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A sardana perfomance in Plaça Catedral, Barcelona.
Author's photo |
As you may or may not know, I'm currently doing fieldwork on Catalan national identity and separatist politics in Barcelona. In this vein, I did a short, non-empirical analysis of the traditional Catalan folk dance known as Sardana. Treat
is as an analysis of ritual and one of those comparisons between cultures, we
Anthropologists are often so fond of. Here I juxtapose Javanese burial
rituals and European folk dancing in modernity. It was quite well-received by the "natives" I showed it to, although they didn't agree with my admittedly stretched conclusion. Here's the original text for your pleasure.
Introduction
In
this paper, I attempt a small critical discussion of the traditional folk dance
of Catalonia, the sardana. I trace the sardana historically, arguing that it
was part of a process of invention of
tradition in the 19th century. I further attempt to analyze the
sardana as a so-called “failed ritual”
that no longer inspires the national unity it once did. Here I use Geertz’ Ritual and Social Change: A Javanese example
(1957) as the theoretical foundation for my analysis.
Methodology
This
paper is mainly theoretical. I have been to two performances of Sardana at the
Plaça de la Catedral in Barcelona, seen perhaps 4 more online, such as youtube,
and I’ve sporadically talked to young catalans about the dance. As such, my
empirical data is very limited and I rely mainly on texts to further my
argument that the sardana could be considered a ”failed ritual”. A further
empirical study would be a very interesting addition to this text.
Case in point: the Sardana
The
sardana is a popular, traditional circle-dance in Catalonia, and is considered
the unofficial national dance of the Catalan nation (Brandes 1990:25, Martí i
Pérez 1994:39).
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A sardana perfomance in Plaça Catedral, Barcelona.
Author's photo |
The
sardana is based on standardized dances and steps. It’s always accompanied by a
“cobla”, a band of 11 persons and 12 instruments, the flautist also
playing a small snare drum (Martí i Perez 1994:39). Sardana as a dance
originated in a small area in the north of Catalonia from the rural contrapàs
and sardana curta (Martí i Perez 1994:40), extending its popularity
to the rest of Catalonia only in the last half of the 19th century
(Ibid., Brandes 1990). During this period, there was a surge of Catalan
nationalism and the sardana was transformed from being regarded as one of many
rural, regional dances to the national dance of Catalonia, being a symbol of
ethnicity (Martín i Perez 1994:41). The perceived foreign elements of the
sardana, such as melodies imported from French and Italian operas, polka or pasodoble were purged from the dance to
make it more “pure” and Catalan (Ibid.). The rapid spread of sardana through
Catalonia in the 19th century was tied to nation-building actors,
using sardana as a tool to solidify and strengthen Catalan nationalism:
“The
main human agents of this expansion were the politically active circles, which
later also founded the strongly nationalistic sardanes associations. Each and
every village in Catalonia, so it was said, should have a song association, a
library or a sardanes association and, when possible, all three”
(Ibid.:42).
The
dance had the interesting distinction of not being forbidden during the francoist
dictatorship of Spain like other manifestations of Catalan culture such as the
Catalan language and flags. Martí i Perez writes that by the dictatorship, sardana
was considered a folkloric dance and a harmless tradition that did not cement
the values of Catalan nationalism (Ibid.).
However,
after the transition to democracy beginning with Franco’s death in 1975, the sardana
was adopted as a potent national symbol for Catalans. It’s officially
sanctioned by the Generalitat de Catalunya with 2 national cobles and dancing
groups being maintained through government funding (Ibid.). The sardana today
is a highly institutionalized dance with many organizations, although
popularity and membership is rapidly dwindling among young Catalans in the face
of more modern forms of dance such as hip-hop and pop music (Brandes 1990).
Ritual practice
Danish
anthropologist Inger Sjørslev writes that ritual and performance transform
persons and space (Sjørslev 2010:4), as well as performance can raise awareness
to possible futures and transcend current time and place (Ibid.:13-14). Desfor
Edles points out that popular (or folkloric) cultural elements and
performances, such as the sardana,
help to ritualize and thereby affirm national unity and cohesion in the
building of Catalan identity (Desfor Edles 1999:321). This is not to be
understood in a solely instrumentalist way; the process of affirming identity
thr ough rituals and creating solidarity in performance when consensus is
lacking can also be unconscious or emotive (Ibid.). The solidarity-generating
perspectives of the politicized performance in my view supports the
transcendental aspects of the ritual described by Sjørslev and mentioned by
Desfor Edles (Ibid.). As such, I argue that there is a distinct symbolism and
performance of identity at play during sardana dances. Dancing sardana is an
assertion of national symbolism and identity:
“Since
it is considered a national dance, every sardana performance can become an act
of assertion of ethnicity” (Ibid.:42).
I
will now go on to analyze more thoroughly the values implied in the sardana.
Values of Sardana
Stanly
Brandes terms the dance a “symbolic act
of ethno-cultural affirmation” (Brandes 1990:24). I argue that the
semi-official status of the sardana and the institutionalized teaching of the
dance (Brandes 1990:26), can be seen as an active invention of tradition - a constructed symbol of the nation of
Catalonia (Ibid.:29). An invention of
tradition is taken to mean a set of practices or customs seeking to promote
certain values through repetition, implying continuity with the past or, well,
tradition (Hobsbawm 2010:1). Brandes writes that the sardana has indeed been
identified with what is regarded as Catalan values; fraternity, harmony and
democracy (Ibid.:30). Martí i Perez even uses the terms sardanisme and Sardanista to
describe the sardana as a socio-cultural complex:
“[D]ancers who
do not limit themselves to enjoying the dance but also believe strongly in what
the dance means - music in the service of an idea (Martí i Perez 1994:44).
The
Sardana implies certain values as a national dance, of community, brotherhood
and as a traditional, moral and “pure” dance (Martí i Perez 1994). Consider
this quote about the merits of sardana:
“En
las danzas modernas, existen el contacto, la proximidad de los personas de
distinto sexo avivando las pasiones carnales (…), en la sardana solamente se
unen por las manos formando hermosacadenade amor nacional. Considerando también
que cuando se desarrolla una costumbre honesta decrecen las inmorales, no
podemos menos de reconocer su benéfica influencia en la sociedad” (Martí i Pérez 1994:44, quoting Monsalvatje and Aleu 1895).
Sardana
was seen as representing conservative values such as the love of the homeland
(Catalonia), platonic relationships and idealized rural environments as in the
Catalan countryside (Ibid.). At the same time, the dance was seen as purely
Catalan without foreign influence, extending as a tradition much further back
in time than was actually the case of its late 18th century origin.
Brandes
argues that the
dance became a national symbol because it became identified with so-called “core”
Catalan values, including “harmonia
("harmony"), germanor (“brotherhood” and democracia (“democracy”)”
(Brandes 1990:30). Because sardana is a circle dance with no lead dancers, it
implies unity and equality. Interestingly, writing over 20 years ago, Brandes
asserts that dancers often cry “Visca!”,
on the final step of the dance. One informant told him what this implied: Visca el poble nostre, Catalunya, las
sardana, el germanor; totplegat!" (Ibid.:32).
There seems to be very strong ties between the sardana and national symbolism
and identity.
Brandes stresses the uniformity of the dance steps
and the unbroken circle as examples of unity-generating symbols. He quotes the
saying: "Tan ací com a Girona,
l'anella ha d'ésser rodona" [Here as in Girona, the dance ring should
be round] (Ibid.:33)
This implies not only that the circle should be
unbroken, firm and united – but also that it should be so all over Catalonia.
Based
on these examples, I argue that the values of sardana assume cultural
homogeneity: A shared ethnic identity, the unity of the nation of Catalonia and
the conserving of traditional, Catalan values.
Geertz and Failed Rituals
Geertz
wrote Ritual and Social Change to
show that rituals are not always integrative and do not always bring about unity
and cohesion. Sometimes, they simply do not work. As his empirical example, Geertz
uses the situation of a failed funeral rite in Bali, the so-called slametan. A young socialist has died,
and social tension erupts when there is doubt about whether he should have a
traditional Muslim funeral or not. The funeral rite fails to restore peace and
instead bringing about tension as “a
microcosmic example of the broader conflicts, structural dissolutions, and attempted
reintegrations which, in one form or another, are characteristic of
contemporary Indonesian society” (Geertz 1957:35) The clash stands between
new changes in the social organization of the village, with ideological
political parties forming rifts and links where there once were none, and traditional
cultural traditions.
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A 1907 photograph of a traditional Slametan.
Wikipedia Commons |
Geertz’
primary point is that we must analytically distinguish between cultural and
social processes: They are independent variables but interdependent factors (Ibid.:33).
Geertz sees culture as the way in which we interpret our experiences and guide
our actions; social structure is the form this action takes in reality, the net
of lived social relations. A ritual is not only a pattern of meaning but also a
social interaction. Therefore, social tension or conflict can easily be part of
rituals. The social dynamics at play in society are also at play during rituals
(Geertz 1957:52). Furthermore, changes in social organizations can affect the
process of the ritual and the significance it carries. ). That is, the social
organization and the cultural ideology (or custom), can be conflicting: Highly
differentiated occupational structure and a multiclass society in opposition to
traditional cultural symbols and ethic. This causes the rituals that are part
of the “old” cultural system to fail in their effects, because they are not
aligned with the present social organization.
Discussion
I argue that this is also true of the sardana. I
base this on the implicit values inherent in the sardana and the
nation-building process that caused its rapid spread as part of a nationalistic
project of inventing traditions. The sardana was “made” and exported with the
purpose of strengthening existing Catalan ethnic and national unity or outright
creating these identities where they didn’t exist. In this way, the sardana is
like the Indonesian funeral rite slametan, part of a cultural pattern
that does not fit new social differentiations in present day Catalan society:
“The slametan remains unchanged, blind to the major lines
of social and cultural demarcation in urban life. For it, the primary
classifying characteristic of an individual is where he lives” (Geertz 1957:52).
The
sardana implies unity and homogeneity for Catalans. But this homogeneity no
longer exists and therefore the feelings of national unity are often lacking in
sardana performances. During the two performances of Sardana that I witnessed,
the mayority of spectators where in reality tourists and not Catalans. On both
occasions, they were in the way of the dancers, crowding instead to look at the
cobla, which they thought were the
center of attention. They did not know what was happening, how they were
supposed to react or what the sardana meant. The spectators in this way
actually harmed the performance, preventing the dancers from forming new
circles with fluidity and obscuring them.
On
both occasions, there were likewise Catalans attempting to enforce a national
sentiment to the performance. One man placed himself in several strategic spots
where he could easily be seen and cried “Visca Catalunya!”
several times on the last step of a dance, obviously expecting replies. There
were no response from dancers or spectators, no explicit manifestations of
Catalan unity or nationality. The spontaneous outcries and grand feelings Brandes
described 20 years ago, was certainly not applicable to my experience.
On
another occasion, a man paced around the square with a small Catalan flag,
seeking acknowledgement from both dancers and spectators, of which he received
none. He was not able to instill any response or reaction.
Furthermore,
all dancers were of highly advanced age, none were young or below retirement
age. That sardana has a severe “age-crisis” despite being highly institutionalized
is a point raised by several other texts on sardana:
“Many performances suffer now from a
worrisome lack of dancers, so that the main concern of the sardanamilieu is the
winning back of the younger generations” (Martí i Perez 1994:44).
I
argue that the values of sardana no longer bind Catalans together as before,
because of a change in social structure. As Geertz put it, we might point to an
“incongruity between the cultural framework of meaning and the patterning of
social interaction” (Geertz 1957:52).
We
might also call this differences between cultural representations and social
organization. In modern Catalonia, the issues and ties important to the people
living there are not only national. There has been a shift in feelings of
belonging, communities being based on many other things than the simple
national and geographical bonds of an idealized Catalan homeland. This is due
to a process of modernization, argues Geertz:
“Population
growth, urbanization, monetization, occupational differentiation, and the like,
have combined to weaken the traditional ties of peasant social structure; (…)
structural changes have disturbed the simple uniformity of religious belief and
practice characteristic of an earlier period” (Geertz 1957:37).
In
modernity there has been a change of integrative ties; from bonds of geography
and kinship to ideological communities, labor relations, student organizations
etc. Furthermore, as for those for whom Catalan nationalism and independence
are still very important issues, there are other, more potent channels of
expression than folkloric rituals (Martí i Perez 1994:44).
Conclusion
Social
class, political ideology, occupation, regional origin, religious preference,
age, sex or place of residence are now important factors of modern Catalan
identity. Because of this, the sardana is no longer integrating in the same way
as before; Catalan people have many social ties and no longer only the geographical
bond of being from Catalonia. The ritual, in this case the sardana, cannot
function as before because it cannot unite all Catalans in the same values. Geertz’
point about the Indonesian funeral rite slametan
is valid here as well: “The bonds they are strengthening (…) are no longer the bonds which most
emphatically hold them together” (Geertz 1957:52).
The
sardana was envisioned as a nationalistic project, and this symbolic
value given to the sardana was mainly responsible
for its early boom and widespread dissemination (Martí i Perez 1994:44). But
being part of this national symbolism similarly prevents the sardana from
developing in terms of its organization or social meaning. The success and the
“failure” of sardana are thus linked. The dance of course still works as an
interesting dance and as a symbol of Catalan culture. But it no longer accommodates to current social realities
and has lost much of its unifying power. The “crisis” of the sardana stems from a discontinuity between social structure and
culture; the sardana represents a Catalan national unity that does not exists
as such a salient issue in complex, class-segregated societies.
The
social structure has changed and the ritual must as well – or fail.
Bibliography
Brandes, Stanley
1990: “The Sardana: Catalan Dance and Catalan National Identity.” The Journal of American Folklore
103(407):24-41. Retrieved November 22, 2010
Geertz, Clifford
1957: “Ritual and Social Change: A Javanese Example.” American Anthropologist, New Series Vol. 59(1):pp. 32-54.
Hobsbawm, Eric J. (ed.)
2010 [1983]: The Invention of Tradition.
Cambridge University Press
Laura Desfor Edles
1999: “A Culturalist Approach to Ethnic Nationalist Movements: Symbolization
and Basque and Catalan Nationalism in Spain.” Social Science History 23(3):311-355. Retrieved November 22, 2010.
Martí i Pérez, J.
1994: “The Sardana as a Socio-Cultural Phenomenon in Contemporary Catalonia.” Yearbook for Traditional Music 39–46.
Sjørslev, Inger
2010: “The Material Subject: Style and Pointing in Public Performance.”
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