Sklar’s Article Reflection

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Sklar’s Article Reflection

The author states that every dance has a kind of cultural knowledge and therefore it is very important for the people to understand what different movements mean within a certain kind of dance. This is because most of the dances are inherited and together the culture is also inherited. This means that the dancing style is a culture and not just the dance alone. Some dances have very deep meaning for certain cultures, others are not allowed while other dances are only done during certain occasions because they mean different things. This to an outside person it is just normal and a dance is a dance. US tribal uses different styles of dances and costumes and there is always a percentage of American indigenous people to represent how important they are to American tribal. Therefore this dancing style presents cultural knowledge that even before the other people came into America there are people there and they had their own way of doing things.

Moment knowledge is conceptual in that the sounds created through music makes a person make certain movements in dance and it is through this was that a dance comes up. Conceptual means that the person upon hearing the music creates or remembers concepts of how music was being danced and therefore try to follow those concepts. Something emotional means that music presents a situation of mixed feelings whereby at some points a person becomes emotional and they want to even express their feelings because the music makes them emotional. Apart from music influencing this emotions are also expressed through music and therefore when a person senses those emotions they get to understand that they are not alone and they get emotional. Kinaesthetic refers to bodily movements with full awareness of the sensory organs. This means that the ears are well coordinated and a person dances in a certain way very consciously. Thus the three are different.

Movement knowledge is not explained because to the author each movement in mastered at different places and different people have different movements. This means that the knowledge of how to move in a certain way is not important as the other aspects which are clearly discussed. A person can know the dance movements of certain music yet they do not know what that music means to them. Therefore the author focuses on other aspects like meaning, culture and coordination of the body rather than the movement knowledge since anyone can learn how to move or dance in a certain way.

For a person to look beyond the move and get meaning it is important to bring together all the senses and the concepts discussed by the author. This means that if a person is to understand what different aspects of the music or the movement they have to know the culture and what those movements know as well as be fully involved into the moment and allow their bodies to move in a certain similar direction with the music. Having a background of the culture is also very important since a person will look beyond the move and realise that in a certain culture a certain move means something.

Movement is not always explained by word of mouth and understood. Therefore sometimes even when you try to explain to someone it is almost impossible and this person cannot even understand. Therefore the best way for a person to understand is just to watch and be able to understand from the watching and not from being talked to. This happened at a time when I tried to explain to my friend with Asian original about tribal America dances, she could not understand and I just urged her to continue watching till they got absorbed into it and they got something out of it.

Reference

Sklar, D. (2001). Five premises for culturally sensitive approach to dance: Moving history dance culture to a dance history reader. Wesley UP Middle Town: CT30-32.