WORD FOR THE DAY

I learned a new word today:  “Ethnochoreology.”  The definition of this interesting word, as posted on Wikipedia, is:

“the study of dance through the application of a number of disciplines.   It is not just the study or cataloging of the thousands of external forms of dances, but the attempt to come to grips with dance as existing within the social events of a given community as well as within the cultural history of a community. “  The article goes on to state: “Dance is not just a static representation of history, not just a repository of meaning, but a producer of meaning each time it is produced—not just a living mirror of a culture, but a shaping part of culture, a power within the culture.”  

A light bulb starts to brighten over my head.  I continue to read and see the following quote:

“The power of dance rests in acts of performance by dancers and spectators alike, in the process of making sense of dance… and in linking dance experience to other sets of ideas and social experiences.” 

(John Blacking. (1984) “Dance as Cultural System and Human Capability: An Anthropological Perspective.” in Dance, A Multicultural Perspective. Report of the Third Study of Dance Conference, ed. J. Adshead, 4-21, Guildford, University of Surrey. Cited in Giurchescu (2001).”

Note to self….look up and read the entire report by Mr. Blacking. 

The light bulb is burning bright now, a beginning moment of clarity.

I know I want to dance….that was never the question.  However, the questions have been “how” and “what?”  I have been talking to many people, both within and outside of the dance field, to learn from their personal experiences and expertise.  I have spent hours listening to my own thoughts, trying to wipe away the unnecessary internal chatter and define the core of my questions.  I have been searching through university degree programs to get a sense of what academic programs are available out there and whether a degree would be a part of my journey of exploration.

The stream of consciousness has been overflowing with an array of half-formed ideas and seemingly unrelated words.  To make sense of it all, I retrieve the notes from my sessions with an incredible career coach who was instrumental in helping me collect and organize my confused thoughts about wanting to dance, wanting to contribute to society in some way, wanting to say something with my dance...what the heck am I talking about?  She devised exercises which gave me the necessary tools to carefully itemize what was important and let go of what was not. 

Sounds simple!  Easy beans, you say!  Not so fast! Getting to the core of anything means taking a good, hard, truthful look at oneself.  The key word here is “truthful.” I will now admit that I am thankful she asked all those really hard questions!  It took me quite a few additional months of inner conversations with myself before a vision began to take the hazy shape of possibility.  Then today, while randomly scrolling through the internet, I came across this word, “Ethnochoreology.”  I tested the word out loud several times, liking the way it rolls off my tongue…liking its rhythm…liking the way it captures in a few words what I want to do with my dance.

Here is my “Ah Ha Light Bulb” moment:  my pursuit of dance is founded upon my interest in the human condition…how dance, either as a performance art form or an intrinsic part of heritage/everyday life, can be a commentary of social experiences.  How dance, historically and culturally, is a tantalizing glimpse of specific moments in time, whether it be for ritual, celebratory or performance purposes.  It is the affirmation that we, as human beings, have the means to communicate effectively without words. 

And thus, those disparate words that I have been bandying about recently (“Dance,” “Community” and “Social Action”) begin to coalesce into something more concrete.  There is a course of study out there I can explore.  Of course the academic program is at the University of Limerick in Ireland, but I’m sure I can find or structure something closer to home.

How exciting is this!  All due to the propitious discovery of one very intriguing word!