Simultaneous events, parallel themes, spatial oppositions: A comparative content analysis of traditional dance

Abstract

This paper focuses on the smallest units and micro-structures of traditional dance. I propose a new approach that ventures beyond the identification of simple syntagmatic relations derived from the temporal succession of movements: a former practice of dance analyses that relied on theories borrowed from linguistics and music. The following discussion, based on the analysis of movement content as spatial change, demonstrates the existence of independent but simultaneous movement events in dance: each event possesses an expressive potential and the capacity for performance as a single rhythmical unit. Identifying events creates the possibility of separating parallel running, autonomous movement themes. Amongst the examined structures, an exceptional one, here termed contrakinesis, emerges, which represents spatial opposition as a recurring, characteristic phenomenon in East Central European traditional dance. The theory of simultaneous events and parallel themes reveals that concepts of expression in traditional dance can be comprehensively recognized only through a content-oriented exploration relying on movement analysis: an approach derived from investigating the dance itself.