关于舞蹈文化特性认知之辨

A Discussion on the Cognition of the Characteristics of Dance Culture

从舞蹈文化的视角,本文提出了三个理论支点:舞蹈是一种非语言性文化;舞蹈是一种意会性文化;舞蹈是一种感应性文化。文章用这三个支点引伸出的若干思考,来回答如何提高舞蹈文化自觉性问题,如非语言文化为何要用语言文化标准来思考舞蹈的问题,意会性文化怎样摆正舞蹈实践与理论的相互地位,感应性文化为何在检测时不使用感应性方式,等等。

Mr.FEI Xiao-tong proposed the concept of 'cultural selfawareness' at the end of the 20 th century, which has had a great impact on the world of arts and even on the world of dance. Undoubtedly, dance should bear the quality of cultural self-awareness. From the author’s point of view, to raise cultural self-awareness, it must establish its theoretical fulcrums. For dance, what are the theoretical fulcrums?The author will discuss them in three perspectives.Firstly, dance is a non-verbal culture. The existence and development of dance shall be understood based on the non-verbal cultural characteristics and consciously get rid of the shackles of verbal culture standards.Dance masters have spoken the shocking words for dancers: 'The important thing in ballet is the movement itself'(Balanchine). 'If I could say with words what my dances express, I wouldn’t have a reason to dance '(Wigman). The words show their dissent from the views of discussing dance by literary or other artistic criteria.In the last century, the American semiotics and aesthetician Susanne Langer stood for dance, 'No art suffers more misunderstanding, sentimental judgment,and mystical interpretation than the art of dance. Its critical literature, or worse yet its uncritical literature, pseudoethnological and pseudo-aesthetic, makes weary reading.' Many people comment on dance at will by using other arts’ criteria, putting dance in injustice. 'Dance only exists when it is being dancing. Stop dancing means that dance no longer exists. Dance is fresh and in present tense,' as I put forward in The Aesthetics of Dance, 'theory is always secondary and gray to dance,and even in a way that words are never able to convey the meaning.' Does it even need to be explained? It is precisely because theory is attached to dance, we shall continuously conduct theoretical research of dance to seek a closer understanding of the dance ontology. It means that dance theory can never transcend dance practice.The great level and in-depth content of an excellent dance are irreplaceable by any other forms of art. The dance god Nijinsky is a typical example that both his soul and body are living in dance. His work The Rite of Spring was beyond the audiences’ appreciation at its premiere since people had limited aesthetic experience at that time. People even claimed since then that he did not 'have any talent of choreography.' His ideas were so ahead of the time that people cannot really understand him until a few years after his death. When people were commemorating him, they started to realize that he was a genius across time and space.Secondly, dance is a type of tacit culture. To be aware of this point will inevitably lead to the awareness of the meaning of the tacit thinking to dancers. The tacit thinking was originally an important and unique way of thinking for human beings.The dance phenomenon is not absolutely about sensibility. Dancers, dance teachers, choreographers, and even dance theorists, when they sense a dance clearly before they yet can express it in words.Interestingly, tacit thinking may make the audience have an instant 'dance appreciation leap.' For an abnormal phenomenon, the audience may be naturally involved into an aesthetic 'situation,' accept the work, and give accurate evaluation only through one or two postures given by the dancers. On the contrary, a judge with great artistic accomplishment may hardly accept the innovation of the dance, since they have pre-established standards in their minds.Human beings are still acquiring much knowledge and understanding through non-verbal language and rely on tacit knowledge from the 'non-standard answer.'Thirdly, dance is a type of perceivable culture. The main means of dance appreciation and dance communication is non-verbal and relies on mutual perceiving.' It can only be sensed, but not be explained '-it can best describe the feature of dance. The abstract dance,narrative dance, and dance drama all have such feature.For example, in the pas de deux of ballet Romeo and Juliet, after Romeo climbed into the Juliet’s room from the window, there was a section about their meeting and separation in and out the bed. It can produce many associations, but no one would ask what they exactly are,why? If all the associations are truthfully presented, are they still beautiful?For this kind of phenomenon, dance viewers will not pursue the details constantly. However, what does the tacit understanding come from? Naturally, it is from the presentation and indication of the movements(dance language) of the two dancers. On the one hand, it is the giving from the dancers;on the other hand, it is the acceptance of the viewers. It is an aesthetic relationship between the 'sensing' and 'perceiving.' It is also a circular process of expression(narrating) and feedback(accepting). It can be said that the aesthetic relationship within dance is the most appropriate interpretation of the perceiving culture.We can find the 'inner imitation' and ' transference' in the aesthetics corresponding to 'perceiving.' They also have the descriptions of the reacting process to the arts. The perceiving relationship within dance does not need verbal language or texts. It is a tacit understanding through the sensing from the limbs, movements, eyes, and gestures.With the theory of sense as the fulcrum, we can design the quality education dance courses for all students.When the students really sense the dance and come into realize their own lives in dance, the real value of aesthetic education is about to achieve. According to this educational view, the method includes only imitation,copying the dance sequences taught by the teachers,is wasting time for those who are not taking dance as a profession.From the point of view of perceiving culture, taking dance only as something to please eyes and mind is actually degrading it. In the primitive era when everybody danced and with no one convened nor organized, dance was an inner praying shared by each one, such as about praying for raining, hunting, reproduction, and giving the vent to the spare energy. Calls were from the awareness.Subsequently, it derives a series of definitions and understanding of dance aesthetics.In fact, the ability to perceive is also a universal ability,owned by everyone. It has unique cultural and theoretical significance for dance.These three aspects are the theoretical fulcrums of building the cultural self-awareness of dance.