关于舞蹈的一次哲学之旅

A Journey of Philosophy on Dance

舞蹈是一种与音乐相伴的艺术形式。对于舞蹈的理论反思,通常与音乐和诗歌联系在一起。正因为舞蹈与音乐的伴生关系,在18世纪欧洲美学家确立的现代艺术系统中,舞蹈的地位并不巩固。在五大艺术门类中,绘画、雕塑、音乐和诗歌的地位是稳固的,最后一个名额究竟是给舞蹈还是给建筑,则仁者见仁智者见智。建筑因为它明显的实用性而被某些美学家排除在纯粹艺术范畴之外。舞蹈的问题不是它的实用性,而是它的依附性。舞蹈与音乐密切相关,甚至可以说舞蹈是音乐的一种表现形式。《文选》引《吕氏春秋》语:"舞者,音声之容也。"《乐府杂录》也有类似的说法:"舞者,乐之容也。"既然舞蹈是音乐的一种表现形式,它就可以包含在音乐之中,而无须成为独立的艺术门类。但是,舞蹈也有它自身的独特性,而无法为音乐或者诗歌所涵盖。舞蹈的独特性究竟是什么?究竟是什么特性让舞蹈成为艺术?我们希望通过对过往舞蹈理论的回溯找到答案。

Dance is the art form accompanied by music. Reflections on dance theories are generally related with music and poetry. Due to this accompanying relationship with music, the position of dance was not steady in the modern art system established by European aestheticians in 18th century. Among the five categories of art, the positions of painting, sculpture, music and poetry are steady, while whether the last category belong to dance or architecture remains unsolved. Dance is closely related with music, and even a form of musical representing. However, dance has its own unique characteristics that could not be covered by music or poetry. The paper seeks to find the uniqueness of dance through reviewing the past dance theories, and attempts to discover the reasons why dance becomes an independent art form.