Participatory and Presentational Dance as Ethnochoreological Categories

TLDR

Typologies aid in understanding diverse dance phenomena by contrasting features across observed data. The study proposes a participatory–presentational axis as a meaningful framework for ethnochoreological analysis. The authors classify dances into reflexive, participatory, sacred, and presentational based on the intended recipient of the dance message. They find that participatory dances use microscopic movements to convey messages over short distances, while presentational dances employ macroscopic movements over longer spans, with each type showing complementary complexity patterns, thereby clarifying distinctions often obscured in folk dance classifications and offering a useful framework for cultural dance analysis.

Abstract

Summary Typologies are tools to help us understand the range of observed phenomena. Many typological categories are useful in dance research, contrasting various features in the data. Based on the identity of the recipient of the danced message, four types of dance can be identified: reflexive, participatory, sacred, and presentational. The conceptual axis between participatory and presentational dance is proposed as potentially significant for ethnochoreologists. Differences in the intended recipient of the communicated message affect the other components of the dance event, including the movement “text.” At least in our example of two Ukrainian dances, participatory dances carry their communicative message over short distances, and utilize microscopic movement elements for this purpose. The message in presentational dances must be carried over a greater span, and macroscopic movement units tend to carry this communicative value. In both types of dance, the movement content is most complex at the structural levels which are most used in communication. Conversely, participatory dances are often simple on the macroscopic level, while presentational dances tend to have uncomplicated microscopic content. The participatory-presentational axis can clarify important differences in activities often lumped together under the problematic category of “folk” dance. These conceptual categories may be of use for anyone studying dance in its cultural context.