What unique contributions to human society do the performing arts
make?  In responding to that question, scholars and performers have
examined the different genres of performing arts--dance, music,
theatre, looking at their form, their meaning, the contexts in which
they occur, and the many roles of the performers who embody the art
and present it to audiences.  We will follow these areas of research,
looking for the commonalities in performance, genres, and performers
across space, time, and culture.

Some specific areas include the meaning of interpretation, aesthetic
systems, virtuosity and artistry, the nature of genre, the gendered
nature of performance,audience, the relationship between the creator
of a work and the performer, between the performer and the audience.
We will draw examples from both Eastern and Western forms, historic
and contemporary, ritual and theatrical.  Some will include Kabuki,
Butoh, and Nihon Buyo, Chinese Opera, the Italian commedia dell’arte,
Indonesian wayang golek, classical ballet, modern dance, shamanism
(Siberian, Balinese, Haitian, Zapotec), Tewa ritual, different musical
traditions, both instrumental and vocal.

Course Requirements will include a research paper (25-30 pages, which
may include video or other audio-visual modes of presentation) on a
topic that may be about a genre (i.e. Kabuki) or a theoretical
question (i.e. virtuosity, improvisation, etc.), or a performer (Alvin
Ailey, I Made Bandem, etc); and a final take-home essay about
performing arts as a focus of research within Anthropology.

Texts for the seminar will come from the following titles, and will
include articles as well:


Mark Morris, 1995, Joan Acocella.
Performing the Nation, 2001, Kelly Askew.
Conversations with Peter Brook, 2003, Margaret Croyden.
Voices of the Puppet Masters, 2002, Mimi Herbert.
Chopin at the Boundaries: Sex, History, and Musical Genre, 1996,
Jeffrey Kallberg.
Anthropology of the Performing Arts: Artistry, Virtuosity, and
Interpretation in Cross-Cultural Context,
2004, Anya Peterson Royce.
Paper Tangos, 1998, Julie Taylor.
The Anthropology of Performance, 1987, Victor Turner.
Nihon Buyo: Classical Dance of Modern Japan, 2001, Kazuko Yamazaki.