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Concept 1. Singing is a form of → communication belonging to many highly developed species, including the human being. Extending the concept somewhat, and thus including melodic articulations such as crying out, cheering, a soothing murmur, and the like, it seems altogether plausible that the more abstractly codifying communication of → language has arisen precisely from these ‘song’ forms. While language must be passed on culturally, the voice ranks as the immediate—non-arbitrary if possible—exp…

Pre-Spanish Time 1. In the pre-Spanish era, the cultural space of Central America, reaching from the region of the Maya to northern Mexico, was a land of rival, hierarchical central states, all nevertheless penetrated by a practically homogeneous religion. Their cities were also cultural centers with temple pyramids in which an influential priesthood celebrated the polytheistic state religion, with its complex rites and rituals, to maintain the fragile cosmic equilibrium. Their rituals were all observed on …

Dance: Essence and Potentialities 1. The rhythmically unified body movement of dance is a universal expression of human aliveness, of human life. Dance ‘acts out’ the most fundamental human traits—corporality, and the urge to move. It shapes space and time in dynamic periods, and opens them up to sensory experience. Not only can it express feelings of gladness, sorrow, emotion, power, love, and eroticism; it can also generate and channel them. As ‘life exponentially’ (T. Berger), dance has the c…