Directness
According to the explanation of Genesis of Art, "Dance is the mother of art", that is to say, all kinds of arts have a natural blood relationship, dating back to primitive times, they are probably rooted in a single art, and this art as the "mother of all arts" is dance. The origin of dance precedes other arts, so dance is also called "the first art" or "the oldest art". There are many art scholars who hold this view. However, this view is, of course, only a speculation of modern art historians, a hypothesis that cannot be judged true or false. Because the earliest dance created by human beings has disappeared, we can only infer its true colors indirectly from archaeological remains or anthropological data. The earliest dances that modern art anthropologists can see can only be those of tribes with primitive social lifestyles. But we can be sure that these "modern primitive" arts, which live in the same realistic era as us, are definitely not the oldest art of mankind.
However, although this speculation or assumption about dance lacks sufficient empirical evidence, we cannot simply dismiss it as heresy. Theoretically, or from the point of view of reasoning, this statement has some basis after all. The medium of dance is human body, the means is action, and dance is the art of human movement. Even based on this, it is not difficult for us to draw a conclusion that dance is "the first art" or "the oldest art". Dance is the art of human body, and the body is natural for everyone and will never be lost. When we receive impressions or produce emotions, we often "think without thinking", and our bodies have reacted instinctively. When we try to externalize our thoughts and feelings, nothing is more convenient, faster and more sensitive than our bodies. Dance is the art of sports, and sports is the most direct, primitive and natural expression of life. We don't have to argue that many lower animals such as birds or fish can dance like many dancers, but we must admit that as long as a living and active normal person, he should be able to dance in principle. "Living" or "active body" is the minimum requirement for the establishment of dance, and all the requirements of dance seem to stop here. Humans seem to dance instinctively, just like birds can fly, horses can run and fish can swim. This directness or originality of dance basically does not exist in other art categories.
Other arts are indirect. Architecture, sculpture, painting and craft all need external media (wood, stone, clay, paint, etc.). ) and external tools (carving knives, brushes, etc. ). Poetry and drama both need quite developed languages. As we all know, action comes from instinct, while language comes from reason. In other words, it takes a long time to master a language. Language is also a second-hand tool, which was invented to replace our direct experience, so as to ensure the rapid and effective transmission of experience and exchange of information. However, rich experience is in sharp contrast with poor language. Even now, we have mastered the tool of language quite skillfully, and language is still powerless and stretched to express many of our experiences. We all have the experience that when describing things, we often rely on body posture or gestures to make up for the lack of language. When describing inner feelings and changes, language is far less direct and effective than body movements.
"Preface to Mao's Poems" said: "Emotion moves in China, and form is in words. If words are not enough, it is lamentation. If words are not enough, it is singing. If words are not enough, then dance. " In other words, once emotions are generated, they must be expressed. At first, it was in language (sigh), not poetry; Then use music (poetry), which is a song; Finally, dance with actions (dancing with hands, dancing with feet), which is dancing. In a word, this sentence is quite typical of China's ancient theory about the origin of art: art originated from the direct expression of emotion. But here, the order of words is definitely not the actual order. Imagine, when we suddenly hear a bad news about ourselves, should we fall to the ground and cry first, or find someone to tell us first? The pain that can be said (or translated into words) is actually not the real pain, but the pain that is shown to people. When the pain can be told, the pain has actually weakened, deformed and surpassed. From the directness of expression, body must precede thought, action must precede language, and dance must precede poetry.
What about music? There are two kinds of music, either vocal or instrumental. If it is vocal music, then it needs to use a second-hand language like poetry or drama; If it is instrumental music, it needs indirect tools just like painting or sculpture. Of course, we can also imagine that earlier music might just be a sigh, a cry or a howl. As aestheticians imagine, music may have originated from the labor songs of "Yu Hang Yu Hang". In this way, music can only rely on people's voices, that is, people's bodies, without relying on anything indirect or external. The establishment of music only needs the existence of "living people". So, isn't music also a direct art? However, this does not overturn the assumption that dance is the "mother of art". First of all, this only shows that dance and music may be created together in no particular order. Secondly, this may only show that music and dance are closely related. Finally, it even shows that the directness of music comes from dance, and music has the directness of dance. We admit that music art originated from the labor bugle of "Yu Hang Yu Hang", but where did this labor bugle come from? Isn't it accompanied by the rhythm of labor movements? The labor chant of "Yu Hang Yu Hang" is only an accessory of rhythmic body movement. In the same sense, the original music is only a direct accessory of the original dance. Many art anthropologists have found or agreed that primitive music can only gain meaning and sound if it is attached to the dance at that time. Once you are out of dance, you are nothing.
The so-called "direct", that is, in the absence of any external media and tools, people themselves directly invest in works of art, and in this investment, the body has absolute priority. Of all the arts, only dance has this direct feature. Therefore, at least logically, the origin of dance may precede art. In other words, the view that "dance is the mother of art" holds that the establishment of dance precedes all arts, and the "priority" here must be understood in the sense of "logic is consistent with history".
In fact, this is one of the classic explanations that "dance is the mother of art". A. Schmahl Saussure, a German art historian, believes that human characteristics are the common source of all arts. There is no doubt that all kinds of art originate from human emotions, but this emotion must be accompanied by expressive body gestures. This body posture is a unified psychological-physiological complex. It can be analyzed as two components, which leads to the emergence of time art and space art. In time art, speaking is actually a gesture expressed by sound. If the sound and emotion are both abundant, it is the foundation of poetry; If there is only posture, that is the basis of pantomime; If there is only sound, that is the foundation of music. In space art, the posture of the body is the simplest and most basic factor. Sculpture is the shaping of isolated body posture; Architecture is the shaping of the space around them; Painting includes both sculpture and architecture, which has both image and space. To put it simply, painting is a sculptural human image plus the architectural space background. Therefore, poetry is the highest time art and painting is the highest space art, and all this comes from an art: dance. 2
This explanation is not so much the origin of art as the systematics of art; It is not so much art history as art philosophy or aesthetics. In the sense of art systematics, various art forms are not isolated and unrelated, but exist in universal contact; In the sense of artistic philosophy or aesthetics, dance is the mother of all arts, which actually means that human image is the ultimate source of all art forms; "personification" is the highest principle of all artistic expressions.