FOLK DANCE - SPECTACLE OR PARTICIPATION?
Posted
by Christos on Friday, February 18, 2005
When folk dance groups perform in public displays, they are putting on a show, with the aim of pleasing the spectators. Although they may be performing traditional dances, to traditional music, they are playing a part, playing the role of ordinary villagers. Often they wear costumes, old-fashioned clothes that are not theirs, nor what they normally wear.
Obviously, they want to put on a good show, and so they follow a pre-planned and rehearsed routine, which they have usually been taught by a teacher or choreographer. Thus, every time they perform a particular dance, they do exactly the same steps and figures, in the same order, and even the same variations!
Ordinary Greeks, however, who dance for pleasure in tavernas and at panegyria, dance their own dances, and wear their own clothes. They are dancing for their own purposes, rather than for spectators. They dance for their own satisfaction, their own pleasure. They do not have to follow a set routine; they can dance to express their feelings, creating their own steps and figures. When there are a number of people dancing together, it is a group creation and expression.