DANCE AS MOVEMENT AND OBJECT OF RESEARCH

Under the excuse of the untraslatability of dance, its non-verbal presentation, misunderstanding or disinterestedness of the society and often the academic community, dance can appear as a neglected object and area of scientific interest, despite the ongoing research. Namely, dance is a specific and partly abstract area of research. It is not tangible, provable or permanent. Dance is attributed with elusive presence, its mobile trace appears irretrievable, its movements are never completely translated. Partly, the reason dance research seems questionalbe lies in the presentational elusivenes and transience of dance, as well as in the lack of an adequatly translatable language to describe dance. However, dance leaves a trace. Different than a material trace. It is in impression, thoughts and memory, and the manifestations of dance lie in wider contexts of its performativity, on local and global levels, and within the phenomenologies of diverse dance forms. This presentation will aim at explaining the tenability and need of dance research from an anthropological perspective.