Dance studies

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Dance studies is the scientific study of the complex phenomenon of dance in its historical, cultural and social development. Dance studies is a humanities discipline that is closely related to music , theater and cultural studies .

introduction

Dance occurs in all historical and cultural contexts. Despite its volatility, dance is a store of knowledge of body concepts and movements. The volatility of the dance movements places high demands on the methods of dance studies. It is interdisciplinary and includes other individual sciences as well as visual and performing arts.

Thematic focal points of dance studies include a. dance history, movement and performance analysis, dance notations and aesthetic theories of dance, especially in the context of cultural studies-oriented dance studies. Some areas of dance studies are also located in the social sciences: this includes studies on dance pedagogy, dance as a social phenomenon and dance therapy. Research into dance as a popular culture and in other cultural and global contexts was initially and primarily explored from an ethnological and anthropological perspective. Connections to the natural sciences are established through research into motor and neurological aspects of dance movement. The increasing establishment of dance studies as a university discipline in Germany leads to increased exchange and the dissolution of disciplinary boundaries.

Historical development in Germany

There have been serious written studies on the subject of dance since the Renaissance and in German at the latest since the 16th century. Often these early German works have a religious studies approach, like the probably world's first dissertation on dance Dissertatio theologica circularis de saltatione christiano licita: whether a Christian is allowed to dance? ( Johann Peter Grünenberg , University of Rostock 1704). In the 18th century, artistic dance also became the subject of German research literature. At that time, dance and science were already associated with a certain degree of naturalness. In 1707 Johann Pasch stated that “true Tantz art [...] in Theoria is a science”, and Carl Joseph von Feldtenstein directed his work on choreography in 1772 with the sentence “The art of dance is a pleasant science” ' a. In the 19th century, the Berlin Academy of Dance Teaching, founded in 1873, and Friedrich Albert Zorn, among its members , endeavored to use notation as the basis for theoretical (and practical) engagement with dance.

Doctorate in dance studies 1935: in the USA (from: "Der Tanz", H. 9 / September 1935, p. 17)

At the beginning of the 20th century, Isadora Duncan formulated a goal that was still unachieved at the time: "And I hope, if only I don't give in, to find a science of dance with very firm, secure and inviolable laws." In the first half of the 20th century, in addition to the traditional approaches to dance history, above all considerations for securing the transitory object of investigation at the center of interest in dance studies. So developed Rudolf von Laban a new font for the notation of dance, kinetography or labanotation . Another author of a dance writing system stated in 1929: “Yes, dance studies or, in the broader sense, movement science is only conceivable in an exact form through the use of movement writing.” And the dance historian Fritz Böhme built a collection in Berlin of everything suitable for the scientific investigation and documentation of dance Materials on a dance archive (destroyed in World War II).

After the Second World War, Kurt Peters began building a new, initially private dance archive in Hamburg in 1948 and also called the specialist journal he had published from 1953 onwards, Das Tanzarchiv . Peters moved to Cologne in 1965 with the archive and magazine; the archive was bought up in 1985 as the German Dance Archive Cologne by the SK Foundation for Culture . In 1957 Kurt Petermann founded another dance archive in Leipzig (initially folk dance archive, at the House for Folk Art). From then on, both institutions provided important impulses for the scientific examination of dance, with the Leipzig archive being certified as having a "significant contribution to the development of a Marxist dance science".

Education

Studies: history

In Germany, dance and the emerging science of dance were initially in a symbiosis in the field of education. Laban and Kurt Jooss had developed an exposé as part of the dancer congresses in 1927 (Magdeburg) and 1928 (Essen) with the stated aim of establishing a “central training center for stage dance and movement science”.

In 1961 Aurel von Milloss established the Institute for Stage Dance in the Cologne State University of Music , Department of Musical Theater . It consisted of a technical school for stage dancers, which was administratively affiliated to the Rheinische Musikschule in Cologne, and a college for artistic dance. The latter had five departments or courses of study for four semesters each, and one of them was the department of dance studies. “Scientific research and codification in all areas of dance (collection and archiving of relevant material including library, film library and discotheque)”, according to a prospectus, was one of the tasks of the new university institute. At the beginning, in addition to Milloss and Oscar Fritz Schuh, eight other lecturers (five of whom had doctorates) and eight guest lecturers taught. Since tuition fees were incurred for these fields of study - as was customary at the time - and the number of students was low, the university area of ​​the institute could not hold up in the long term. The scientific subjects continued to be taught to a much lesser extent in the training of dancers, for example from the mid-1960s by Kurt Peters (dance history, cultural history, cinetography) and Gerhard Zacharias.

In 1977, Kurt Petermann called for a systematic development of dance studies in the GDR and saw three options for this: either at a university (Berlin or Leipzig) in the social science section as a separate area, or at the “Hans Otto” theater school as a scientific department for choreography studies , or by expanding the dance archive headed by him into a central research center for dance studies, with the aim of "[...] not losing touch with international developments, but rather, in accordance with our socialist system, through top artistic achievements. In 1986 and 1988, four students each at the Leipzig Theater Academy had the opportunity to enroll in a theater studies course specializing in dance studies, which offered the qualification “Diplomtheaterwissenschaftler (specialized in dance studies)”. After the fall of the Wall in 1991 it was downgraded to a minor and was completely lost in 1992 in the course of the division and dissolution of the university under the Saxon University Structure Act.

A symposium Beyond Performance: Dance Scholarship Today in Essen with 160 participants from 38 countries , organized by the International Theater Institute in 1988, gave impetus to further developments in Germany .

Studies: present

Berlin : The Free University of Berlin offers a non- consecutive master’s degree in the Department of Philosophy and Humanities at the Institute for Theater Studies , including the following modules:

  • Theory and aesthetics
  • Historicity and Historiography
  • Dance, arts and media
  • Research practice.

Cologne : The first professorship for dance studies in German-speaking countries was established at the State University of Music in Cologne at the end of the 1990s . At the Center for Contemporary Dance there, the subject of dance studies is an integral part of the dance bachelor's degree. A non- consecutive master’s degree in dance studies has been offered here since the 2010/2011 winter semester . a. with these modules:

  • Methods of dance studies
  • Dance historiography
  • Composition, choreography and dramaturgy.

At the Cologne University of Music and Dance there is the opportunity to do a doctorate in dance studies.

Hamburg : At the University of Hamburg , the Faculty of Education, Psychology and Movement Science and the Faculty of Humanities and Cultural Studies offer a postgraduate course Master of Arts in Performance Studies . Performance Studies is a scientific-artistic course and combines performance, movement and dance

  • cultural and social science reflection
  • artistic practice
  • aesthetic education.

Gießen / Frankfurt am Main : In 2008 a professorship for dance studies, initially limited to three years, was established at the University of Gießen for the development, implementation and management of the MA course "Choreography and Performance", which is jointly organized by the Institute for Applied Theater Studies at Justus- Liebig University Giessen and the Frankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts are developed and offered.

Munich , Leipzig , Bochum : There are also dance studies courses at the theater studies institutes of the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich , the University of Leipzig and the Ruhr University in Bochum .

Salzburg: The Department of Music and Dance Studies at the University of Salzburg offers interdisciplinary studies in both subjects. The focus can be placed on the link between music and dance studies or on one of the two subjects. The interaction of dance and musicology promotes an innovative cultural studies concept with numerous connection options. The focus of the Salzburg profile is on the one hand the aesthetic variety of formats (such as opera, ballet, performance, musical) and on the other hand the writing and medialization of music and dance. The offer includes:

  • Bachelor of Arts in Music and Dance Studies as well
  • Master of Arts in Performative and Intermedial Music and Dance Studies , based on the three axes scene - media - transdisciplinarity

The Derra de Moroda Dance Archives, which are available for research and teaching, are connected to the department.

Bern: In German-speaking countries, dance studies are also taught at the University of Bern . The theater studies course there can be deepened with a master’s degree with a focus on dance studies.

The German Dance Archive Cologne makes pages available on the Internet on which the topics of German-language master's theses and dissertations from all areas of dance studies can be announced; also a mailing list to draw attention to dance science symposia, new books, job advertisements, etc.

structure

Dance studies in Germany developed during the 1980s and 1990s, especially from theater studies . Their structures were just as unsuitable as those of musicology for transferring to dance studies. None of the theoretical classifications of the subject so far - including extensive models based on a parallel three-pronged structure of general, systematic and comparative dance studies - have not been able to establish themselves in practice. The fundamental distinction between a historical-critical and a dance-analytical-critical direction in dance studies that was established for Germany in the 1980s was not permanent (due to the merging of the two). Overall, dance studies is characterized by its interdisciplinary character and the multitude of methodological approaches as an extremely flexible subject that is evolving with current discourses.

research

Dance science research is carried out in university and non-university institutions and by private individuals. In 1985, in Cologne, Rolf Garske called for the establishment of a German Dance Council; from December 1985 onwards several working meetings of the dance studies section took place in the German Dance Council to be founded , from which the Society for Dance Research eV was constituted in May 1986. Gabriele Brandstetter set up a center for movement research with the prize money of the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize of the DFG at the Free University of Berlin in 2004.

Dance Science Prize

The Ministry for Innovation, Science, Research and Technology of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia and the German Dance Archive Cologne in cooperation with the Cologne University of Music and Dance promote dance studies in Germany with the NRW Dance Studies Prize . The prize is intended to help strengthen the foundations and structures of dance research in Germany. It has been awarded so far in 2001, 2006, 2011 and 2016.

literature

  • Gertrud Snell: dance studies . In: The Beauty . Volume 22, Issue 2, 1926, pp. 62–68.
  • Dorothee Günther: dance studies . In: The dance community. Volume 1, April issue, 1929, pp. 10–11.
  • Serge Lifar : Au service de la danse. A la recherche d'une science: La chorélogie. Archives, temoignages, reflections. Université de la danse, Paris 1958.
  • Kurt Petermann: Tasks and possibilities of dance studies in the GDR . In: Material on the theater. Contributions to the theory and practice of socialist theater , no. 125. Association of Theater Professionals of the GDR, Berlin 1980, pp. 49–65.
  • Susan Au, Frank-Manuel Peter (Ed.): Documentation: Beyond Performance: Dance Scholarship Today. Essen, June 10-15, 1988 . International Theater Institute, Berlin 1989, ISBN 3-924056-05-6 .
  • Elisabeth Wamlek-Junk (Ed.): Victor Junk : Fundamentals of dance studies . (posthumously; status approx. 1944). Georg Olms, Hildesheim 1990, ISBN 3-487-09339-1 .
  • Claudia Jeschke: The flexible gaze. Aspects of Dance Research . In: Renate Möhrmann (Ed.): Theater Studies Today. An introduction. Dietrich Reimer, Berlin 1990, ISBN 3-496-00998-5 , pp. 149-164.
  • Claudia Jeschke, Susanne Schlicher: Dance research for theater studies. In: Erika Fischer-Lichte (Ed.): Fields of work in theater studies . Narr, Tübingen 1994, ISBN 3-8233-4035-2 , pp. 241-250.
  • Monika Woitas: "In theory a science" - dance as an academic discipline. A historical search for traces . In: Jahrbuch Tanzforschung , Volume 9. Florian Noetzel, Wilhelmshaven 1998, ISBN 3-7959-0766-7 , pp. 95-105.
  • Claudia Jeschke, Gabi Vettermann: dance research. History - methods. Dance research between action, documentation and institution. In: Musicologica Austriaca 21 (2002), pp. 9-36.
  • Frank-Manuel Peter: On the assemblé of dance and science. The new Bachelor's and Master's degrees . In: Ballett intern , Volume 29, Issue 72, No. 1, 2006 (PDF; 2.2 MB), pp. 8–11.
  • Gabriele Brandstetter , Gabriele Klein (Hrsg.): Methods of dance studies. Model analyzes for Pina Bausch's " Le sacre du printemps " . Transcript, Bielefeld 2007, ISBN 3899425588 .
  • Claudia Fleischle-Braun u. Ralf Stabel (Hrsg.): Dance research and dance training . On behalf of the Society for Dance Research. Henschel, Leipzig 2008, ISBN 978-3-89487-629-6 .

Book series on dance studies

Bibliographies on dance studies

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Quoted from Hermann Bahr : Isadora Duncan . In: Art of the Day. A collection of Viennese master feuilletons. Edited by Alfred Zohner. Luckmann, Vienna 1946, pp. 210–215, here 215.
  2. ^ G. Joachim Vischer-Klamt: Choreography as a form of work. Contribution to the design of the dance school. In: Liesel Freund (Hrsg.): Monographs of the training schools for dance and dance physical education. Volume 1: Berlin. Leo Alterthum Verlag: Berlin 1929, pp. 75–77, here 75.
  3. ↑ Norbert Molkenbur: Introduction to Dance Studies , Chapter II, Section 3: “Scientific and methodological institutions”. Central House for Cultural Work, Leipzig 1966, p. 26.
  4. ↑ quoted from: Patricia Stöckemann: Something completely new must now arise. Kurt Jooss and the dance theater. Kieser, Munich 2001, p. 112.
  5. ^ Kurt Petermann: Tasks and possibilities of dance studies in the GDR , in: On ballet work in the GDR and in the USSR . Material on the theater. Contributions to the theory and practice of socialist theater, vol. 125. Verband der Theaterschaffenden der DDR, Berlin 1980, pp. 49-65, here 64, 65. (Lecture, held 1977).
  6. ↑ Ralf Stabel: The work group dance studies at the University of Music and Theater "Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy" Leipzig , in: Structure principle movement. Dance studies contributions. Symposium report, Leipzig 1992, pp. 5–9, here: 6
  7. ^ Jens Richard Giersdorf: Tanzwissenschaft, Dance Studies, Dance Theory . In: Claudia Fleischle-Braun u. Ralf Stabel (Hrsg.): Dance research and dance training . On behalf of the Society for Dance Research. Henschel, Leipzig 2008, pp. 46–48.
  8. ↑ Dance Studies as a Master’s Course at the Free University of Berlin , accessed on January 8, 20107
  9. ↑ Dance Studies as a Master’s Course at HFMT Cologne , accessed on May 21, 2019
  10. ↑ Master's degree in Performance Studies at the University of Hamburg , accessed on January 8, 2017
  11. ↑ Master's degree in “Choreography and Performance” (CUP) at the University of Giessen , accessed on January 8, 2017
  12. ^ Department of Music and Dance Studies at the University of Salzburg
  13. ↑ Derra de Moroda Dance Archives
  14. ↑ Angela Rannow: Conceptual Dance Studies . In: Claudia Fleischle-Braun u. Ralf Stabel (Hrsg.): Dance research and dance training . On behalf of the Society for Dance Research. Henschel, Leipzig 2008, pp. 65f.
  15. ^ Movement research in Berlin
  16. ↑ Dance Studies Prize NRW