Ele Woods
This weeks reading was about the Yoruba body philosophy and how body movement and symmetry is heavily ingrained in their society and their religion. The article began explaining how in the society a person can be physically beautiful but if they had a "bad body" they would not be valued. It also explained that physical movement and body language is key in their society. As I kept reading the essay I began to wonder, if someone had a bad attitude but was a great dancer would they be appreciated or not? Also if they could not keep up with the sort of moral body code that the Yoruba's keep would they automatically be considered a "bad body". Some people just can't read body language. I laughed a little bit thinking about how some of my friends would do in their society.
One thing that I wondered about was the Yoruba heavy emphasis on symmetry. Does this mean that a dance that is a-symmetrical is unappealing? This goes back to a question I had the first week about limitations on expression in dance. If expression is limited to symmetry surely a capability to emote is limited as well.
I enjoyed this reading because I felt that it was helpful to me as a person who likes to dance. I know I will be able to use knowledge I acquired from reading the piece next time we go accross the floor exploring the Yoruba tradition. Also the conclusion reminded me of the class Christian lead today and the "democracy of movement". The Yoruba philosophy is that everything has a counterpart pushing against or complementing it. I think this can be applied to our dance in a certain way because we are learning to use opposing muscles and balancing our bodies.
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