| Description |
"Primitive," or the return to origins, has always served as a first principle for those dancers working with in the "modern" dance. In fact, it is a dancer's concern with origins, beginnings, essences, that distinguishes him as 'modern." One way of approaching "origins" is through the use of primitive ritual in choreography. which most often contains material expressible in dance terms: dramatic action and dance. The Medicine Lodge Ceremony, or Blackfeet "sun dance," an annual plains Indian ceremonial, contained drama, dance, and music, elements which could be developed in to a dance-drama. The purpose of this thesis was to arrive at a dance-drama through the selection and development of thematic material found in a sacred plains Indian ritual known as the Blackfeet Medicine Lodge Ceremony. Thematic material for the choreography was found (1) in the Medicine Lodge Ceremony witnessed and filmed by the writer in July of 1965 on the Blackfeet Reservation, Browning, Montana, and (2) in the anthropological studies conducted y Clark Wissler, Robert H. Lowie, John C. Ewers, and Walter McClintock, and in the personal accounts of George Bird Grinnell, Frank Linderman, George Catlin, and Walter McClintock. An understanding of the Medicine Lodge Ceremony with respect to its origins, and to the people and culture which produced it, was considered the first step in the development of the dance-darama. The most extraordinary feature of the Blackfeet "sun dance" was the practice of self-torture embodied in the dance of "looing-at-the sun." A survey of literature dealing with the role of the Medicine Lodge Ceremony within the Blackfeet tribe, however, led to an understanding of the basic premise of the ritual as the fulfillment of vow, and its total meaning within the community : a complex tribal ceremony which sprang fro the individual's quest for dreams and "medicine" or spiritual power, and which led to the expression of the whole religious activity of the group. A more detailed description of the Medicine Lodge Ceremony, in its ancient and Lodge Ceremony, in its ancient and modern forms, was made with the use of the references previously mentioned, and from the experience of the writer as witness to the 1965 ritual. After and analysis of the elements of drama, dance, and music as they appeared in the Blackfeet Medicine Lodge Ceremony, the choreographer selected themes from the ritual to be developed into a dance-drama. The final production, entitled "The Sun Dance," was choreographed as a thirty-five minute dance-drama for a group of four dancers, and consisted of ten separate dances (five solos and give duets) in five episodes. Music for the dance-drama was elected fro Ernst Krenek's "Eleven Transparencies" and a percussion score improvised and taped by the choreographer. Costumes and set were patterned after the dress and locale found in the Medicine Lodge Ceremony. The choreographer, as narrator, introduced and concluded the dance-drama with a brief explanation of the ritual and excerpts for prayers attributed to the principals of previous ceremonies. In evaluating the resulting dance-drama, the choreographer found that "The Sun Dance" would have been more effectively adapted fro the Blackfeet Medicine Lodge Ceremony if the thematic development) particularly with regard to dance movement. music, and costuming) had remained expressive of its original source. As a result of the development of this dance-drama, it became apparent to the choreographer that only through the utilization of a particular style of movement developed fro a blend of traditional dance techniques of the American Indian, and modern dance techniques, appropriately selected, can the American Indian sources be presented in a way that is consistent in style, aesthetically pleasing , and most important, a true reflection of the original source of the dance. |
