Dance as a Mode of Research Representation

Abstract

Dance as a viable representation mode for research is discussed in the light of Clifford Geertz's assertion that ideas can be reflectively addressed through the arts. Dance is described as an autonomous field of aesthetic perception with its own meaning working through the categories of motion, time, space, and shape. Western culture is described as logo centric and nondance, fixed on the myth of words as transparent conveyors of thought. Adopting a hermeneutical stance, the transparency of words is critiqued and, ironically, dance is analogized to text, although not words. How dance can be treated as text is elaborated by using the Ricoeurean idea of action as meaningful text.