The implications of rural praxes legacies in Majorcan urban dance tradition

Abstract

ABSTRACT The ball de bot, a folk dance from the Spanish island of Majorca, has generally been documented in the literature and academics from an urban historical perspective. Thus, urban traditions have been slowly imposed over an older rural praxis that urban elites considered dead. This article first demonstrates the social role of the ball de bot from a rural perspective based on living witnesses to the rural praxis. Second, we argue that the spatial perspective (from an urban-based view to a rural-based one) enables us to make a critical revision of the current conception of ball de bot. Finally, this research, beyond the specific case presented here, illustrates the importance of opening new perspectives on dance to move away from accepted historic discourse, and to reconsider rural experiences in order to improve our comprehension of dance.