Ballet as an Ethnic Dance

Ballet as an Ethnic Dance

Joann Kealiinohomoku (that’s a mouthful), the author of An Anthropologist Looks at Ballet as a Form of Ethnic Dance argues that despite Western dance scholars’ objections, it is appropriate to call ballet just that – an ethnic dance. She explains dance scholars have been highly ethnocentric in their judgments in classifying and documenting dance styles. Many of their published works on world dance are centered heavily around Western-specific styles. Their publications classify non-Western dance as ‘primitive’, marginalizing their stories. Joann also makes a point to highlight the plethora of contradictions between and within writings about the content of the ‘primitive dances’. Among the contradictions and descriptions remains a bias overtone towards the same people the authors call ‘ethnic’ such as the Indians, African tribes, and Pacific peoples. This explains to Joann why dance scholars reject the label of ‘ethnic’. Additionally the writings depict Western dance as superior somehow by implying that primitive dances fall on some sort of evolutionary continuum and that they’ve remained the same for thousands of years. However natural for any group to do, the dance historians seem to be concerned with their own world of dance, and fail to acknowledge that all dance forms are subject to change. 

The Hopi’s paradigm is presented which refutes most of the assumptions written by the dance scholars. Here she argues that there is no significant difference between the Hopi people dancing their prayers for their gods and Christians performing ceremonies to pray to their God. Therefore, their dances should not be viewed as ‘primitive’ or ‘pagan’. Joann strongly proposes the idea that there is no such thing as a ‘primitive dance’ and that it’s a dangerous myth. Each group has its own unique history which has been and will be modified. 

In Ethnicity of Ballet, Joann goes on to explain the cultural significance of ballet and why it is specific to Western/European tradition. Everything from the stage and production outlay, to the characters looks, to their props and the storylines reveal the ‘ethnicity’ of ballet. Scholars are simply afraid to accept the term ‘ethnic’ because of the stigma we have placed upon it. Because ‘ethnic’ minimizes the idea of ‘they’ versus ‘we’ it’s argued that it is quite appropriate to use the term to classify ballet.

Key terms within the article included: ethnic dance/ethnologic dance, primitive dance, folk dance, primeval vs. primitive, dance, and ballet. Ethnic dance refers to all forms of dance that reflect the cultural traditions within which they were developed. The group holds common cultural ties and traditions. Joann asserts the importance to know the difference between primeval and primitive – primeval being ancient history from which we know nothing from and contemporary primitive being something from which we can learn from. Dance is referred to in her own definition as a “transient mode of expression, performed in a given form and style by the human body moving in space…” She explains that her definition emphasizes the human behavior and intent to dance that makes it a thorough definition. Folk dance comes from smaller societies that are not autonomous and are in relation to a larger society. Ballet is an ‘ethnic dance’ which is a product of the Western world typically performed by Caucasians/Indo-Europeans who share common traditions. 

                Joann’s section of Ethnicity of Ballet provides insight to the ethno-aesthetics of ballet. The section doesn’t go into detail, but it sheds light on the significance of certain aspects of ballet that relate to Western culture and what Westerners find aesthetically pleasing.

"Waiting for Harry"

This week’s film, Waiting for Harry, was about the Anbarra people at the Djunawunya clan estate in Arnhem Land. The late Les Hiatt, a noted anthropologist in Australian Aboriginal studies, helped produce and translate the film. He had become a ‘brother’ to Frank and his clan and strived to understand their culture. At the request of Frank and with the help of Les, the film revealed the mourning process and rituals of this aboriginal tribe. Most of their rituals are usually performed at night time, but for the purposes of filming were performed during the day. Although the film is a little dated, it’s an interesting look at the effort spent on their burial traditions. What they didn’t explain is the first part of the funeral where they lay out the body for months or so to let the flesh rot away, leaving the bones to be painted with red ochre. To them the red ochre marks the blood of the ancestors, which is used in their paint as well. Later in the ceremony the bones are placed into a painted hollow log. Even the actual decoration of the hollowed log is ceremonial-like. The clan sings songs in relation to the symbolic paintings of his clan and ancestral beings. Harry oversees the quality of the work making sure everything is done well for the sake of the deceased man and for the visitors of other villages. The ceremony continues over weeks while the people wait for Harry to return. The climax of the ritual takes place towards the end when the decorated log is placed upright and the people (men and the widow) mask their bodies in white paint, dancing and singing. The funeral ceremony of the aboriginals is very much about them making sense of their surroundings as well as ‘making special’. They make the deceased persons log coffin ‘special’ with the symbolic paintings so that it resembles his clan, specific to his ancestors. Their beliefs and legends of ‘ancestors of the Dreamtime’ all play a part in making sense of their world. Most aboriginals believe in reincarnation, so having an appropriate funeral and having enough men to dance away the spirit is important. The spirit must go back to its origin (commonly believe to be a waterhole) so that it can be born again. I found it interesting that females, with the exception of the widow, did not play a role in the final ceremony. Even she was outside of the group. I also realized that we do not hear of the ‘dead man’s name, but I do remember reading somewhere that using the name after one’s death is forbidden in some tribes.

The Cave Painters: The World In Their Hands

“Of the two periods represented in the cave, the older, from about 27,000 years ago, consists entirely of finger tracings on the walls and stencils of hands (196).”

 (Lascaux)

As I read chapter 9, A Passage Underwater; The Skull on a Rock, I found myself slowing down on page 196 where Gregory Curtis began discussing the evidence of hand stencils. I couldn’t understand why less than two pages in this entire book focused on the stenciled hands. Here was the most delicate evidence of human being presence. I know someone else is reading this now, thinking ‘she’s crazy’. But while not in the presence of the paintings as a whole, these outlines of prehistoric peoples’ hands are what speak to me. It was the pictures and the thought of these stenciled hands that allowed the reality to truly resonate with me. These people where really here; tens of thousands of years ago. Seeing those negatives relayed a positive answer. That’s when I began to wonder on my own. What were they like? I began to imagine what they were thinking as they outlined their hands with paint. Curiously, many hands have “missing fingers”. Curtis explains that some scholars believed in reasons such as ritual mutilation, frostbite, debilitating diseases, or extreme malnutrition. As he points out, the thumb always appears. No causes such as the last three would spare the thumb every time. And in disproving rituals, experiments have shown they were created by folding down a specific finger or fingers. Scholars now generally agree that it marks some type of code. And that is where it’s left off in the book. So I ventured off to do my own probing. 

 I can believe that the hand stencils more than likely symbolize a code. A code hypothesis could be supported by the claim that the human hand also had a role in language formation, which, as Curtis explains, was preceded by the ability to communicate only by gestures and signs. Max Raphael’s opinion that the basis of composition in all Paleolithic painting is the hand is supported by “the fact that the hunters used the hand as a means of communication in order to avoid frightening their prey by shouts … (132)” Using the “golden ratio” of the hand to paint animals was aesthetically derived from a magical significance. Maybe Henri Breuil could have argued that the hand symbols marked the gestures of the hunters to aid his hunting-magic hypothesis. 

I may be biased, because I’ve always had a strange fascination with hands, but maybe the painters weren’t just marking the walls with a code. They must have acknowledged the importance of their hands and how it made them distinct from other animals, stirring fascination. Our opposable thumbs give us the ability to grasp things, throw things, and thrust weapons, and our thumbs stretch farther across our hands than any other primate. Max Raphael states that the “hand was the organ by which erectly walking man could translate the superiority of his consciousness over the animal’s thinking capacity into practice (131).” He believed it was the “instrument of domination”. The stencil code-theory is purely logical, but it could be argued that it was inspired by a fascination with the human hand and its significance. I’m sure that if I were to stand face to face with the Paleolithic cave paintings of animals, I would be less distracted by the hand paintings. However the hands link the drawings to their artists and resemble something very unique about our species. I believe they will always leave me with a sense of connectedness to these ancient ancestors. 

"Exit Through The Gift Shop"

Exit Through The Gift Shop was a documentary (or a mocumentary - how ever you'd like to classify it) put together about "street art".

The idea of the film was born from Thierry Guetta. Guetta was obsessed with two things: his video camera and graffiti art. After following around legendary artists such as Banksy and Shepard Fairey , Guetta decides to pick up the hobby himself. Long story short, he winds up a celebrity nearly overnight and puts on a gallery selling his pieces for thousands of dollars.


This is where the story gets controversial. The whole purpose of this "street art" movement was supposed to be about anonymity, social issues, and political or anti-government statements. It challenged people and ideas, it made people rethink what surrounded them.
 

 


What Banksy is trying to point out in a polite way is that Guetta a.k.a. "Mr. Brainwash" basically destroyed the essence of street art by exploiting it. I think Guetta was truly inspired by the movement, but instead of taking it to heart and understanding the deeper meaning of it, he saw it as a new thrill. He recreated images that he'd seen throughout his years of filming that inspired him. And in doing so he hired other artists as minions to create the work he visualized. Guetta ended up selling almost a million dollars worth of artwork throughout his first show "Life is Beautiful". He seemed more interested in the media before the show than actually finalizing the display. Many people may very well call him a phony or a joke. However you have to give the gentleman kudos for his passion. He seemed so enthusiastic and motivated by his visions and the final pieces. His work is surely art but it doesn't seem entirely original. Although we are all inspired by what we witness, recreating someone else's idea and selling it for massive profit doesn't make it original. 

Archaeological vs. Ethnographical

Annette Laming-Emperaire pinned down an important issue in decoding prehistoric artifacts: objective documentation versus the molding of an interpretation.  “Sclerotic rigor on one side, a lively but unreliable creation on the other (p.141)”, as she puts it, will either leave us idle or lead us astray in the understanding of these artifacts. While I believe both strategies have their usefulness, the later seems to more likely lead us to a self-fulfilling prophecy. What you see depends on what you’re looking for. Despite the insightful interpretations that could come from the second school, I would place myself in the first school. The fact of the matter is we can never truly know what these cave paintings were for and what they meant. We were simply never there, and no one was with written documentation. Therefore, it’s hard for me to buy into theories of religious ritual uses or totemism. Stories of such are certainly intriguing and worth looking into, but I’m a skeptic and so until proven, it is just a story. 

I would prefer to examine the site objectively, recording and documenting by focusing on gathering an exhaustive list of data. For the purposes of learning, what good do hypotheses do without a collected foundation of hard-evidence? Organizing material before you interpret it allows a “home base” to refer to, either confirming or rejecting ideas. (I love the way Laming-Emperaire replaced the figures with symbols like arrows and recreated the scene to study. Taking images out of context can spotlight patterns, and finding patterns can open up doors for interpretations.) You can’t create a rational picture of the culture’s behavior if you don’t fully examine and understand the details first. Providing an archaeological reference allows others to interpret the information as they please. However, avoiding interpretations can leave topics like these dry and uninspiring. Many times it is easier for one to understand something by visualizing it or forming a story from it. Therefore an ethnographical approach makes the idea seem more wholesome. In reality a combination of the two schools would be the most beneficial to our understanding of prehistoric cultures.

"Making Special"

This week’s blog assignment was to write about “making special” and how we personally do. After I studied my personal space however, I felt a little depressed. My space back home is decked out from floor to ceiling with paint, pictures, art, posters, and things I’ve collected. Almost everything had to stay home since I had to fly here. I stuffed whatever I could in three suitcases, leaving very little room for extras. Campus Apartments doesn’t provide much space for decoration anyway, but the two tapestries I did bring went up by the couch.

The desk area looked deserted, so I’ve begun to display things I normally wouldn’t to make it feel more like home. Take for example my Campbell’s recipe box, or my beverage bottles, or my hats by a pile of rocks from Agate Beach, and posters I’ve collected from around campus. I also cut up my Beatles folder and displayed it on my wall. With this in consideration, I’ve certainly “made special”, but it doesn’t feel very special yet. A little happiness worms its way into my heart as I look down at my doodles on my notebook.

I’ve always been a doodler, drawing on everything I could and shouldn’t. Since I’ve been here I’ve been slightly stressed and haven’t been feeling too creative, but I found myself doodling again today! I don’t have a specific pattern or theme to what I doodle, but it’s usually constant for each individual object I’m drawing on. Except for my Jansport backpack back home (I wish I had a picture to share) which is my favorite; complete with dinosaurs, cassette tapes, palm trees, nautical stars, lyrics, and more. Drawing is my favorite form of making my things and space “special” and unique. It not only looks neat when it’s finished (which it rarely ever is) but it usual means something to me. It often speaks of a mood I was in or a thought that was dominating in my noggin for the moment. Ellen Dissanayake states “… one intends by making special to place the activity or artifact in a ‘realm’ different from the everyday.” My activity of doodling is an aesthetic realm entirely, but the temporary transition into a little more interesting zone makes all the difference in my attitude.

Investigating Creative Expression: Papunya Tula

One of this week’s blog options asked us to choose a type of creative expression and explain how an anthropologist would investigate the form and substance. Australian Aboriginal culture has always captured my curiosity. So here is my chance to look into one of their more contemporary forms of art. Popularly known as “dot painting” this creative form of expression is called Papunya Tula! Its story begins in 1971 in a dessert settlement in Central Australia. 

You, as an anthropologist might begin studying the surface or aesthetic qualities of these paintings. Depending on the time frame that the piece was finished, you will find different styles. From 1971 to 1972 the paintings were bright in color and used whatever material was at hand. Particle board and other metal sheeting was recycled to paint on. At first glance these paintings look abstract - full of circles, ovals and other strange shapes.

 But after 1972, the paintings apparently begin to change. As pieces were starting to sell outside of their small settlement, natives worried that sacred things would be discovered by outsiders. So the paintings take on a "dotted" look instead. Canvas and composition board are much more commonly used underneath the paint. Now, the pieces of artwork seem even more abstract and color schemes are toned down. 

Understanding that not everyone everywhere has the same idea for what is "beautiful" I will refrain from using that term. But you would have to notice the lovely patterns and symmetry in these pieces. There's a harmonic flow to each painting and the use of color seems well planned out. 

However "aesthetically pleasing" these paintings are from the outside, what is more important to the anthropologist is likely the story from the inside. You might be curious to know why these began specifically in 1971. A little bit of research or a look into Papunya Tula: Art of the Western Desert by Geoff Bardon (Available through the HSU book exchange if you're curious: http://library.calstate.edu/humboldt/worldcat/record/28667308?source=regional) would reveal much of its history. You would find that the settlement was a meshed group of Australian Aboriginal people from different language groups forced together by an oppressive government. Journeys were a large part of their culture, but denied the right to travel, the people grew frustrated and felt helpless. Geoff Bardon arrived in he witness the children drawing in the sand. So he encouraged them to paint. Hesitant at first, the elders of the settlement allowed the children to paint and express their "dreams" (which are also crucial to Aboriginal culture). Unfortunately years later after paintings were being sold outside of the community, the natives became much more secretive about the stories and their meanings in the paintings. An intriguing job for an anthropologist would be to encounter these people about their artwork. There is a group that exists today called Papunya Tula Artists Pty Ltd. There are 120 artists and they have works in galleries world-wide. 

http://www.papunyatula.com.au/history/

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2001/aug2001/tula-a24.shtml
http://www.aboriginalartstore.com.au/aboriginal-art-culture/papunya-tula-aboriginal-art-mov.php