Dance in Ethiopia: Traditionality and Contemporariness

Dance practices in Ethiopia remained vibrant, albeit transformed, as thecountry transitioned from feudalism to socialism (1974), and then to neoliberalcapitalism (1991). For centuries, a vast array of movement traditions has beenessential to religious and communal rituals in Ethiopia. Today, traditionalEthiopian dance is most visible in tourist restaurants or YouTube videos. Thetrajectory of dance from ritualised practices to commercialised performancespresents a seeming paradox: traditional Ethiopian dance as we know it today is,in fact, a modernised performance genre serving multiple functions: memorytransmission, ideological dissemination, and profit generation, among others.In the 1980s, the socialist state harvested dances from around the country toproduce “modernised” performances on the stages of government theatres,propagating the ideology of national unity amidst border wars and internaloppression. In the 1990s, as Ethiopia opened to the West, these dances continuedto be performed on restaurant stages, not so much to propagandise for thestate as to generate profit for the industry. The modernisation of traditionaldance continues in Ethiopia, under the auspices of neoliberal privatisation,which has also led to the westernisation of youth culture. Since the late 1990s,a group of young Ethiopians have devoted themselves to contemporarydance by adopting Western aesthetics and distinguishing their practice fromtraditional dance. Recently, they have grappled with the imperative to infuseEthiopian dance traditions in their work in order to be recognised in the globaldance field. Through dance ethnography, oral histories, and video archives,this paper illuminates both traditionality and contemporariness as historicalconstructs – categories of differential powers used to organise the currentdance field in Ethiopia. Keywords: Ethiopian dance, contemporary dance, traditional dance, multiple modernities, decolonizing dance

Somatic ethnographic research: A choreographic process informed by Alexander Technique

I write from the perspective of a dance artist interested in reflecting on and sharing my experiences of applying the Alexander Technique (AT) to a choreographic process. The inquiry was framed by dance ethnography, and I choreographed, danced, interviewed and performed with emerging to established dance artists specializing in Contact Improvisation, and interviewed and participated in lessons and workshops with AT teachers. During each phase of the research, I asked: why and how does AT guide me to embody my practice as a choreographer and dancer? This self-ethnographic research outlines an AT-inspired dance methodology using a systematic somatic process to enhance physical, mental and emotional coordination for choreographers and dancers. I propose that AT expanded my attention moment-to-moment to develop my choreographic intentions and desires.

Islamic Values in Bedhaya Sri Nawa Kumala Dance of Guruh Sukarno Putra Creation

Bedhaya Sri Nawa Kumala dance is a composition of Bedhaya Ketawang Dance idea manifested into a brand new form by Guruh Sukarno Putra, a choreographer and dancer who is experienced in interpreting and reinterpreting. Guruh Sukarno Putra considered that dance can be manifested by exploring the existing value in a community. The value of sacredness as in Bedhaya can be manifested in various forms and shapes. Bedhaya Sri Nawa Kumala dance performance emphasizes Surakarta Traditional Female Dance Style which dance music consisting of the teachings of Sunan Kalijaga contains Islamic values. The costumes cover the head and body of the dancers, which is a manifestation of worship to God Almighty. The method used in this research was dance ethnography with Ethnochoreology approach supported by Marco De Maramis theory explaining that art performance is multilayer. Field research was conducted to obtain data from observation, data analysis, style explanation, and write a synthesis that aims to determine the style of Bedhaya Sri Nawa Kumala dance performance by Guruh Sukarno Putra which contains Islamic Values.

Feeling the field: Reflections on embodiment within improvised dance ethnography

This article shares methodological meanderings that sit at the intersection of embodiment and improvised dance ethnography. Comprised of a series of personal reflections on fieldwork, the query of ‘how does ethnography feel for the researcher?' is explored. While questions pertaining to feelings researchers encounter in the field have been probed with some depth in existing literature, these are not always connected to how the feelings of the researcher are embodied at a somatic level. Through sharing two narratives of challenging moments I have confronted in fieldwork, ideas around notions of embodiment, performing and fear, and violence and vulnerability are illuminated. Through unpacking how improvisational ethnography plays out from an embodied place, from my lived experiences as a dance researcher, there is the potential for fostering a more fully developed somatic understanding of ethnographic dance research as a practice.

Building Relations

This chapter considers the integration of dance ethnography and dance movement psychotherapy as a methodology to explore the relationship between dance and wellbeing within psychosocial work with war-affected refugee and internally displaced (IDP) children and their families. It is based upon ethnographic research undertaken in Serbia between September 2001 and September 2002, beginning a few months after the end of the war in former Yugoslavia (1991–2001). The discussion is based on the premise that there is a relationship between creativity, culture, and human development that can be harnessed in psychosocial work with these children and families, to facilitate integration and resettlement. Central to this is the building of new social and cultural relationships and opportunities for people to discover and develop innate potentials that can be used as resources in the context of forced displacement. These ideas are the foundations for the definition of wellbeing used in the chapter.