Works Cited

Books:

Braun, Jerome. Routledge Studies in Social and Political Thought: Alienation and the Carnivalization of Society.
Langman, Lauren. p214. Taylor and Francis. Florence, KY, USA .09/2011

Evans, G. R. Philosophy and Theology in the Middle Ages.Florence, KY, USA: Routledge, 1993. p 9.
http://site.ebrary.com/lib/byuprovo/Doc?id=5001603&ppg=20

Harris, Max. Sacred Folly: A New History of the Feast of Fools. P336. Cornell University Press. Ithaca, NY,
USA. 02/2011

Harris, Stephen Grigsby, Bryon L. Misconceptions about the Middle Ages. P.309. Routledge. Florence, KY, USA.
12/2007.

Jackson, Maggie. Distracted: The Erosion of Attention and the Coming Dark Age. 2008 Prometheus Books.
Review. Date Accessed 28 July 2013.

Keck, David. Angels and Angelology in the Middle Ages. Cary, NC, USA: Oxford University Press, 1998. p 109.
http://site.ebrary.com/lib/byuprovo/Doc?id=10142259&ppg=128

Rogers, Mary. Tinagli, Paola. Women in Italy, 1350-1650: Ideals and Realities. Manchester University Press.
2005. P109.

Encyclopedias:

Brainard, Ingrid. "Dance of Death." The International Encyclopedia of Dance. Oxford University Press,
1998. Oxford Reference. 2005. Date Accessed 12 July. 2013
<http://www.oxfordreference.com.erl.lib.byu.edu/view/10.1093/acref/9780195173697.001.0001/acref-
9780195173697-e-0452>.

Thurston, Herbert. "Feast of Fools." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 6. New York: Robert Appleton
Company, 1909. 5 Aug. 2013<http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06132a.htm>.

Textbook:

Dixon, Brenda. Hilsendager, Sarah. Kraus, Richard. History of the Dance in Art and Education. Pearson
Education. 1991. p52-70.

Perry, Marvin, J. Wayne Baker. Humanities in the Western Tradition , First Edition , Baruch College, City
University of New York, Emeritus, University of Akron. Chapter 13.
http://college.cengage.com/humanities/perry/humanities/1e/students/summaries/ch13.html
Internet:
Shawnie. Feast of Fools: New year to Mardi Gras.
http://mangesmangi.blogspot.com/2012/02/feast-of-fools-new-year-to-mardi-gras.html




Brianne Burnham
11/15/13
Research Paper
Grade:____________
Dance as a Distraction: Good or Bad?
Medieval Dance and Modern Similarities
In the Dark Ages the body when weaving, making weapons, navigating through various
territories, hunting, farming, healing, acting, was seen as mechanical arts opposing the attitude of
the Catholic Church teaching the spirit to serve the flesh. The purpose of the Church hierarchy
was to help the population know God in all his wonder and miracles. Leading the people to
believe the body is tied to a philosophy defined by G.R. Evans, a professor of medieval theology
and intellectual history at the University of Cambridge and was British Academy Research
Reader in Theology from 1986 to 1988.
The concepts of theology and philosophy, and of the peripheral sciences, the liberal arts,
the mechanical arts, even the magical arts, can all be seen as hierarchically ordered to the
supreme purpose of knowing God. It was generally held in the thirteenth century that the
mechanical arts operate at such a humble level that they are not worth the study of those who are
capable of learning better things, and indeed they may distract the soul from aspiring higher. The
magical arts and astrology have a built-in tendency to error, because they do not have their sights
fixed on God alone (although they are effective enough in the medieval view) (Evans 20).
No emphasis of importance was highlighted on peasantry living and Greek astrology by
the Church. The church was sensitive to the distractions and errors of the body, and by
flagellation, festivals, and specific dances, the Middle Age individuals found a release valve
from the oppression of the church. Their definition of the worth of a body in the sight of God
was to be distorted throughout the Dark Ages. What more could a peasant and serf do than to use
their body in a mechanical art or free themselves in the magical arts through dancing, singing,
and music? These people were taught their worth and their body is not clean in the sight of God.
That they must purge the evil and restless devils from their very soul by self-torturing techniques
called flagellation.
The flagellation was performed in secret and public venues including processionals.
Imagine the energy qualities of such an act. The body weighted in pain. The small steps of one
shuffle after the other shifting weight from one foot to the other mimicking the leaders with the
swing of the smoke. They carried a whip in one hand, grasping a piece of robe or garment in the
other. Hunching forward so the spine is curved and the back is vulnerable. Accents of quick and
fast movements randomly in accordance with the religious chants are celebrating this exalting of
the body and cleansing of the soul.
In an interview with a friend, it was discussed that modern parodies of flagellation is
found in the media highlighted in the shows, WIPEOUT, WWF(World Wrestling Federation),
Fear Factor. The carnivalization of our society is evident in these examples. Meaning the humor
of watching others inflict pain on their bodies is enjoyed.(Braun) No religious connotation is
attached to these, but the image of the body is still the same. Hurt your body, and excel, become
better and move forward up the latter of success with the winnings of the game. The medieval
flagellation has no humor and no one gained winnings from participating, but the expectation to
be exalted among the odds of life was anticipated.
The Geisslerlieder, the songs sung during these flagellants, were not condemned by the
church because the people would carry crosses, banners, and relics, and present an eerie
reverence. The audience would watch in acceptance of the reality of life, believing the last days
are near. This idea of the body being humbled by pain in hopes that the people would fear God
and stay obedient to the laws set by the church mimicked the view of angels. The angelic music
and even the angelic hierarchy were sought after by the rulers. The Church wanted to represent
the emotion of angels shining through the darkness and devilish people.
David Keck is a New York based writer and teacher from Winnipeg, Canada, who
believes the benevolence of the angel, was encouraged by the church in their sacred feasts and
ceremonies.
Further, medieval Christians used the consideration of angelic emotional and intellectual
attributes to provide examples for proper human behavior. One of the reasons why the angelic
hierarchy can serve as a model for the ecclesiastical hierarchy is that the angelic hierarchy exists
in perfect concord and benevolence. The higher angels do not denigrate the lower ones, and the
lower ones are not jealous of the higher ones. Like many other theologians, Bonaventure
declared that the hierarchy of the church ought to be just like this hierarchy. 54(Keck)
Angels were good and bad. In the churches they had the angels of music that were inviting and
reverent towards God. In comparison there were angels recognized as unconstrained, enticing
dancing and distractions with fast music.
The church encouraged Ring dances of the era performing in courts as well as in the
woods of the peasants and serfs. These ring dances represented an angelic ceremony, celebrating
being received and exalted with the angels. When one joins the ring they dance in harmony
uniting with the angels becoming an angel themself. Their long hopes of a great relief from such
despair will end with angels praising and bringing joy and light escorting them into heaven.
Imagine our government run by angels? The desire is incomprehensible today, and far from
realistic. But the desire to be like angels and ruled by angels, sounds like an attractive alternative.
Manners and etiquette has always been lost in the churchs interpretation of dance
throughout time when women came to excel in social dancing. The angelic pressure was so thick
this next quote found in a book of written letters and journals about Italian women of the Middle
Ages were very common.
Why do girls dance so much, leaning on the mens arms so that that they can jump
higher? Why do they stay on till the middle of the night, till they are tired? If they were told to go
to church, they would say they cannot go, unless by horse or carriage. Does this not show that
they are obviously troubled by the furies? I remember hearing that some inhabitant of the distant
lands of Asia, seeing our young women dance, run away in fear, saying that [the women] were
moved by a new frenzy. And in truth, dont our women appear frenzied to those who have never
seen them dancing? Christian virgins should keep themselves far from this, because according
to a Gentile doctor, nobody dances unless he is mad. (Rogers109)
In this quote a dance named the Volta was described. Being mad was commonly
addressed if any rules and procedure were broken from cultural norms. The norm, consequently,
the body was looked upon as a hindrance. To exalt the soul the body was ignored, punished, and
bruised. Anything that expressed the livelier feelings of instinctive human nature or in any way
suggested former pagan ways and ideals of living was banished into the realm of wickedness
(Dixon 53).
Being lively was comprehended as a distraction. Even though, the church had a love-
hate view of the body by the Christians view of the church being the body of Christ, yet flesh
was scorned as inferior, animal-like, and decaying. The body was the root of all evil, forbidden
but desired and attractive (Dixon 53). Being attractive was a main distraction that was
remedied. The church suggested if one was to lust after a woman, first imagine looking at her
insides. All bloody and offensive would it seem to be.
If that didnt work then imagine the womans dead corpse. The stiff cold lifeless body
would soon prevent you from lusting after her. In hopes that when one imagined the body in such
a way all desire would immediately leave from the person. So if a woman was attractive while
dancing then it could be assumed one would imagine a dead womans corpse dancing. This logic
is represented in the Middles Ages individuals perspective of death and the afterlife.
Death was familiar to these individuals. They danced about death and following pagan
ways releasing fear, and making it so real it became a ritual. The myth was said that a person
who chose to dance with the dead would then a year later die, being escorted by Death itself.
The dance of death or Toten Tanz started in France then lead into Germany, Italy, Spain
and England. The dead seemed hostile towards the living. They believed the dead danced in
their graves or were free to roam amongst the living as they compel them to follow after them.
Death was a social leveler. No matter the age or class, you were taken either way. Dance of
Death was a social and religious satire and the healthy reaction of the people against the strict
asceticism of the church was seen as evidence of the awakening spirit of democracy in the dying
Middle Ages, in that it protested against the tremendous power and wealth of the ruling classes
as well as the miserable lives led by the common folk. (Dixon 58)
The Feast of Fools viewed as animal-like protest and an example of reverse dominion led
the peasants and serfs in erotic dancing, drinking, gambling, and loud music and carols.(Harris)
People of the medieval times sure knew how to laugh. Nothing was immune to their laughter.
Nothing was too sacred to make joke or humor about. It was not that they wanted to get rid of the
morals completely from the church, but they wanted a day where they could actively and
publically contradict what the church stood for. In the streets the peasants and serfs would dance
to songs sung in vernacular tongue also known as street language.
This loud statement of laughter and movement was seen as a weapon against arrogance
and hypocrisy of the church. The essence of this feast was about a secular fool in a cap with
donkey ears mocking the clergy.(Harris, Stephen) The sub deacons or choirboys temporarily
were raised in status to a position of honor. It is not recorded that leaders were harmed in
anyway, but their status and respect was threatened. This was a release valve from death, and
hatred, and fear leaving desire, passion, emotions, freedom and no caution. The people forgot for
a moment the reality of the pain, and dulled it with liquor, gambling, sex, and dancing.
When modern tourists travel to get free from the world they have their own personal
release valve. The culture in touristy places encourages public transgression suggested from the
example of the Feast of Fools. The intense emotions provide consumers a desired authentic
experience. What is not normal at home is normal in certain places. For example Mardi Gras, the
party at night where the people of New Orleans unite in a purposeful way to drink, gamble,
profane, and engage in public sensual acts with a specific category of the human race.(Shawnie)
People yearn for meaning, a quest for the mythological presence of the body lost
today.(Thursten) There is nothing innocent about todays parodies. In the television shows South
Park and Saturday Night Live, characters choose what is popular in the news, politics, religion,
and entertainment, and manipulate it into humor and chaos, accentuating on the flaws, or
mistakes, and or purely making fun of these horrible stories, and harsh times. Dance is used as a
way to highlight this message.
In the Middle Ages people would participate in Dance Mania a trance dance, sometimes
inhibited by alcohol, causing them to die. Danceomania was an outlet for emotional strain.
Whole communities of peoplewere stricken with a kind of madness that sent them dancing and
gyrating through the streets and from village to village for days at a time until they died in
agonized exhaustion (Dixon 59).
To dance in a way that lets the body practically lose control and step into a trance in the
medieval times was evil by the church. Dancing would become fast, energetic, very dramatic.
The energy qualities are intense, either sensually smooth, or hard and thrashing to purge anger
and despite, from the bodys pours. A trance aided by alcohol or drugs is popular in these
circumstances. The blood rushing to the extremities to keep the body moving excites the mind,
warms the body, and releases endorphins. The blood rushing all the way to the finger tips and
toes continues because of the spins, The feeling of flying some equate this feeling as joy.
But the church expected and end to this joyous chaos. On time, on schedule, the ruckus is
over, and life either under oppression, depression, or obsession continued. The Feast of Fools
was the possible answer and resolve chosen by the people. Distraction was the goal, and still is
an infinite appetite that exists today.
Distraction is persuasive, leading one away from the target.(Jackson) As a dentist
distracts the pain of a procedure humming an awkward song, so can dance distract the pain of
humanity caused by lack of focus.
The laser a metaphor of cutting steel, or a hard metal stands for Light Amplification by
Stimulated Emission of Radiation. The laser is made up of an electric current that bounces
between two mirrors, in a gas that determines the wanted color. When the current exists, the
output presents this light that can be focused and as the light is more focused the high the power.
As we see in comparison to the Middle Ages, they had less knowledge or light in this
case. And they were very distracted. They had no power to overcome the authorities or the harsh
materials of life. But gradually as new inventions were made and knowledge was found, an
electric current was giving them a rebirth. Soon they would focus on their talents and the
individual gifts that the body provided. The body image in The Renaissance era was born, and
people became more powerful against the authorities. Serfs were freed, and Universities were
built. Government changed as well as life itself. Light, truth, knowledge, which ever word is
chosen, saved the world.
Renaissance individuals embraced the possibilities of this life rather than focusing on the
hereafter. Further, instead of renouncing earthly endeavors for contemplation of God, these
elites cultivated personal excellence, sought the recognition of their achievements, and explored
their own personalities (Perry 13).
As the human race falls into another New Dark Age, if the world will again see their
worth and body image as great through seeking, exploring, and discovering light within
achieving true knowledge of the body through dance, it can divert away from the sorrow and
pain life brings without the loud laughter and chaotic parodies that destroy sacred and important
virtues. Using dance as a tool to educate instead of distract will exalt any soul.