This
thesis explores how dance can be documented and preserved not only through
written or visual records but also through the body itself. It asks: How can the archive become an embodied,
performative space?
To answer this question, the study develops the concept of dance documentation
networks. These networks bring together dancers, communities, archives,
technologies, and researchers, showing that the preservation of intangible
heritage is a collaborative and dynamic process. By approaching documentation
as a network, the thesis highlights the ethical and political dimensions of
whose voices and practices are included in cultural memory.
The research traces the history of documenting dance, from early notation
systems to new multimodal approaches that combine writing, drawing, and digital
tools. It introduces dance scores as flexible tools that allow knowledge to
move between different worlds: artistic, academic, archival, and technological.
This perspective shifts the role of the archive from a place of storage to a
space of activation and transmission.
Two case studies illustrate these ideas: El
Chimbángueles, an Afro-descendant ritual from Venezuela, and Bii-Biyelgee, a nomadic dance
practice from Mongolia. Both cases reveal how dance embodies cultural identity,
and how communities respond to external pressures such as colonial legacies or
national heritage policies.
The thesis proposes a new vision of archives as living, performative spaces
where cultural knowledge is preserved through movement and shared across
generations.
