"They had a habit of dancing sideways": Studying the movement component of Mordovian folklore autochthonous and Siberian existence

Abstract

The paper studies the motor component of Mordovian folklore of autochthonous and Siberian existence. The research is based on published works and archival, field materials recorded on the territory of Siberia from 1975 to 2019. Folklore and ethnographic description of the dance and movement code of the Mordovian song tradition allowed systematizing the folklore repertoire. The study revealed that the movement code of the Mordovian culture of autochthonous and Siberian existence is represented by two forms: dance and round dance, which are characterized by genre differentiation. The round dance forms are realized in the context of the seasonal-ritual spring-summer calendar (round dances and songs performed for Trinity, a farewell of spring; spring youth meetings) while the dance elements function in the family-ritual complex (dance of matchmakers, wedding dance songs, dances on the second day of the wedding; dances at christenings) and rituals of winter calendar cycle (youth dances in the Christmas house, a mummer dance going round from house to house on Christmas eve, etc.). The paper provides a typology of round dances based on spatial (procession, circle, line) and action (game, running, dance) features. Some of the Mordovian circular songs of a hybrid style, recorded on the territory of Siberia, are accompanied by various elements of dance plasticity (sideways dancing, stamping and clapping while standing at the same place), owing to the pronounced dance rhythmics.