Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

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 awareness 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 dancer's 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 Oceanis. 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; as a strategy for orchestrating the climax of a successful exchange; as a challenge to the power of elders that generates an alternative reality; as a communial response to crisis that recreates order out of confusion; and as a sequence of transformations that periodically resolves an inherent social dilemma. The volume concludes with an assessment of the relevance of the work by a dance scholar. By revealing dance as an aspect - often the most spectacular aspect - of ritual behaviour, this work is intended to stimulate more anthropologists and those in related disciplines to realise the full potential of its study. It also offers insights to those who are principally interested in dance itself, as well as appealing to any reader who shares a curiosity about the ways in which the spectacle of dance can be interpreted.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• List of figures and tables (p. viii)
• Preface (p. ix)
• Introduction: Interpretations of the dance in anthropology (p. 1)
• Dance as a safety valve: the cathartic theory (theme 1) (p. 3)
• Dance as an organ of social control: functionalist theories
• (a) The educational role of dance and transmission of sentiments (theme 2) (p. 8)
• (b) Interaction within the dance and the maintenance of sentiments (theme 3) (p. 11)
• Dance as a cumulative process: the theory of self-generation (theme 4) (p. 15)
• The element of competition in dance: theories of boundary display (theme 5) (p. 21)
• Dance as ritual drama: the theory of communitas and antistructure (theme 6) (p. 27)
• Conclusion: the uncharted deep structures of dance (theme 7) (p. 35)
• 1 Temiar dance and the maintenance of order (p. 47)
• Children's play and play dance (p. 48)
• The trance dance (p. 50)
• Conclusion: Temiar cosmology and dance (p. 58)
• 2 Movement, dance, music, and the Venda girls' initiation cycle (p. 64)
• Dance forms and contrasting modes of expression (p. 67)
• Dance and music in Venda (1956-8) (p. 73)
• Vhusha, tshikanda, and domba: the three-part initiation of girls (p. 80)
• Conclusion (p. 88)
• 3 Structured movement systems in Tonga (p. 92)
• Presentation of pigs (p. 94)
• Enumeration of foodstuffs (p. 96)
• Kava mixing and drinking (p. 97)
• Group speeches with choreographed movements (p. 102)
• Tau'olunga -- Tongan 'dance' (p. 110)
• Dance and nondance -- the Tongan view (p. 114)
• 4 'A line of boys': Melpa dance as a symbol of maturation (p. 119)
• Melpa dances and moka exchange (p. 120)
• The themes of maturity and climax (p. 127)
• Function and form in the dance (p. 132)
• Conclusion (p. 135)
• 5 Dance as antithesis in the Samburu discourse (p. 140)
• The circumcision dance and the aspirations of boyhood (p. 140)
• The dances of the moran and their girls (p. 143)
• Dancing and elderhood (p. 156)
• The dances of married women (p. 157)
• Conclusion (p. 161)
• 6 The dance among the Lugbara of Uganda (p. 165)
• The Lugbara and their view of the world (p. 166)
• Death dances (p. 167)
• Dances of courtship (p. 171)
• The dances compared (p. 172)
• Other dances (p. 177)
• Dance and the resolution of ambiguity (p. 179)
• 7 Style and meaning in Umeda dance (p. 183)
• Graphic analysis (p. 186)
• Dance and nondance (p. 190)
• Female dance (p. 195)
• Male dance (p. 196)
• Conclusion (p. 202)
• Epilogue: Anthropology and the study of dance (p. 206)
• Notes on contributors (p. 215)
• Name index (p. 217)
• Subject index (p. 219)

Reviews provided by Syndetics

CHOICE Review

Spencer presents a masterful and stimulating mapping of dance as as an aspect of ritual behavior and a special category of social action. He outlines and analyzes the variety of ways the construction of meaning can be approached in the study of dance. The distinguished social anthropologists who contributed to this volume-Sue Jennings, John Blacking, Adrienne L. Kaeppler, Andrew Strathern, John Middleton, Alfred Gell, and Peter Brinson-follow by illustrating these approaches, drawing case examples from Africa, Southeast Asia, Melanesia, and Oceania. As a first of its kind, there is no doubt this collection of essays will be a lighthouse for years to come for all who wish to understand the meaning, importance, and relevance of the dynamics of dance, culture, and society. Society and the Dance is one of the most important contributions to dance scholarship and the anthropology of performance. It should be required reading for anyone in either of these fields and related disciplines.-C. Martin, New York University