In this work we contend that studying dance syntax systematically is essential to gain a deeper understanding of dance practices. The reason is that syntax has to do with an essential aspect of dance, music and action in general, namely possibility. To the best of our knowledge, the efforts towards a systematic method to study dance syntax are scarce. Therefore, this work proposes the method of Finite-State Automata, borrowed from computer science, and presents three case studies of progressive complexity were the method is applied: (1) learning the basics of salsa, (2) diachronically comparing hip-pushing action in Afro-Ecuadorian Bomba del Chota, and (3) characterizing improvisation in Afro-Peruvian zapateo. While the first case is didactic and introduces the method progressively, the second and third cases are based on several years of fieldwork conducted by the authors with the Afro-Ecuadorian and Afro-Peruvian communities. The precondition for the application of the method we propose is structural analysis itself; that is, that the dance can be analyzed into small movement units that are combined progressively into more complex units. In regards to syntax, however, structural analysis is only the first step. The goal is a synthesis that brings forward the possibilities that arise from structural analysis; that is, the possibilities that are available to dancers and agents in a dance event. We trust that the approach to syntax this work presents will stimulate a renewed interest for researchers in dance, music and movement in general.
The concept of modes of existence of semiotic entities underlies (post)Greimasian semiotics, yet it seems to have received little attention. Modes of existence can be used in different senses. For Greimas, from the perspective of narrative semiotics, when Michelangelo first receives a block of marble and decides to sculpt the David, his intention is in a virtual mode; as Michelangelo progresses he ends up bringing the David into existence, and his intention comes to the realized mode. In Fontanille’s tensive semiotics, however, modes of existence can have to do with how one can narrow or broaden the scope of our apprehension of the David as our eyes look at it in order to produce a meaningful experience. In this work, the perspectives of narrative and tensive semiotics are contrasted both theoretically and practically applying both to a number of examples. In order to identify all possible modes of existence and all the possibilities of transitioning from one to the other in the examples presented, we resort to the method of finite-state automata from computer science. In the end, we propose a robust narrative account of modes of existence that relies on narrative semiotics for its definition, but into which intent and apprehension from tensive semiotics can be integrated. This work calls for the need of establishing a syntax of modes of existence, since both Greimas and Fontanille construe them as being necessary to account for the production of signification.
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