SOCIETY AND THE DANCE

Dancing has its place in all societies, yet the phenomenon of dance has been oddly neglected by most anthropologists. This volume is intended to further anthropological awarenes of its critical relevance. It is claimed that, in a very important sense, society creates the dance, and it is to society and not just to the dancers experience that we must turn to understand its significance. Performance has meaning within social process.The anthropological analysis of dance can be approached in a variety of ways. These are identified in the introduction to the volume, and then illustrated by seven case examples drawn from Africa, Southeast Asia, Melanesia, and Oceania. In successive chapters, dancing is presented as a controlled emotional outlet whose form reflects cosmology, as a creative experience that draws adolescent girls into the adult world, as an extension of speech and gesture that adds further levels of meaning to formal occasions