No Dance Is a Fake

Elsewhere I have defined “dance-events” as events during which discrete objects present the opportunity for perceiving perceptual motion as patterned motion ¹ , leaving wholly untouched the question of what makes a dance-event an object of art. I believe that this definition can serve us in understanding why it is impossible to create a “dance fake.” Despite the important but unanswered question of “arthood,” I maintain that the above is an accurate definition of dance and that it is the nature of dance itself which prevents the existence of dance fakes and not dance’s status as art.