Dance as a force of communitas: shifting social roles and the influence of Christianity, industrialization, and the enlightenment on shared movement

Abstract

Dance used to be a central, integral, and integrated part of everyday human life, fundamental in the regular cultivation of Communitas. However, a shift has occurred in the way that human beings experience, define, and participate in dance. The communal dance of our ancestors no longer exists. In western society, with an expanding global inclusion, people have stopped engaging regularly with one another through movement as part of daily lives and typical routines, and as a result, people have stopped cultivating and residing in a state of communitas with any regularity. Dance now lives in a liminal space, separated and carefully differentiated from the routine proceedings of standard daily life. This shift has occurred gradually and by degrees. Not denying other influences, the spread of Christianity and the accompanying eradication of pagan religions, the rise of industrialization, and the impacts of the Enlightenment all influenced dance’s role in western society. The loss of dance as a predominant mode of social connection in the western world draws into question its relevance and role in modern society.