民族志舞蹈影像的早期实践与文化建构

The Early Practice and Cultural Construction of Visual Ethnodanceology

作为一种以肢体动作与表情神态为主要表达方式的人类文化形态,舞蹈与影视人类学的渊源较为长远。电影自最初发明时期,就以舞蹈为主要的拍摄对象之一,在展示不同地区、民族的文化特征方面起到了重要的作用;人类学者第一次深入田野开展民族志电影记录,舞蹈也是最具代表性的文化表征,象征着地方、民族传统消亡与抵抗的并存。随着电影技术的不断发展,以土著民族舞蹈为核心元素的影片,不仅在大众文化领域成为一种娱乐电影类型,也在某种意义上延续着人类学影像民族志的血脉,并且逐渐从单纯的素材记录走向学术阐释与文化建构的新方向。20世纪后半叶以来,民族志电影与舞蹈的关系逐渐以简单的形态记录,逐渐走向更超多元表达的舞蹈影像志。此外,基于非物质文化遗产传承体系,舞蹈影像志也具有了影音档案的功能和价值。

Among many human behaviors,dance is arguably the most common and the most special way of movement.It not only shows significant cultural differences between various groups,but also appears to play an active role in the process of human communication and integration.For this reason,both the earliest experimental film shooting and the first field video recordings by anthropologists have taken dance as one of the basic filming materials.Dance in Edison's early films takes up a large part.In addition to some famous artists(such as Carmencita)performing Spanish dances in front of the camera,there are also real Sioux Native A-mericans performing the"Chost Dance"adorned with war costumes and war tattoos.This kind of dance also has a certain anthropological and ethnographic value due to the original religious ritual color.Unlike Edison,who viewed movies as a sideshow,Auguste&Louis Lumiere tended to find their themes in real life,showing a vivid atmosphere of everyday life.Alfred C.Haddon's field films in the Torres Strait,with only a few fixed shots,provide us with the main keys to understanding the anthropological imagery of dance:The actors,paradigms of behavior,cultural symbols,and overall social and historical context.The British anthropologist Walter Baldwin Spencer also went on an ethnographic expedition to Australia in 1901.He made three films,as well as photographs,drawings,and a series of wax cylinder recordings in which the Tjitjingalla Corroboree is presented visually and using multimedia.This constituted a rare and important field of audiovisual documentation of Australian Aboriginal culture in the early 20th century.It can be said that since the 19th centuryfrom Thomas Edison to Robert Flahardy and from Alfred Haden to Margaret MeadVisual Ethnodancology,being a film form with both artistic expressions and culture-carrying value,has been increasing in expressive ability.After the 2Oth century,film gradually developed from an embryonic state of a single shot into a narrative system that constructs complex image texts through shot scheduling and montage editing.Dance images related to"the other"culture were also further divided into two paths:The first is to follow the film industrial style created by Edison and Lumiere,and integrate the traditional national dance that is different from traditional Western Christian civilization into film narrative,forming a kind of"barbaric"visual spectacle;The second direction is to continue the ethnographic investigation methods of early scholarssuch as Haden and Spencer holding firm to recording and interpreting field dance images with anthropological paradigms,and thus becoming a bridge for cross-cultural understanding.In terms of film history,the relationship between ethnographic film and dance has gradually evolved from a simple morphological record to a more diversified expression of Visual Ethnodanceology.Proponents of"observational film"advocate incorporating dance into daily observation and constructing a broader world of dancers'lives.The dance education circle tries to use"field dance"images as a teaching resource to enhance the context,in an effort to improve the dancers'cultural understanding of dance performance.In addition,based on a system of passing on intangible cultural heritage,Visual Ethnodanceology,also has the function and value of audio and video archives.Dance images produced and transmitted by digital mobile media,especially short videos and live broadcasts,are extended into multi-subject interactive image texts and action strategies in the context of social media.