as an expression and instrument of social organization, and as culturally constituted movement. It addresses how dance encodes and shapes social relations, identity, gender, and belief within specific cultural settings.
Core questions
- What does dance communicate, and how, within a culture?
- How does dance relate to social organization and identity?
- How can dance be theorized as human behavior rather than only as art?
Key concepts
- nonverbal communication
- social organization
- cultural meaning
- movement systems
- identity
Key theories
- Dance as nonverbal communication
- The theory that dance is a culturally patterned system of nonverbal communication conveying meanings about social relations, belief, and identity.
History
The anthropology of dance was established as a theoretical field in the 1970s, with foundational works setting out frameworks for treating dance as cultural behavior and nonverbal communication, building on earlier ethnographic descriptions of dance.
Debates
- Communication model versus practice-based approaches
- Scholars debate whether dance is best modeled as a communicative code with decodable meanings or as embodied practice whose significance resists translation into verbal messages.
Key figures
- Anya Peterson Royce
- Judith Lynne Hanna
- Adrienne Kaeppler
Related topics
Seminal works
- royce1977
- hanna1979
Frequently asked questions
- Why do anthropologists study dance?
- Because dance is a widespread form of human expression that encodes social relations, beliefs, and identities, offering anthropologists a window into how cultures organize meaning through the moving body.