Stick Dances

Extract

It seems strange that a contribution on the subject of stick dances should be offered at a symposium that concerns itself with music and history. This strangeness persists, however, only so long as one contemplates modern developments in art music. During earlier periods, even in Europe, the term music referred to dance as well, and in the context of folk music the two aspects are largely inseparable even now. In its constitution the International Folk Music Council stresses the fact that folk music includes dance. From what could be called the “ethnomusicological” point of view, there would consequently be no surprise at all at the choice of this subject. As far as India is concerned, a paper on dance is even less surprising, as the word for music in India, Sangita, designates vocal and instrumental music, as well as dance, by definition. While it is true that in India the historical development of vocal and instrumental music as autonomous forms of art has removed them just as far from dance as has been the case in the West, the definition of Sangita stands and, what is more, is not considered irrelevant.