Loomulikkuse kusimus

• Authors: Kapper Sille

Title variants

EN

The Issue of Naturalness

• Languages of publication: ET

Abstracts

EN

The article is written to unveil the important values and understandings accepted in our deepest subconsciousness, which form the basis for speaking about traditional folk dancing as a ‘natural’ way of motion, and for the desire and suggestions to dance ‘naturally’. In contemporary urban culture, various dance styles have been described as ‘natural’, but the topic of this article is traditional folk dance today. My dance ethnographic fieldwork for this research was carried out in Estonia during the years 2008–2014, at the main traditional folk dance events such as festival dance nights, concerts, group rehearsals, and workshops, as well as in other dance learning environments. Spoken and written statements about traditional folk dance during the research period are also taken into account. In general, one can say that the ‘natural’ qualities of traditional folk dance in today’s Estonia spring from the fact that the individual freedom of the dancer is highly valued. The meaning of ‘naturalness’ is based on the dance knowledge and experience of each dancer or speaker, and may consist in • the sense of gravity and optimised work of muscles when the dancer has decided that it is sustainable and best for his/her living body; • posture and manners acquired by training in any other dance style if the dancer perceives it as comfortable, familiar, and normal; • goal-oriented imitation of parents or other cultural models when the dancer thinks this is the essence of learning the tradition; • spontaneous, unconscious, uncontrolled movement, which the dancer thinks to be with no rules and no need to learn or know something special. Various combinations of these meanings and their reasons are also possible. The study proves that today the ‘naturalness’ of traditional folk dancing is constructed by each dancer in light of their own beliefs and convictions, including faith in the primacy of individual freedom. This result is usable in ethnochoreological research into any more concrete issues concerned with traditional folk dances, but even more important for dance learning and teaching processes, with reference to the need to always ask and explain in detail what is meant by doing something ‘naturally’. Additionally, the analysed data also reveal the ambivalent position of traditional folk dance among other cultural practices in present-day Estonia. For one group of people interest in traditional folk dance and music is related to other aspects of ecological-organic lifestyles, such as place of residence, food, clothing, re-use and reduction of consumption; also there is another group whose traditional folk dancing is just an alternation in their mainstream urban lifestyle. In both cases, traditional folk dancing is considered more ‘natural’ than other dance styles due to its origin in peasant culture, allegedly unspoiled and cleaner than our contemporary environment. Thus, in present-day traditional folk dance practices, forgotten peasant dance texts are actualised again, but with new aspects emphasised, which refer to characteristic ideas in our society today, for example, a search for some fixed points in the general urban uncertainty. Through learning and performing ancestors’ dances people raise their self-awareness, sense of security and physical and mental well-being. Direct ways for improving and maintaining physical health are also seen in the ‘naturalness’ of traditional folk dancing, especially when compared to stage folk dance or other stage dance styles with higher risks of overload and injuries due to their external requirements or strenuous workout. Different perceptions are similar in the recognition that dancers today feel traditional folk dancing raise their subjective well-being. In spite of different reasons, in general, the cultural proposal that traditional folk dance can be a lifelong and healthy way of movement, has been accepted as cognitively adequate. Today, topics related to physical and mental health are usually rather intimate, and this once more explains the deeply individualistic character of ‘naturalness’, which traditional folk dancing seeks to achieve.

Keywords

EN

body; dance ethnography; folk dance; health; naturalness; traditional folk dance

• Publisher: Folk Belief and Media Group of the Estonian Literary Museum, Estonian Institute of Folklore, EKM Teaduskirjastus
• Journal: Mäetagused
• Year: 2015
• Volume: 59
• Pages: 27-50

Contributors

author

Kapper Sille

• Tallinn University, Narva mnt 25, 10120 Tallinn, ESTONIA