The Early Practice and Cultural Construction of Visual Ethnodanceology

Zhu Jingjiang

DOI：10.3969/j.issn. 1674-9391. 2023.03.009

Abstract：

Among many human behaviors， dance is arguably the most common and the most special way of movement. It not only shows significant cultural differences between various groups， but also appears to play an active role in the process of human communication and integration. For this reason， both the earliest experimental film shooting and the first field video recordings by anthropologists have taken dance as one of the basic filming materials.

Dance in Edisons early films takes up a large part. In addition to some famous artists （such as Carmencita） performing Spanish dances in front of the camera， there are also real Sioux Native Americans performing the “Ghost Dance” adorned with war costumes and war tattoos. This kind of dance also has a certain anthropological and ethnographic value due to the original religious ritual color. Unlike Edison， who viewed movies as a sideshow， Auguste & Louis Lumière tended to find their themes in real life， showing a vivid atmosphere of everyday life. Alfred C. Haddons field films in the Torres Strait， with only a few fixed shots， provide us with the main keys to understanding the anthropological imagery of dance： The actors， paradigms of behavior， cultural symbols， and overall social and historical context. The British anthropologist Walter Baldwin Spencer also went on an ethnographic expedition to Australia in 1901. He made three films， as well as photographs， drawings， and a series of wax cylinder recordings in which the Tjitjingalla Corroboree is presented visually and using multimedia. This constituted a rare and important field of audiovisual documentation of Australian Aboriginal culture in the early 20th century.

It can be said that since the 19th century—from Thomas Edison to Robert Flahardy and from Alfred Haden to Margaret Mead—Visual Ethnodancology， being a film form with both artistic expressions and culture-carrying value， has been increasing in expressive ability. After the 20th century， film gradually developed from an embryonic state of a single shot into a narrative system that constructs complex image texts through shot scheduling and montage editing. Dance images related to “the other” culture were also further divided into two paths： The first is to follow the film industrial style created by Edison and Lumiere， and integrate the traditional national dance that is different from traditional Western Christian civilization into film narrative， forming a kind of “barbaric” visual spectacle；The second direction is to continue the ethnographic investigation methods of early scholars—such as Haden and Spencer— holding firm to recording and interpreting field dance images with anthropological paradigms， and thus becoming a bridge for cross-cultural understanding.

In terms of film history， the relationship between ethnographic film and dance has gradually evolved from a simple morphological record to a more diversified expression of Visual Ethnodanceology. Proponents of “observational film” advocate incorporating dance into daily observation and constructing a broader world of dancers lives. The dance education circle tries to use “field dance” images as a teaching resource to enhance the context， in an effort to improve the dancers cultural understanding of dance performance. In addition， based on a system of passing on intangible cultural heritage， Visual Ethnodanceology， also has the function and value of audio and video archives. Dance images produced and transmitted by digital mobile media， especially short videos and live broadcasts， are extended into multi-subject interactive image texts and action strategies in the context of social media.

Key Words：

ethnographic film; Visual Anthropology; visual ethnodanceology; cultural symbol