The impulse to move along with music has been observed throughout history and across cultures, as dance often accompanies or is an essential component of music. In many cultures, “dance” and “music” are signified by the same word; for example, the Ewe ethnic group in Ghana say “Hajiji kple Yedudu” and the Efiks of southern Nigeria say “Ikwuo ye unek” to mean “singing and dancing.” This reading group will explore the relationship between music and movement from interdisciplinary perspectives spanning the humanities and social sciences, drawing on methodologies from music theory, historical musicology, cognitive science, psychology, anthropology, philosophy of aesthetics, and choreography/dance studies.
 

Together we will explore how music and movement are closely interwoven in artistic and cultural practices. On the one hand, we will try to see how identities get defined by both music and dance, questioning perceptions and artistic habits in a specific group such as the world of samba (Browning 1995). On the other hand, we will also aim to question this relationship between dance and music in a creative perspective, for instance when a musical pattern structures the choreography in Balanchine’s pieces (Yoo Leaman 2022). With a broader scope, we will try to understand what are the rules leading to these interactions between dance and sounds.
 

This reading group will also consider the relationship between music and movement from a cognitive perspective and how this might inform the choreographic practices and identities described above from a humanistic perspective. Drawing from the field of music cognition, we will read about how listening to music in everyday life elicits spontaneous and pleasurable body movement, regardless of dance training (known as “groove”; Janata et al. 2012). We will consider how listeners tend to coordinate their movements in time with musical rhythm and the perspective that complex rhythms require body movement to be fully understood (Fitch 2016).
 

We will meet for six meetings all along the year, each session focusing on one methodological approach, with 1-2 articles to discuss. Sessions will be led by the organizers, but any reading group participant is welcome to let us know in advance if they have special expertise and would like to co-lead a specific session with us. We aim for this reading group to provide a space for open discussion and reflection on the connection between music and movement, and we hope it will foster new interdisciplinary collaboration on campus. 
 

Proposed schedule: 
5-6:30pm in the Cone Seminar Room (226 Woolworth Center for Musical Studies, on the second floor of the Mendel Music Library) on the following dates:

• Oct 22, 2024
• Nov 19, 2024
• Dec 3, 2024
•  Feb 4, 2025
•  Feb 25, 2025 
•  March 25, 2025