Steps towards a Semantics of Dance

As formal theoretical linguistic methodology has matured, recent years have seen the advent of applying it to objects of study that transcend language, e.g., to the syntax and semantics of music (, ; see also ). One of the aims of such extensions is to shed new light on how meaning is construed in a range of communicative systems. In this paper, we approach this goal by looking at narrative dance in the form of Bharatanatyam. We argue that a semantic approach to dance can be modeled closely after the formal semantics of visual narrative proposed by , , ). A central conclusion is that dance not only shares properties of other fundamentally human means of expression, such as visual narrative and music, but that it also exhibits similarities to sign languages and the gestures of non-signers (see, e.g., ) in that it uses space to track individuals in a narrative and performatively portray the actions of those individuals. From the perspective of general human cognition, these conclusions corroborate the idea that linguistic investigations beyond language (see ) can yield insights into the very nature of the human mind and of the communicative devices that it avails.

Automated summary

This paper examines narrative dance in Bharatanatyam and argues that a semantic approach to dance can be modeled after the formal semantics of visual narrative. The central conclusion is that dance shares properties with visual narrative, music, sign languages, and the gestures of non-signers, in that it uses space to track individuals and portray their actions. This suggests that linguistic investigations beyond language can provide insights into the nature of human cognition and communication devices.