What is vernacular dance, and how does this figure in the African-American contribution to American modern dance?
It means dance that is being done in its own environment, being done where it is born. Another term that’s loosely used to substitute for the term “vernacular” is “folk.” But it doesn’t mean exactly the same thing. “Vernacular” means the dance in its own environment, where it is born, the original dance of those people where you find them. Without the vernacular dances we would not have the concert dances. And even ballet, of course, is drawn from the vernacular dances of old Europe, drawn from those peasant dances and changed to meet the needs and the aesthetic preferences of the court. But many of those dances are the dances of the peasantry, done with the feet turned out to distinguish the nobility from the peasantry. Turnout in ballet does not originate for scientific reasons, because the leg has a wider range of movement; we find that out much later when we study anatomy. But it originates as a way to distinguish classes. Vernacular dances are brought into the courts, given an ari
Related Questions
- What is vernacular dance, and how does this figure in the African-American contribution to American modern dance?
- What are some of the most profound examples of the African-American contribution to American dance?
- What role do the African-American pioneers in American modern dance play in this context?
