PRIMITIVE DANCING

Dominion, Volume 20, Issue 79, 28 December 1926, Page 9

PRIMITIVE DANCING

IMPRESSIONS OF INVESTIGATORS. It is a far cry from the Australian corroborree to the Russian ballet, but according to Mr. W. D. Hambly, the author of “Tribal Dancing and Social Development,” the different dances of different races in different ages all have their roots in the same primitive soil. Though anthropologists are not agreed among themselves whether primitive man appeared in an isolated area of the world and spread in various directions, or evolved himself more or less simultaneously in widely separated parts of the globe, it is regarded as significant by supporters of the former theory that “all over the .world the natural energy of youth and the expressions of emotions displayed themselves in the form of dances varying according to the climatic conditions or the habits of the peoples, and were accompanied by rhythmic sounds or songs that harmonised more or less with their saltatory movements. In the investigations which anthropologists are now carrying out in various parts of the world among primitive peoples with a view to gaining further information on the development of man from prehistoric times, considerable attention is being given to the music and dancing. The missionaries were the hrst to come in contact with savage races, and as most of the dances of the natives were associated with barbarous superstitions, they did their best to get the natives to abandon them, with the result that many native customs and beliefs that .would have proved very valuable to ethnogolists and anthropologists b£ ''An be inves°t b igator of primitive music and dancing,” writes Mr." Hambly, is at once impressed by the contrast between the importance of these aesthetics in primitive and civilised communities. The modern social dance of pairs of men and women is peculiar to civilisation, and in so-called backward, societies every branch of musical expression is a communal concern, as essential of juvenile training, though there are, of course, composers and specialists who give exhibitions. Dancing in particular has functions .in primitive social life which have fallen into disuse in modern society.” Not only have primitive races ■necial dances in connection with births, marriages, and deaths, but also for numerous other purposes, such as the initiation of boys and girls into tribal life, the departure and return of war xpeditions, the successful results ol hunting expeditions, the exorcism of demons in times of sickness, and the worship of deities and devils such as the sun. moon, stars, and fire, in ms book, Mr. Hambly discusses all these phases of primitive dancing, and gives some account of these dances as practised by different races. He contends that dancing improves the general health and therefore the vigorous dances of savage peoples in which scores of hundreds participated was of great value to the individual and the tribe. Moreover, the dance as a means of choosing a mate in marriage was of value, because it resulted in the selection of the physically fit. But he regards these benefits as being to a great extent a fortuitous, unstudied outcome of the dance, and not the deliberately chosen reasons for inventing the exercise. . “The gaiety of sex dancing, he states, "is seen at its best in certain South Sea islands, for example the Marquesas, where the dancing movements are a combination of glide, swim and whirl, in which every part of the body is in motion at the same time. "he vouiin- girls very often dance by moonlight’in front of their dwellings There is a great variety of these dances of a romping, mischievous kind, bringing every muscle into play. Not only do their feet dance, but their arms, hands, fingers, and even eyes seem to dance. The damsels wear nothing but flowers and their gala tunics, which look like gay insects on the wing.”