Correlation between Dance and Music in Sardinian Dance

Abstract

In South-Sardinian public round dance, traditionally accompanied by launeddas or indigenous triple-clarinet, the dancers have emphasized an aesthetical value with the expression, “to dance according to the music.” This article argues how the dancers make out or recognize the music and choose their steps, clarifying the dynamic correlation between dance and music in the launeddas dance. As part of my fieldwork, an analysis was done of dance steps of Ierzu village, and revealed that the foregoing aesthetical judgment implies the following three points; metrical synchronization between dance and music, selection of steps appropriate to the pichiada, melody-type based on which various phrases will be improvised, and change of step with the transition of one pichiada to the following. The launeddas dance and the music have been inseparably developed in public dance circles. Their reciprocal structure characterizes the performance; the dancers choose steps following the music while the musician varies his performance seeing the dancers' condition or demands. The interaction between dancers and musician, sometimes conversational sometimes competitive, makes the performance dynamic and entertaining. It is this dynamism that makes the launeddas dance artistic.