Dance improvisation as an embodied encounter with heritage site: a case in the archaeological ruins of Liangzhu

ABSTRACT

This article explores dance improvisation as an alternative mode of understanding the archaeological heritage site beyond representational knowledge. Drawing on projects undertaken on Liangzhu Archaeological Site over the past five years (2018–2023), we have employed dance improvisation as a method for participants to explore here and now interactions with the heritage site, focusing on their sensing, feeling and thinking. Using an A/r/tography methodology, this study considers how intersections of art-making and writing allow new meanings and bodily interpretation to emerge during the improvisation process. Participant reflection notes reveal how embodied encounters create space for rhizomatic interpretations of the archaeological site, transcending power dynamics embedded in existing politically-sacred and archaeologically-authoritative knowledge systems.

KEYWORDS:

• Dance improvisation
• embodied encounter
• bodily interpretation

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank all the participants who generously devoted their time into this project. We are very grateful to anonymous reviewers for their supportive and insightful comments.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. For more information about Liangzhu Archaeological site, see: https://whc.unesco.org/en/news/2003/

2. A report for the process and reflection of the public performance in 2021: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/1axODCY3qu8PU7vWs5Frhg

3. Source: https://www.lzsite.cn/YuQi/20231476145.html

4. All names of participants and informants are pseudonyms.

5. Paul Bischoff, ‘Surveillance camera statistics: which cities have the most CCTV cameras?’ https://www.comparitech.com/vpn-privacy/the-worlds-most-surveilled-cities/, updated: May 23, 2023. Accessed on August Ninth, 2023.

6. The permission of the use of the participants’ images have been obtained before the performance. The anonymous tourists’ images are covered.

Additional information

Funding

The work was supported by the State Language Affairs Commission [ZDI145-54].

Notes on contributors

Hua Yu

Dr. Hua Yu is Associate Professor at the Institute of Linguistics, Shanghai International Studies University, Shanghai, China. She teaches qualitative research methods on the Masters programme in Sociolinguistics. She carries out action research in her community Liangzhu Culture Village. Her research interests focus on arts and humanities, ritual and cultural heritage, and ethnographic inquiries into everyday life.

Jiaoyin Mei

Dr. Jiaoyin Mei is a Lecturer in Arts education, in the Faculty of Jinghengyi Education, Hangzhou Normal University. She gained her PhD at Roma Tre University, Italy, in 2014. She is also the council member of the International Association of Creative Arts in Education and Therapy. She mainly teaches Creative Dance Movement, Somatic Education, Improvisation and Movement Analysis. Her research interests include arts education in community and creative arts education.