Kevin Locke, on dance in indigenous cultures vs. dominant culture
Jo Reed: Dance is something that in Native American culture, it has quite a different meaning than in European culture.
Kevin Locke: I think so.
Jo Reed: Can you explain?
Kevin Locke: I kind of-- I like, maybe I just exaggerate to make the point, but I'll just say the dominant culture-- you know, I always think that in the dominant culture, music and dance are what I would maybe say are superfluous activities. They're extraneous. They're not intrinsic activities. Whereas, in most indigenous cultures throughout the world, music and dance are obligatory activities. They're obligatory. You have to participate. And so that's the difference right there. And I always think that in many cases, for indigenous cultures that I've observed, the use of music and dance is quite different. Because you know, you drive around, you watch people, they're plugged into their little earphones and they're in their cars, and they're just zoned out. They have stressful, routine lives! And they want to, they want to just escape all that, you see? So then they tune into music, or whatever, to kind of give them a release, and they just escape that reality that they're in, you see? Whereas, I find that indigenous people, especially here in North America, they use music for the opposite purpose, you see? We use it to connect with that which is real, and good. That which is holy. That which enables all these barriers to collapse and to dissipate the barrier between ourselves and our ancestors. That disappears, you know, through music! There's a continuity there. The barrier between ourselves and the future. That all disappears. The disconnect between ourselves and nature, we reverse that, and we connect through music and through dance. So that's how we do it, yeah. <laughs>
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