ABSTRACT
Ritual, play, and performance Performances – whether in the performing arts, sports, popular music,or everyday life – consist of ritualized gestures and sounds. Even when we think we’re being spontaneous and original, most of what we do and utter has been done and said before – by us even. Performing arts frame and mark their presentations, underlining the fact that artistic behavior is “not for the first time” but enacted by trained persons who take time to prepare and rehearse.A performance may feature highly stylized behavior such as in kabuki, kathakali, ballet, or the dance-dramas of Indigenous Australians. Or it may be congruent to everyday behavior as in naturalism. A performance may be improvised – but as in jazz or contact improvisation dance,most improvisations consist of arranging and moving through known materials.
