Between art of movement and science of body: Short history of anthropology of dance

Abstract

The paper charts the development of dance anthropology from the beginner’s fascination with body techniques through the first scientific explanations of dance. The paper highlights the fact that the development of this branch of anthropology has been burdened with epistemological uncertainties and dilemmas. Hence, we could hardly talk about a consistent sub-discipline when looking at the approaches to dance in anthropology, but we always talk about mushrooming and interconnected traditions. Finaly, the paper will introduce two current and conflicting approaches to dance, textual and kinaesthetic, which open up old questions and dilemmas but which offer fresh perspectives as well.

Keywords

• dance anthropology
• history of discipline
• dance research methodology