DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE “FIRST” AND THE “SECOND” EXISTENCE OF DANCE IN THE GREEK ISLAND OF CRETE. THE EXAMPLE OF THE SYRTOS DANCE

Abstract

The ethnographic context of this research is the Syrtos dance, as it is danced in Rethymnon, in the island of Crete in Greece. Observing at first glance the Syrtos dance, as it is danced in social events in the area of Rethymnon and in dance performances on stage, some differences can be seen in it. The aim of this paper is to compare the Syrtos dance in its “first” and “second existence”, in order to ascertain the differences that took place in it, if any, in order to confirm or reject the empirical observation, which wants the two existences of Syrtos dance, the traditional and the fakelore to be different. The collection of ethnographic data was based on the ethnographic method, as it is used in the study of dance. Laban's notation system was used to record the choreographic compositions of Syrtos dance, while for the analysis of their structure and form, as well as their codification, the structural-morphological and typological method of analysis was used, as it is applied in the Greek Traditional Dance. From the data analysis was found that in Rethymnon, Crete, the Syrtos dance in its "first" and in its "second existence" presents both similarities and differences, rejecting the empirical observation that wants the two existences of dance to be distinct. In fact, the similarities are more than the differences, as there is both a structural and a stylistic relevance between the "first" and the "second existence" of dance. This refutes the claim that traditional dance and the dance that is transferred to the classrooms and therefore on stage are two different things. The difference lies, in the case of Greece we are examining, in the way the dance is transmitted (with or without a dance teacher) and in the stylized movement used in the dance scene.