Archive for keyword: Dance structures

Meter in dance and music

This blog note explains the way I (as a partially competent musician) have rationalised the concept of ‘meter’ from the perspective of dancing (at which I am more competent). The problem to somehow mediate between a dance concept and the established de facto western classical musical understanding of ‘meter’. From …read more

Variation or improvisation?

At academic meetings the themes of ‘improvisation’ and the ‘individual’ are common, but what does this actually mean in the context of a chain dance? Here I summarise the three logical constructions that could be termed ‘improvisation’. First construction … non-Western music, in which one cannot really distinguish between improvisation …read more

Defined by concept and rules

Western classical works in music and dance are generally quite tightly fixed and rigid compositions, which can be notated, and are played or danced near identically every time. However, this is not typical of social dancing and many forms of music. … establish the rules according to which a dance …read more

Topic: Dance structures

Nick, as a scientist by training, profession and upbringing, has always taken an interest in dance structural analysis methodologies, where structure is the organisation and arrangement of the parts in a system of dancing. In participative dance genres the focus often is on the repetitive patterning and the relationships between …read more

A sciency look at dancing the Romanian way: physics of the movement of the centre-of-mass

2018 science approaches Graz

This analysis is based on a comparison of my particular experience of two dance cultures-western classical dance training and participation in Romanian traditional dance. I discuss aspects of movement of the centre-of-mass based on a consideration of vertical and lateral movement in the context of very fast stepped dances that …read more

Social dancers in Balkan folk dance performance: communities, traditions and sensory concepts?

This paper considers perspectives from dancers within a particular genre of recreational dance known as “Balkan folk dance” in the UK. Through asking participants about their understanding of dancing I consider, firstly their preference to Bulgarian dances over Romanian dances, secondly their lack of relationship to Bulgarian dance groups in …read more

Community chain dances in Banat: uniformity or variability, is this about the group or the individual?

This paper considers the ideas of ‘improvisation’ and ‘variability’ in the context of group dances where uniformity and community dominate, in contrast to more common discussion of improvisation considering the ‘individual’ and ‘creativity’. As a case study, this paper considers the chain dances of the Banat region which are notable …read more

A consideration of structural analysis methodology in the context of southeast European dance: an example from Banat – Brâul bătrân

This paper considers the value of the methods of dance structural analysis as a methodology noting that an understanding of “dance” and “dancing” is dependent on the participant’s cultural background and knowledge. This gives rise to local scholarly research methods that have particular relevance to the local concepts of dance, …read more