Month: October 2009

Language is used to express oneself and communicate feelings to other human beings. Therefore, dance is definitely a language. Dance is used to communicate emotions in a much more raw and basic level, but that doesn’t make it any less of a language. When a dancer dances with emotion, whether it be hip-hop or ballet, he or she is essentially communicating those emotions through movement. Just because there are no words doesn’t mean things aren’t being said. Messages can be passed in more ways than one.

Even when we talk, we use hand movements and elaborate gestures to explain what we are trying to say in a more detailed way. Dance takes this to a whole other level by removing words and basing everything on gestures that must stem from emotion. This is even more true in interpretative dance. When a dancer successfully manages to touch the audience and explain their emotions without saying a single word at all, that is when dance is successful.

Dance has been a medium of communication for thousands of years now. Along with being a form of entertainment, it also serves this purpose. I think dance is one of the most diverse and beautiful languages that everyone can speak, in their own way, and yet still communicate with the rest of the world.

Is dance a language?

To me, language is defined as any set form of communication. This communication does not have to be through words, hand signals, or symbols. Ideas can easily be expressed through body movements and dance. The fact that there is a concept known as “body language” proves in itself that the answer to this question is yes.

Dance proves a very good medium through which emotion can be conveyed. The dancing in West Side Story clearly portrayed themes of conflict and tension. Dancing filled with touch and embrace can clearly depict love, a solo dancer can express loneliness through his slow movements and steps, and joy can be seen through fast, upbeat movements. Pauses, changes in pace, and dramatic shifts in style all act as punctuation in dance and contribute to telling a story.

Our meeting with Dante Adela further proves that dance is a language. In the video he showed us, a dance sequence was able to tell a detailed and beautiful story, without the aid of words. We were all able to understand the meaning of the story just through the dancers movements in regard to each other, their sweeping motions, and their speed and rhythm. We cannot limit language just to the realms of words, as it is clear that thoughts, ideas, emotions, and even stories, can be told without them.

A student slouches into class one early morning, drops his bag unceremoniously on the floor next to a desk, and slumps into a chair. He rubs his eyes a bit, then lets his arms fall slack at his sides, sliding back slowly to stare at the ceiling. This student has not spoken a single word, but to the people around him has spoken volumes. Clearly apathetic, he is not thrilled with the prospect of being awake so early and announces through his movements that he is bored and uninterested in the class. This is an example of body language.

Body language is defined by the Merriam Webster dictionary as “the gestures, movements, and mannerisms by which a person or animal communicates with others.” Simply by observing a person, you can often deduce their current state of mind, particularly their mood, because is transfers directly to their body movements. Someone feeling bright and energetic might appear to have a spring in their step; another feeling determined might appear to walk with strong, decisive steps. As our most primal form of communication, we need not to learn a spoken tongue to understand it: body language is universal, transcending the boundaries of spoken word.

Dance is an extension of body language, a conscious effort at communicating through body movements. It allows for great personal expression and the dancer controls the message they want to convey. I have found dance similar to spoken languages in that different styles remind me of certain tongues. A dance with great fluidity of movement might evoke a romance language whereas rough, raw movements could be akin to German. However, each person is an individual in dance, they have their own language. Another person can perform the same moves as the first, but slight nuances will be different and it cannot be a carbon copy, unlike the way humans can learn multiple spoken (and written) languages. Even though one cannot copy another’s dance exactly, it does not mean one cannot understand the emotions being expressed. The exact message might be perceived differently, as it often is in interpretive dance, but the general feeling remains the same. Thus, watching someone perform a dance is like a story, but more of a personal experience.

Fundamentally, language allows communication between people. It uses shared and accepted representations of both concrete and abstract ideas to give people ideas of others’ experience, thought, or knowledge. Among all cultures, even those in which language has evolved for thousands of years independent of other influences, language is recognized by its grammar, context, and meaning. The word “language” commonly represents spoken and written words that, although learned, seem to originate in common human capacity for reason. In several respects, however, dance is also a human language.

Dance, as a form of language, communicates ideas. It uses an accepted vocabulary of movements to express ideas of things and thoughts. Emotions especially can be almost universally conveyed through movement. As people from different cultures can understand the emotions in unfamiliar music, so too can they in dance. Dance, like language, can have grammar. Phrases of a series of movements, such as a series of jubilant leaps, or timid, tiny steps, may convey one idea or tell one part of a story. These phrases are punctuated by pauses, like the commas of language, and stops, like periods. When a choreographer defies accepted grammar, especially in a formal dance such as ballet, they use the very lack of grammar to make a point. The change in center of balance that Mr. Adela spoke of serves such a purpose. Like language, dance can be further abstracted from obvious representations, so that the ideas conveyed are less clear. Poems with gibberish words violate the expectations of the reader, and in doing so prompt thought in a manner similar to modern dance. Modern turns traditional dance vocabulary and grammar on its head, or heel, or knee.

Unlike language, however, dance generally conveys ideas more generally. Rather than a phrase as specific as, “I am in love,” dance conveys the joy and experience of love through the force and rhythm of its motions. It is also used less often to communicate the ideas of individuals than the ideas of communities, as Alvin Ailey’s Revelations tells the shared stories of many people with the movements of a few, or as Native American tribal dances once represented an entire community’s attempt to communicate with a God. Dance, in its general ideas and common group mentality, in fact represents a more universal method of communication than words do, or can.

Language is a way to communicate between people — an ability to convey everything or nothing. American Sign Language, however, shows that language doesn’t necessarily have to be spoken. There are certain gestures people can string together that allows another as much or as little into our mind frame as we please. Dance holds a theoretically similar premise. Dance is widely accepted as an art form, but the message dance can send out has meaning in its own right. A dance can tell a story like a person does while speaking. Under the presumption of these guidelines, a conversation in dance would be a dance-off, in which dancers consecutively string moves together. The problem, however, is that dance-offs tend to have competitive tones, as dancers seem to care less about conveying anything more than “Look at me! My extensions are the bomb!” in this situation.

Presuming dance can both speak and be an art form sets the precedent that literature, paintings, and music also have the ability to communicate in some capacity. There are different languages in spoken word, and in a parallel fashion, there are different dance styles. On the surface, dance does appear to have all the tenets of a language. However, dance is a language we observe rather than take part in. At a dance performance, audience members can’t jump on stage and crunk. While observing dance, we will always be left out of the conversation, like going to a bodega. Even if we are dancers ourselves, it is not our conversation to take part in. It is a language we constantly try to crack because even if we cannot take part in it, we know deep down that the language is relatable and understandable in a sense. When we realize this, we are as relieved as when we come to the conclusion that those guys in the bodega aren’t secretly plotting to overcharge us for the twinkies and doughnuts that keep us too overweight to spark a conversation in Dance.

On a somewhat related note, Mr. Adela’s discussion enforced what I knew about dance and dancers. Yes, it is expressive beyond belief. Yes, it rests on passion. Yes, dancers work harder than imaginable. And, most of all, dance is perhaps the most beautiful language on earth — more beautiful than French, more soulful than Italian. In addition, Mr. Adela wowed me on a personal level with his stamina, dedication, and that awesome breakdancing.