TY  - SER
AU  - Carter,Alexandra
TI  - London, 1908:  A Synchronic View of Dance History
PY  - 2005///
CY  - Edinburgh
PB  - Edinburgh University Press
N2  - RESUMEN: London in 1908 was a busy year for dance. Performances were presented by the "classical" dancers Isadora Duncan, Maud Allan and Ruth St Denis; ballet was thriving in the context of popular entertainment at the larger music halls and in pantomime; the Russians Lydia Kyasht and Adolph Bolm performed at the Empire and Pavlova danced at a private party for Edward VII and Alexandra. However, the fact that these events were happening at the same time, were "synchronic", goes unrecorded in most dance historiography which tends to trace the development of genres, or artistic careers, through time rather than across time. This latter diachronic approach is the traditional modus operandi of historical study. It has as its motivation a search for meaning by identifying cause and effect. Simply, it is enquiry into how one particular historical moment or person impacted on what came next. This diachronic perspective facilitates a "long view", allowing us to see linear threads of connection. A problem which arises from this approach is that because dance forms or artistic genres tend to be the prime organizing factors -for example, the history of social dance or ballet, the development of modern dance, the life work of Merce Cunningham- it is often difficult to gain a full flavor of activity in a particular period and to give full value to that activity. Our view is always partial and (although post-modern debate has undermined this claim) carries implicit notions of progression, of "improvement" through time
ER  -