New Contexts of the Traditional Dance Culture and Revival 1

Subject is not scheduled Not scheduled

Code	Completion	Credits	Range	Language Instruction	Semester
107NCFD1	Z	3	1PT	English	summer

Subject guarantor

Name of lecturer(s)

Learning outcomes of the course unit

To deepen knowledge and understanding of the ways in which dance exists, changes and functions in contemporary Western and specifically Czech culture through the example of the transformations of folk dance and its presentational forms. Developing theoretical thinking, applying theoretical concepts to specific dance material. Linking dance research with other social sciences and humanities, contemporary understanding of the symbolic nature of cultural phenomena and dance as one case.

Mode of study

lecture

Prerequisites and co-requisites

none

Course contents

Learning objective:

This elective lecture focuses on the special issue of the transformation and recontextualization of traditional folk culture. It concerns musical and dance expressions that are nowadays rethought by society and adapted to its contemporary needs. Underpinning the study will be theoretical backgrounds dealing with cultural and collective memory, cultural heritage, concepts of revivalism and folklorism, transmission and reinvention of tradition, stereotyping, representation and commodification.

The lecture provides students with an understanding of cultural processes through dance examples, links empirical research on selected dance phenomena with their theoretical reflection, places them in a broader cultural context, and applies contemporary scholarly perspectives to their interpretation. It develops an orientation in the problems of contemporary dance research and its links with other humanities disciplines.

Thematic areas:

1: The Czecho-Slavonic Folklore Exhibition of 1895, L. Janáček and the first aesthetic principles of the so-called concertisation of folk dance

Ethnographic societies and contemporary (romantic) nationalism; Sokol and the adaptation of folk dance in physical education
Interwar avant-garde and the use of folk theatre principles - syncretism and structuralism in contemporary folklore stage productions
Folklore movement after the Second World War: folklore and politics, SPAT, ZUČ, ideology and the weight of folklore, the end of the 1960s and the search for new resources for the work of folklore ensembles, competitions, shows, the period of political normalisation in the 1970s and 1980s and the constitution of the folklore stage genre, the changes in society in the 1990s and the new forms of stage folklore

Recommended or required reading

Required reading:

BITHELL, Caroline and HILL, Juniper, eds. The Oxford Handbook of Music Revival. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 2014. ISBN 978-0199765034.

STAVĚLOVÁ, Daniela and BUCKLAND, Theresa Jill (eds.). Folklore Revival Movements in Europe post 1950. Shifting Contexts and Perspectives. Prague: Institute of Ethnology of the CAS, 2018. ISBN 978-80-88081-22-7.

STAVĚLOVÁ, Daniela. „The polka and Czech national awareness“, Encyclopedia of Romantic Nationalism in Europe, ed. Joep Leerssen. Electronic version; Amsterdam: Study Platform on Interlocking Nationalisms, https://ernie.uva.nl/, article version 1.1.1.1/a, last changed 19-11-2021, consulted 23-11-2021. https://ernie.uva.nl/viewer.p/21/56/object/122-160726

STAVĚLOVÁ, Daniela: Folklorism in a Changing Society. Proceedings 21st symposium 2000 Korčula: ICTM Study Group on Ethnochoreology. Eds.: E. I. Dunin, T. Zebec. Institut of Ethnology and Folklore Research, Zagreb 2001, p. 258-261.

STAVĚLOVÁ, Daniela: Narratives as a Tool for Understanding the Inner Side of Dance in a Socio-Cultural and Political Context. In: Dunin, Elsie Ivancich (Ed.): Dance, Narratives, Heritage. 28th Symposium of the ICTM Study Group on Ethnochoreology, 7 – 17 July 2014, Korčula, Croatia. ICTM Study Group on Ethnochoreology. Zagreb, Croatia: Institute of Ethnology and Folklore Research, 2015. ISBN 9789536020980 953602098X.

STAVĚLOVÁ, Daniela: The Polka versus the Waltz. Czech National Dances in the Political Context of the Nineteenth Century. Traditiones 44/2, 2015, p. 91-112.

STAVĚLOVÁ, Daniela: Traditional Dancing on the Stage: Seeking Autenticity. In: Dunin, Elsie Ivancich – Stavělová, Daniela – Gremlicová, Dorota (eds.). Dance, Gender, and Meanings. Contemporizing Traditional Dance. Proceedings of the 26th Symposium of the ICTM Study Group on Ethnochoreology 2010, Třešť. Academy of Performing Arts in Prague, Institut of Ethnology of the Academy of Science, v.v.i. of the Czech Republic: Prague 2012, p. 241-248. ISBN 978-80-7331-236-7.

Assessment methods and criteria

Conditions for the award of credit - solving partial tasks in the elaboration of the assigned research topic; elaboration of continuous seminar assignments, study of the literature. Participation in teaching at least 75%.