International Congress of Aesthetics 2007 “Aesthetics Bridging Cultures” Cultural Frontiers of Expressive Strands in Dance Performances

Dance is a widely practiced and appreciated art around the world; a highly rich event that “grows out of culture and feeds back into it” (Fraleigh, "Family Resemblance" 6). Dance scholars in the West, however, have frequently complained about the little interest aestheticians have shown in dance and its complexities compared to other arts (Cohen, "A Prolegomenon" 26; McFee, Dance, Education and Philosophy 1; Marchianò 20; Redfern 3; Sparshott 4; Thomas, Dance Modernity and Culture 10). It is the case that many philosophical questions on dance art have emerged from other fields of study such as anthropology (Royce; Williams), ethnography (Kealiinohomoku, "An Anthropologist"; Kurath; Sklar), history (Adshead and Layson; Berg; Cohen, Next Week), sociology (Thomas, Dance, Gender and Culture; Thomas, Dance Modernity and Culture; Wolff), education (Laban, Modern Educational Dance; Preston-Dunlop). But the artistic and expressive value of dance have also been considered within philosophy (Fancher and Myers; Goodman; McFee, Understanding Dance; Margolis; Redfern; Van Camp, "Philosophy of Dance"), more specifically, for instance, by phenomenological (SheetsJohnstone), existentialist (Fraleigh, Dance and the Lived Body), symbolist (Langer; Metheny), and analytic (Sparshott) approaches.