Academic Research of Greek Traditional Dance in Greece and Abroad: A Critical Review of Dissertations and Theses

Abstract

Since 1909, Greek traditional dance has been part of public physical education, and since 1983 it has been a subject matter of the Departments of Physical Education and Sports in Greece. At the late 1980s, a new era opened up for its study and research through the completion of master's dissertations and doctoral theses in Greece and abroad—an era that since then is constantly flourishing. Based on this, the aim of this paper is to present, categorize, and evaluate the existing dissertations and theses on Greek traditional dance in Greece and abroad. In order to do so, a bibliographical research was carried out. Sixty-four studies were found in total, which were then examined in terms of chronology, place, and kind of department; author's nationality and specialty; theoretical approach; and methodology. Their analysis showed that over the course of time, the number of studies was increasing. In terms of research methods, both qualitative and quantitative ones have been used for the gathering of data with the qualitative ones prevailing. In relation to theoretical orientations, concepts and models have been used from many approaches, such as historical, morphological, anthropological, pedagogical, philosophical, psychological, ergo-physiological, etc., with the approaches from social and human sciences prevailing. In conclusion, it can be argued that until now, academic research in Greek traditional dance is multifaceted both theoretically and methodologically, thus allocating value to Greek traditional dance itself locally and internationally. Yet there is still a lot to be done toward this objective, a goal that may be difficult to achieve because of shrinking resources in the Greek age of austerity.