I was reading my textbook about ballet, and I made it to the extremely condensed history of ballet. I came across a bit that made me recall a conversation I was having with my fiance.
He was arguing that dance is the most inefficient means of communication. Given the original argument, I could see his point. However, the textbook proposed an alternative that I hadn't really considered. I'll get to the point, though indirectly.
Think to a time where you were in a situation where you really needed to communicate something. Maybe you wanted directions or you needed help. Sure, you're speaking to the person, but, you guessed it. They don't speak the same language. AT. ALL.
What do you do aside from speak louder? You gesture! You gesture to each other until you understand one another.
Well for a time, that's what was happening with dance (or so I read). Sharing Greek theatre of antiquity in newly conquered Roman lands where there was very little commonality of language, most of the speech and song were pretty much lost. It's the over the top physical communication that tells the story. Enter the pantomime (panto "all" and mime "to act out"). What better way to get crazy with the exaggeration than dance?
While I do concede to my fiance's argument that I can take 2 hours to communicate something that would take 20 minutes to say, I don't agree that dance is overall a bad method of communication. The idea is still communicated without a translator and dance is far easier to follow than say, opera. The story is told, and although communication isn't necessarily as fast as say - African drums communicating across vast distances (the most effective means of long distance communication before the invention of the telegraph for millennia), the idea is planted and people can more or less know what's going on.
*Please note that all borrowed photos carry the original site's link, so you can go to the original site if you'd like to know or see more.*
No comments:
Post a Comment