Modes of Dance Realisations – Netloristic Analysis of Dance

Abstract

This article addresses the new wealth of dance films made available through the internet. Clusters of approaches for the study of internet communities are often referred to as netnography. We aim to contribute an approach we call “netloristical” methodologies for dance. While netnography studies online communities, we propose netloristics, in parallel with folkloristics, as a term for studying their expressions, the netlore. Among other things, this article forefronts a need in dance research to work systematically with empirical material and to strive for transparency about how singular events bring us to generalisations. We combine this ambition with the old discussion of classifying the existences of dance genres and their practice into first or second existence – vival or revival. We propose a classification working with video documents that show concrete realisations of dances within dance events. This article presents an argument and strategy for developing dance research and its terminology further toward a precise empirical basis; to study not only communities but also their expressions. As the first step in this direction, we propose a series of what we call “modes of realisation”. The modes, or ways of realising dances are classified with the help of well-known distinctions. We also suggest ways to work diachronically, comparing the use of the different modes through time in order to elucidate changes and continuities.