World music and dance, part 1

In my television series about world music and dance ("The Languages of Sound & Movement"), one thing that struck me with particular force is the different uses of music and of dance.  Another that struck me with somewhat less force is that more people in California seem drawn to music than to dance, but in other areas, the opposite is true.

Ok, so what ARE some of these huge differences in the uses of music and dance?  Well, one of our programs ("Of Beauty & Deities:  Music and Dance of India") looks mostly at southern Indian classical bharatanatyam.  That dance and that music, up until modern times, were used exclusively to communicate with and to entertain the deities.  In many cases, a human audience was also invited but the dance and music are (or at least, were) essentially religious.

Bharatanatyam dancers from the group Kalanjali:  Dances of India--photo:  Ganesh

Currently, bharatanatyam still has strong ties to religion (Hinduism, to be specific) but it is no longer an exclusively religious art form.  It is correct to have an image of the deity Shiva on the stage (at stage left) and the dances still tell stories of the deities or are something likely to amuse the deities, but you don't have to be Hindu to learn and perform it, and it is no longer confined to Hindu temples.

A river (the Ganges?) in southern India.--photo:  Robert Holmes

Another program we made ("A Zest for Life:  Afro-Peruvian Music & Dance") is about...well, Afro-Peruvian music and dance.  THIS art form is used as a way of remembering the history of a community, and also of simply giving people (the participants as well as an audience) a good time.

Caitro Soto and others.  photo:  Caitro Soto y el duende (el Comercio, Lima, Peru)

Our NEXT BLOG will be a further look at world music and dance.