| Abstract [eng] |
This master thesis analyses Song Festival dance, especially modern (contemporary) dance used in Dance Day (Šokių diena) prologues. This type of dance obtains the value of modernity as opposed to the traditional stylized folk dance usually performed in Dance Days. The analysis of 2009, 2014 and 2018 prologues showed that the narrative of the verbal text is important while creating the meaning of dance. Dance Day of 2009 was analysed in more detail, as it uses modern dance and poetic text not only in the prologue, but also in the parts connecting the separate stylized folk-dance performances into a common narrative. Algirdas Julius Greimas suggests that in the context of dance, any programmed communicative gesture is of mythical origin. Following this hypothesis, the results of the analysis show that verbal poetic texts cause resemantization of the modern dance (used in prologues), which is primary associated with aesthetic communication. Poetic texts used in the 2009 Dance Day prologue imitate archaic texts (cosmogonic myth and prayers), which are transposed into the plane of modern dance through mimetic movements. This way the Lithuanian community is portrayed as having a religious dimension and not just the community that is only working or having fun. Modernity is introduced into the Dance Day by using contemporary dance. It creates an image of Lithuanian society that differs from the usual image conveyed in Song festivals. This difference is amplified by the dancers’ visual expression (costumes not defined based on gender or historical period) that differs from that of traditional stylized folk dance (costumes representing people from rural areas of the end of 19th century and the beginning of 20th century). |
