Vasiliki Tyrovola

LEARNING AND DIGITAL ENVIRONMENT OF DANCE - THE CASE OF GREEK TRADITIONAL DANCE IN YOUTUBE

Abstract The incorporation of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in education has changed the educational procedures through the creation and use of new teaching and learning environments with the use of computers and network applications that afford new dimensions to distance education. In turn, these emerging and in progress technologies, render new practices in many fields including the field of dance offering a fertile quest to everyone involved in the dance. Yet, a critical evaluation of the content of YouTube dance videos has not been carried out though what is eventually learned through YouTube is a key question. Based on the above, the aim of this study was to critically examine the way YouTube network channel as Computer Based Learning-CBL functions both as a learning tool and as a teaching result concerning the field of dance having as example a Greek traditional dance named Karagouna. YouTube dance videos were gathered through observation, while the dance exemplar used was based on ethnographic research. For the dance recording of the Karagouna performances examined from YouTube, Laban’s notation system (Labanotation) was used. For the analysis of the dance performances, the dance structural-morphological and typological method was adopted. Finally, for the comparison of the Karagouna dance performances examined from YouTube with the exemplar of the dancing community, the comparative method was used. It was proved that someone with little or no relation to dance is likely to learn dance with the use of YouTube, yet it is questionable what kind of dance will actually learn since in a number of cases the dance videos do not correspond to the performance of the dancing community. In addition, the outcome is different if someone with prior knowledge on the field of dance (dancer, dance teacher, dance student etc.) uses YouTube as a teaching and learning tool as, in this case, its use is useful and interactive.

From symbols to movement: ‘LANTD’, the design and implementation of a Laban notation-based method for teaching dance

Abstract The aim of this paper is to present the design and evaluate the impact of a Laban Notation-based method for Teaching Dance (LANTD) on novice dancers’ performance, in the case of Greek traditional dance. In this research, traditional dance is conceived in its second existence as a kind of presentational activity performed outside its community of origin. One hundred and six second-year university students of the Faculty of Physical Education and Sport Science, Athens, Greece, participated in a five-week programme randomly assigned in experimental groups A and B. Experimental group A was taught a repertoire of Greek traditional dances by the LANTD method with the use of Labanotation symbols and multimedia tools, i.e. Labankido© tutorials, while experimental group B was taught the same dances only by reproducing the teacher’s performance. The Dance Performance Assessment Instrument (DPAI) was used to collect pre, post and retention data on discrete Labanotation and Effort/Shape parameters of dance performance. Intra- and inter-person comparisons were conducted for group and gender. Results showed that dance performance improvement of participants in group A was superior to that of their peers in group B. As LANTD promoted Greek students’ dance performance overtime, it is suggested to be implemented in other dance genres.

Social Structures, Gender Dimensions and Semantic Implications in Dance: The Sergiani Custom in the Village of Megala Kalivia (Trikala)

Abstract Throughout the world there are rites and customs that take place in the context of a specific time and place. The dance act is a reflection of the local society, as it represents a way of validating or questioning the local structures, interpersonal and gender relations, as well as the community policies. Such custom would be the custom of sergiani in the community of Megala Kalyvia (Trikala). The aim of this paper is to examine the custom of sergiani and the role of the dance in that community. The collection and processing of data is based on the principles of ethnographic study. In order to examine the form of the dance, the structural-morphological model is used, while the dances were notated using the Labanotation system. The interpretation of the dance is based on the methodological optics as established by Hanna (1988), according to whom, in order to reach conclusions regarding the society and gender relations, dance must be taken into account. By controlling the patriarchal sovereignty in that community, the female gender would always find mechanisms to show resistance and renegotiate women’s role, position and relation not only against the opposite sex, but also within women. Those mechanisms are triggered through customary and dance practices, such as the sergiani custom.

The End of a Custom: A Social Necessity or a Lust for “Modernisation”? The Case of Sergiani in Megala Kalyvia (Trikala, Greece)

Abstract The custom as an act inherently includes the concept of compulsory repetition and expresses the community as a whole. Through custom and ritual, every local or wider community discovers its own identity, but also the ritual is the vehicle through which the inhabitants of the local community give shape to that identity and are influenced by it . The custom of sergiani was a cultural act performed by the inhabitants of the Megala Kalyvia municipality, as the latter forms part of the wider Karagkounides group. The aim of this paper is to shed light on the custom of sergiani performed in Megala Kalyvia (Trikala, Greece), as well as to emphasise on the reasons why the custom stopped being performed. The collection and processing of data is based on the principles of ethnographic study. The new socioeconomic, historical and cultural facts that prevailed let to the discontinuance of the custom and the accompanying dances, as it occurred with other cultural and dance practices, and it was sealed by the historical structure a dependent - in a broader sense - local social and cultural identity. The president of the municipality, as an expression of the occidental perception with foreign cultural influences contrary to the perceptions of its inhabitants, contributed, with his actions, to the alienation of the local cultural identity.