Gawai in Malaysia #5
Both images: Traditional courtship dance in Borneo
This dance fascinated me. Not for the extended choreography (which I suspect has been adapted by the choreographer to make a show closer to what he or she considered acceptable for tourists) but because even though I had never seen it before and am not familiar with the culture in which it grew it is so clearly a festival courtship dance. If and when I have the time I’d like to research the idea that this stimulated, that courtship dances from any culture have similar characteristics. Such an idea, while appealing in its simplicity, might be dangerous. Do all cultures (apart from those that consider mixed sex dancing to be inappropriate, lewd or just plain wrong) produce dances with similar characteristics for courtship and party situations? Or is it just that there are only so many different moves that two people can make together or as pairs in a larger group dance.
