Text 1

Pre-reading activity.
Discuss the following questions.
1.What is dance for you?
2.What can be expressed by a dance?
3.What do you think is the nature of dance as art?

The Philosophy of Dance

Dance, the movement of the body in a rhythmic way, usually to music and within
a given space, for the purpose of expressing an idea or emotion, releasing energy, or
simply taking delight in the movement itself.
Dance is practiced in many forms and for many reasons, including social,
educative, political and therapeutic reasons. Dance is a sort of art that is practiced in a
performance space and is offered for some sort of audience or spectator appreciation.
 Dance was not originally construed as a fine art under the 18 th-century system of
the fine arts, as the fine arts were those that realized the spirit of the people by
bringing truth or the “idea” to light in material form. The system of the arts included
only painting, sculpture, architecture, poetry, and music, prioritizing the first three for
being able to symbolize and represent truth visually and the latter two for doing so
aurally. Music only made it into the system as a kind of analog of poetry. The idea
was that the “fine” arts are those that contribute to knowledge and intellectual
thought, with the implication that supposedly non-symbolic and non-verbal arts like
dance were pre-lingual and pre-civilization, belonging only to the world of primitive
gesture or to the low and the corporeal rather than to the elevated and cultural.

So, what is dance?

Being interested in the question, “what is the nature of dance as art?”, dance
philosophy has faced some unique challenges and difficulties. First, dances usually
lack words or texts and are often developed without the use of a written plan, script or
score of any kind. Even when there is a score, this score is not always used as an
essential recipe for the performances but can instead just serve as the inspiration for a
performance that is completely different. This makes it difficult to place dance into
metaphysical categories designed with other forms of art in mind. Second, dance has
salient bodily aspects that complicate the question of how and why it can be
conceived as a fine art, and how mind and its connection with the body is involved in
the making, performing, evaluating and appreciating of dances.
The dance philosopher is thus faced with these two tasks among others: 1) to
show how dance is or is not properly conceived as a form of art that can be analyzed
under the conceptual tools and resources developed for the traditional fine arts, 2) to
discern in what precise ways traditional aesthetics might need to be changed or
developed in order to accommodate dance. One traditional way that dance
philosophers have considered the question “what is dance?” is to characterize dance
as a particularly expressive form of art, or one that involves “action” in a particular
way.
The choreographic art was probably unknown to the earlier ages of humanity.
Savage man, wandering in forests, devouring the quivering flesh of his spoils, can
have known nothing of those rhythmic postures which reflect sweet and caressing
sensations entirely alien to his moods. The nearest approach to such must have been
the leaps and bounds, the incoherent gestures, by which he expressed the joys and
furies of his brutal life.
A truly universal definition of dance must, therefore, return to the fundamental
principle that dance is an art form or activity that utilizes the body and the range of
movement of which the body is capable. Unlike the movements performed in
everyday living, dance movements are not directly related to work, travel, or survival.
Dance may, of course, be made up of movements associated with these activities, as
in the work dances common to many cultures, and it may even accompany such
activities. But even in the most practical dances, movements that make up the dance
are not reducible to those of straightforward labor; rather, they involve some extra
qualities such as self-expression, aesthetic pleasure, and entertainment.

Glossary

Delight հաճույք, հիացմունք

Appreciation գնահատական
To construe մեկնաբանել, պարզաբանել
To prioritize առաջնահերթությունը տալ
Corporeal մարմնական, նյութական, ֆիզիկական
Elevated բարձր, վեհ
Challenge մարտահրավեր
To lack կարիք ունենալ, պակասել
Script նոտրագիր
Score պարտիտուրա
Inspiration ներշնչման աղբյուր, ոգեշնչում
Salient ցայտուն, աչքի ընկնող
Aesthetics գեղագիտություն, էսթետիկա
Incoherent gestures անկապակից, կցկտուր շարժումներ
To utilize օգտագործել
To be capable ունակ լինել, կարողանալ
Self-expression ինքնարտահայտում
Entertainment հետարքրություն, զվարճանք
Post-reading activities.
Task 1. Choose the right answer.

1. Dance philosophy has faced many …..

a. Experiments
b. Challenges
c. Methods
d. Spoils
2. The word “audience” means
a. People who dance
b. People who watch and listen
c. People who buy tickets
d. People who wonder in forests
3. According to the text dance was not originally construed as a
a. Art
b. Fine art
c. Aesthetics
d. Culture
4. Dances usually lack ……….
a. Words and texts.
b. Music and rhythm.
c. Script
d. Stage
5. Which is the synonym of the word “inspiration”?
a. Adventure
b. Enthusiasm
c. Intonation
d. Subordination
Task 2. Are these statements True or False?

1. Dance is practiced in many forms and for limited purposes. …..

2. Dance is made up of movements associated with different activities. …..
3. The choreographic art was totally unknown to the earlier ages of humanity. …..
4. “Fine arts” are not those that contribute to knowledge and intellectual
thought. ...
5. Dance is the movement of the body in a rhythmic way. …..

Task 3. Match the words with their definitions.

1. Entertainment a. showing one’s feelings and thoughts.

2. Gesture b. do smth. regularly and repeatedly.
3. Practice c. enjoyment of the good qualities of sth.
4. Appreciation d. movement of the head or hand
5. Expressive e. the action of entertaining

Task 4. Fill in the gaps with the following words and word-combinations.

(Essential recipe, expressive, tasks, performance space, architecture)

1. The system of the arts included only painting, sculpture, …………….., poetry
and music.
2. Dance philosophers are usually faced with two main ………… .
3. Dance is characterized as a particularly ……………….. form of art.
4. Dance is a sort of art that is practiced in a ………................. .
 5. Even when there is a score, it is not always used as an ………………….. for
the performances.

Task 5. Translate the following sentences.

1. Պարը հույզերի, մտքերի և զգացմունքների արտահայտման,

ինչպես նաև ինքնաարտահայտման լավագույն միջոցներից
մեկն է:
2. Մարդկության պատմության վաղնջական ժամանակներում
մարդիկ ամենայն հավանականությամբ անտեղյակ էին
խորեոգրաֆիկ արվեստից:
3. Պարն ի սկզբանե չի համարվել գեղարվեստի ճյուղ, քանի որ
ընդունված էր համարել, որ գեղարվեստի ճյուղերը
նպաստում են գիտելիքի և ինտելեկտուալ մտածելակերպի
զարգացմանը:
4. Պարը մարմնի շարժումներն են երաժշտության ներքո, որոնք
ներկայացվում են հանդիսատեսի կամ դիտողների
գնահատմանը:
5. Այսպիսով, ինչ է պարը: Այս հարցի պատասխանը տալու
համար պարի փիլիսոփայությունը բազում
մարտահրավերներ և դժվարություններ է հաղթահարել:

Task 6. Speaking activity

Get acquainted with the passage and answer the questions below.

For Socrates, dance was the optimum way of moving the body in simultaneous
symmetry with all of its parts, unlike other kinds of physical exercise such as running
or wrestling. The relationship between beauty and more beautiful is one of movement
and proportion. The philosopher, realizing that the body is much more beautiful and
graceful in total movement than in simple repose, learned to dance as an old man,
aged 70. We should remind ourselves that he also said: “Music and dance are two arts
that complement each other and form the beauty and power that are the basis of
happiness.”

1. Do you agree with the great philosopher?

2. Do you think it is possible to learn to dance in any age?
3. What other statements of famous philosophers do you know about dance?