Dance as a Form of International Cultural Heritage. - World Dance, Cultural Heritage and Dance <br />Dance as a Form of International Cultural Heritage <br />Traditional Korean dance <br />Dance genres, just like other forms of performance arts, oral traditions and human activities, can now be part of the UNESCO Heritage lists under the banner of ‘intangible cultural heritage’. The idea of intangible cultural heritage became official since the UNESCO Convention on Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2003. The idea behind the creation of this convention reflects a major shift in the attitude towards cultural heritage, from one that is static and linked to monuments and material culture, to one that is more flexible and that takes into consideration practices, knowledge, traditions, skills, as well as material elements associated to these practices, such as spaces and artefacts. <br />The idea of intangible cultural heritage is more democratic and egalitarian than the traditional concept of heritage, as people have become central, rather than objects. This shift has been due also to the realisation that the previous UNESCO lists were too Eurocentric and did not take into consideration the perspectives of cultures for which material and monumental elements are less important and, therefore, of which they have fewer. Originally, the UNESCO’s lists were too over-represented by sites in Europe, so the introduction of the concept of intangible heritage was done with the aim to re-balance the representation by different nations. Before the 2003 UNESCO convention, forms of heritage such as dance were included in the realm of folklore. <br />A limitation of the UNESCO’s concept though, is that it is still too connected to the idea of nation states and to heritage being limited to its culture of origin. The 2003 definition states that intangible heritage is expressed by groups or individuals and does not limit these to the confiners of nation states. However, that fact that UNESCO’s member are nations which represent their own interests, keeps intangible heritage still confined within the idea of nations. <br />This is not realistic though, as a form of heritage such as dance has never been confined to individual nations and even less now, when communication has been made easier and faster thanks to new technology such as internet and air travel. There are various dance genres that have spread around the world. They have been generated by a certain culture and have changed as they have been transmitted to different cultures. Change is unavoidable to a certain extent in transmitting dance, but when different cultures are involved, two things can happen. Either a new hybrid form of dance, a completely new genre, is born, or a we have a new style within the same genre which has incorporated new characteristics. It is not always easy though, to identify clearly whether a new dance expression is a new style or a new genre altogether. There are many dance genres that could be used as examples of this change in transmission, such as tango which has expanded from the working classes of Buenos Aires to the salons of Paris and the rest of the world. Below I will give though the examples of ballet and belly dance, both two dance genres that have their roots in a specific area of the world, but which have been adopted in many places worldwide. <br />Dance as a Form of International Cultural Heritage. - World Dance, Dance as a Form of International Cultural Heritage. - World Dance, Dance as a Form of International Cultural Heritage. - World Dance
