Masters Writing

Masters Writing

The main point that I have read is that dance is a language that is understood by every human being. Just like any other artistic way of expression, dance also presupposes a high degree of life response. All authors who have defined dance believe that it is a natural expression of the human situation and the spirit. It is an interpretation of inner feelings and cultural realities. Just like the way a playwright builds a picture with words, the dancer communicates through a work of art true to themselves.

Some of the new and confusing vocabularies that stood out include Precursor, Choreographer, and Labanotation. A precursor is a thing that comes before the other—an example in a sentence, a three-stringed precursor of the violin. A choreographer is a person who designs the moves and sequences for a dance performance. Labanotation is a notation way of recording and analyzing dance.

I agree with the author on most of their findings. This is because dance serves many purposes in human society, mainly ritual. Traditionally, dance was used to appease the gods and connect with spiritual ancestors. In the modern world, dance is used to express emotions to defined targets. The dance movements are determined by the purpose of the dance and the message the dancer wants to send home. Therefore, I agree with the author that dance is a medium of communication.

The most surprising thing is that despite the long-standing history of dance, the art has not achieved any position if equality among other types of art. The most exciting thing to note is that preservation of choreography has not been easy until in the twentieth century, where accurate and complete methods of writing down movements have been developed. The fact that watching dance can help in knowing about the culture and time that it was designed is confusing. It is hard for modern generations to tell if some antique dances are meant to be liturgical, theatrical, or therapeutic. The anthropological concept of culture determines the entity of dance.

I can connect ideas from the reading to my own experience. This is because, in my past experiences, I have realized the watching a dance depends on my understanding. To understand the message being delivered by the dance, my personal aesthetic is essential. This is because it judges what I genuinely decide to appreciate. In my experience, I have realized that the more dances that I choose to explore, the more satisfying and diverse my personal choices will be.

The idea that in cultures where both women and men perform similar steps are less rigid about sex roles than cultures that say women’s steps and men steps intrigue me to do more research. I want to research on how dance affects sex roles in different cultures. The author does excellent work but leaves out a crucial topic about sex roles and dance unanswered. This left me thinking and with an urge to do more research.