Romance in Dance Literature

In many of the literature excerpts that we read, romance played a large role in the dancing. Dancing was used to begin a new romance or rekindle an old romance. At times, even the lack of dancing showed the jealousy of an individual who watched another person dance with the one who they loved. For example, Thomas Hardy and Willa Cather both wrote about how dancing brought two ex-lovers back together through the close movements and even the communication that could begin while dancing. In Gustave Flaubert’s excerpt, Emma Bovary develops feelings for a man other than her husband while dancing a sensual waltz. Leo Tolstoy demonstrated the feelings of jealousy that could emerge by writing about how Kitty watched Anna dance with the man who she desired.

This made me think about the implications of dance in our lives today. Dance has become such an outlet for artistic expression. There are now plenty more reasons to dance than just to experience romance. Dancers create art, tell stories, or just create movement for themselves. On the other hand, what about the “social dancing” that we do in a party setting? While I would not consider this kind of dancing to be romantic, aren’t there plenty of sexual implications behind the movements and customs of these kinds of dances? Slow dances are also still prominent in our society- whether seen at weddings or a middle school dance- these dances still hold a certain romantic notion. In this sense, have we really lost this old concept of romance in dancing?  

Emily

Literature's view of dance

After reading these excerpts from such wonderful works of literature and looking at the function of dance within them, I find myself curious about the authors' attitudes towards dancing. It seems that despite the tone, be it Twain's mockery or Austen's reverence, all the authors view dance as having purely instrumental value. That is, as having purpose that arises from its ability to enable or bring about something of a higher concern or value. In general, in these works dance serves as the vehicle for pure entertainment, for social interaction or for psychological shift. It seems to possess no value in and of itself.

My current thought is that perhaps this view of dance as being valuable for its own sake only arose when dance took on a form of self-expression, or when the aesthetic value no longer necessarily implied anything about socioeconomic status or upbringing. Could anyone find anything within the literature that suggests that the author could see dance for itself rather than for its usefulness in other contexts? Or any outside sources that we did not touch on?

Aly

Dance alumna has article published!

RACHEL BAKER, a dancer who graduated F&M in 2007, has been writing for New Jersey Family magazine, as well as teaching dance and choreographing at a local studio. Rachel's longstanding interest in dance-movement therapy has resulted in an article on that subject, recently published in NJ Family! Check it out at <http://njfamily.com/en/news/The_Healing_Power_of_Dance.aspx>.

Congratulations, Rachel! Thank you for being an inspiration to other dance writers.