Performance and Improvisation
Posted
by Christos on Monday, January 17, 2005
Watching a performing dance group in a Greek village last week, I realised that I was becoming bored. They were very good, but I had seen them before, and they were giving exactly the same performance - same steps, same figures, in the same order.Later that evening, the ordinary villagers danced. I watched some of the best of them. They never give the same performance twice! Each time they dance, they make up a new dance, even when it is the same music!
They are, of course, improvising, but their dancing is still undeniably "traditional". Their improvisations are based on dancing they have seen and done in the village since childhood. They incorporate traditional steps and figures, adding some that are clearly their own specialities. But they use these elements to create a new performance. Their dance is both new and traditional.