The video above is of Sankai Juku, a butoh ensemble, performing a piece that I saw live with my undergraduate mentor at the San Francisco Yerba Buena Center for the arts. At times I was completely entranced by the movements and felt perhaps that sublime ideal, but at other times over the 3 hours I was there, I felt too aware and bored and definitely wandered into the stuplime. As someone who really enjoys dance, I was interested in this weeks readings to get an idea of what it is I enjoy when I say I enjoy dance (to use the topsy-turvy academic lingo of the day).
I feel that the Reason and Reynolds article speaks to a very relevant complicating factor in regards to our reactions to dance: the kinesthetic. When dance as performance is discussed and the virtuosic physicality is ignored we arrive at the same problem as when we discuss opera and leave out the sound of the voices and the instruments. Though I wouldn't advise moving towards a "there was a glimmer in her eyes!" realm of critique, as this article points out there are scientifically-sound neurological responses that can be experienced empathetically while watching a dance. These responses seem to me to complicate the subjective ideals of Ngai or Kant because they are not based in our conscious criticisms.
At this point I would like to clarify that this is, of course, a subjective response that is based in my own individual interpretation of dance viewership and of these articles.
Another relevant complication from the Reason and Reynolds is the effect of habitus and cultural capital (Bourdieu's concepts). I don't thinks these ideas necessarily challenge either Ngai or Kant, but they do complicate it. Do Western people experience the sublime in viewing Ballet because of the cultural capital therein that tells us "ballet is the highest of high art?" Do Hindu's experience the sublime in viewing Bharatanatym because it is a religious dance form that has been allied with other Classical Indian performance styles?
My final rumination on this article deals with the section on kinesthetic responses and music. This section reminded me of an experience I had with my aforementioned mentor in her dance anthropology course. The class was mainly comprised of dance majors, with a couple of art history girls and one lone music major (me). Our instructor showed us Mark Morris' Dido and Aenas
When the film ended, some girls were in tears, and everyone agreed that it was an incredibly engaging, moving piece. Now, I love Mark Morris' choreography here, but my music background made me completely unable to experience the sublimity my classmates did. Dido's Lament has long been my favorite aria to listen to and to perform and sadly, it is not done very well here. I was so thrown off by this, I couldn't have that moment of transport. All in all, I think that the Reason and Reynolds article adds quite a bit of relevant complication to an understanding of Kant or Ngai's subjective viewerships.
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