Dance Anthropology

739 Words2 Pages

I love to dance and through google and wikipedia I discovered ethnochoreology. It is the study of “ethnic” dance in it's social and cultural context. One famous dancer and pioneer who inspires me greatly is Katherine Dunham. She was able to study dance and anthropology in college and developed dance anthropology. Dance Anthropology can also be referred to as Ethnochoreology where it studies why people dance and what it means within various cultures. Since dancing have originated it has been refined and modified excessively by many different cultures to fit their form of communication or expression. Dance is not static, but instead dynamic and has the ability to change, evolve, or even fuse with other works of movement. We, humans, aren’t always I had to teach myself. I remember clearing out my room for space and dancing along with a movie in front of my closet mirror. I also recall jotting down notes and steps as I watched people dance on television. Back in sixth grade, my family formed a dancing group and signed up for a Disney Channel dance contest. It was a new experience, having the courage to post the video online, making it public. Dancing with others creates many wonderful memories. I am able to make people laugh and smile, while also feeling happy and alive. I enjoy that feeling when a good song plays, and you can’t help but move your feet, then it leads to you breaking out and letting loose. I love how I am able to manipulate other choreography and add my own style to it. A simple movement can spark something big. From a personal experience, when I do a small jump of joy my baby sister loves it, she then starts to dance. Not only does it make me happy, she’s happy As I practice every day, I learn my own strengths and weaknesses and focus on areas where I need improvement at. I am being self-taught and learn to develop solutions to fix my own problems. Dancing can be used as a form of teaching. Some dances are meant to tell a story or to share an idea or message with the audience. Some people are visual learners so why not implement dance into the lesson plans, and from watching dances the audience is able capture the emotions and message expressed. Some dance teachers instill in kids the idea that they can make changes in in their own lives. Alvaro Restrepo, a dancer and choreographer, is a director of a dance school in Cartagena, Columbia who created a program to give disadvantaged kids the tools to deal and transform their lives through dancing. Through dancing, these kids are able to escape the life they currently reside in. Similarly, Katherine Dunham founded the Performing Arts Training Center in East St. Louis in 1967, setting up a dance program for disadvantaged youth with “hopes she could use art to keep youngsters from violence and gangs” (Encyclopedia of World Biography). The study of ethnochoreology allows me to explore into great detail the different cultures and why people in different countries dance; just like in Columbia, individuals have used dancing as a tool for their

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