Scholastic Tasks of a Sociology of Dance (Part 1)

Abstract

This paper outlines the scholastic tasks which have emerged in a relatively new discipline and area of dance scholarship, the sociology of dance.' I initiated this subject at the Laban Centre for Movemnent and in 1978 as an option in the Centre's BA Honours dance degree. Clearly, a new discipline needs to elaborate in its early years not only its rationale and conceptual basis, but the priorities for investigation drawn from the experience of those years. This experience has demonstrated yet again both the rich interrelationship which dance can develop with other disciplines and the justice of the claim that dance is a discipline deserving scholarly study in its own right with many benefits flowing from such study. For some time a variety of institutions here and in other countries have included a course on dance in society as an element (usually an option) in vocational dance training, in teacher training, or in higher education courses with broader objectives, including dance degree courses. These courses on dance in society are diverse in nature, in purpose, in conception and, particularly, in their theoretical underpinning. The original Laban submission to the Council for National Academic Awards in January 1977 proposed just such a course, called and Society, as an option in its BA Honours Degree in Dance. The course had three elements covering an Introduction to the study of dance in its historical context, an Introduction to the study of dance in the contemporary context, and Dance in the local community. These studies embraced the sociological concept of the social and cultural origins of dance; dance in the mediation and transmission of culture; the role and status of the dancer; dance, social hierarchy and the expressive and affiliative nature of dance; dance and intergenerational identity; the institutionalisation of dance; dance and the media; dance in education; and dance in the provision of social and community facilities.