Although currently pole dancing is growing in popularity due to its sport dimension, it seems that such a form of expression is still commonly associated with strip clubs and connotes above all the erotic performance of a woman in front of a male audience. And yet, as one can find by frequenting dance studios that teach pole dancing, it is practiced not only by women, but also by men and children. Thus keeping in mind the ambiguity that arises at the intersection of competing optics in decoding the pole dance—with regard to “perpetuate interpretation logic” and the everyday experience of people undertaking the activity—the aim of this paper is to reflect on the issue of constructing and interpreting the meanings of actions and processes within the context of pole dancing. These processes can be seen as a reflection of the everyday life in which they occur.

This article presents examples of the relationship between culture, dance, and the body in the fields of communication (with oneself, the community, God/deity), the social hierarchy, social values, relations between the individual and the group, and relations between genders, from the perspective of the sociology of the dance. The sociological perspective also indicates the various historical, ritual, control, and regulatory roles that traditional and modern dances play in the communities in which they arise and are performed. The second part of the text contains a case study of the Japanese ankoku butoh dance. The author presents the philosophical roots of the dance (e.g., Japanese mythology, Zen Buddhist philosophy) and the creator’s personal experiences (childhood trauma and post-war social situation) as factors that influenced the dance’s development. The example of ankoku butoh illustrates the interrelation between cultural meanings and dance movements.

Researching intersemiotic relationships between dance and literature poses a real challenge to both literary scholars and choreologists. Fascinating as it is, this aspect of the performative arts is exceptionally difficult to study due to the nonverbal nature of dance. However, once we assume that the two spheres of human expression are complementary, it should be possible to identify a number of intriguing interrelations between the two and to gain insight into a complex web of mutual inspiration and dependency. This article attempts to revisit some of the most important studies dealing with the representation of dance in fiction and the interpretation of dance as text. The list includes both Polish and foreign authors whose work could provide an inspiration and starting point for further research, including comparative studies.

Sandra Frydrysiak from the Institute of Humanities at the SWPS University in Warsaw talks about what dance teaches us about the human brain and the ways in which we experience the world around us.

This article looks at the allusions made by Austrian artists Birgit Jürgenssen and Assunta Abdel Azim Mohamed to the historical genres “Dance of Death” and “Death and the Maiden”. I examine in particular Jürgenssen’s series “Totentanz mit Mädchen” and “Untitled Polaroids” (also known as the “Death and the Maiden” polaroids). I raise the significance of her titles and argue that she is dancing with the genre, in effect with art history itself. Then I consider Mohamed, 43 years Jürgenssen’s junior. I propose her as an heir of Jürgenssen. I argue that one of the reasons both artists allude to the two traditional genres is in order for the work to address the nature of art itself.

This article discusses an unknown tradition from the Malay Archipelago, namely the island of Lombok. The article describes a spirit possession ceremony, as it was practised in East Lombok before being subject to a ban in 1984. It also explains the reasons for prohibition and explores a recent revival of the tradition. The discussion draws a parallel with similar traditions from late colonial Malaysia. Aside from similar functions as healing rites, the traditions many times use the same ceremonial equipment during the ceremonies and have identical symbols. This encourages us to look for connections between the Sasaks in Lombok and the Malays in Malaysia and Sumatra. The article suggests some direct connections between the two, but also takes indirect connections into consideration, for example, the rule of the Bugis-Makassarese people, who played an important role in both of these corners of the archipelago.

The Heptachor (Гептахор) studio was a leading early 20 ^th-century Russian modern dance school committed to a revival of the art of dance and the development of new forms of musical movement and new concepts of artistic creation. In the years 1914–1934, it was the centre of the Musical Movement dance school, experimenting with a wide range of artistic, educational and therapeutic practices. The aim of the article is, first, to present the history of the Heptachor studio on the basis of the recollections and memoirs of its co-founder Stephanida Rudneva, contemporary documents and archive materials, and, second, to analyze the typical creative process narratives included in those sources.