Dancing to Create Memory and Community

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While exploring the archives this week, my group and I were drawn to the vast collection of dance photos, invitations, and pamphlets. I was initially overwhelmed by the amount of physical content there was, and also somewhat surprised to find how central these dances seemed to be to the Kenyon experience. During most of the 1900s, community dances at Kenyon were considered a major social event for students. There were dances for each class year, as well as dances for other specific events. In sifting through the Reveille as well, we found yearbook photos documenting these large-scale community gatherings (see Figure 1). As seen in the picture below, the dances seemed like a genuine place to connect with peers and have fun in the shared space. I was drawn to the dance pictures, as all the faces are so animated, suggesting the joy derived from these events. The photos capture how individuals dressed up and engaged with the dances to the fullest extent. Even though the dances no longer have a place here at Kenyon, the tradition of them lasted almost 100 years, showing the importance they once had to the community. 

In “Texts, Bodies, and the Memory of Bloody Sunday”, Spillman and Conway argue that visceral sensations experienced in the body form memory, allowing the body to be a resource for collective memory. They introduce the embodiment thesis that differs from how ritualistic behavior with the body creates memory, as the embodiment thesis suggests events are felt and remembered through the body. Spillman and Conway use Bloody Sunday as an example to illustrate the body as a place for memories of hardships to reside. Individuals present at this massacre describe the emotional weight they felt in their bodies, and how those extreme bodily reactions allow them to remember the events of Bloody Sunday more vividly. One individual present in Northern Ireland during these traumatic events explains, “I don’t think I will ever forget the feeling in my stomach when I realized for the first time that they were using lead”. (Spillman & Conway, 85). Similar to the psychological idea of a flashbulb memory, where individuals remember extreme events more vividly, Spillman and Conway argue visceral reactions allow for memories to come flooding back. Thus, the body becomes a resource for memories, and the strong emotions attached to them. 

While sifting through the dance collection in the archives this week, I considered ideas from Spillman and Conway’s argument – thinking about how dances at Kenyon held importance to the community partially because of the strong, visceral feelings of happiness produced. Although my group and I didn’t find any official reports describing the direct feelings tied to these dances, from the pictures we can assume the feelings of joy that were experienced. Being connected to something larger than yourself likely produced some sort of visceral sensation of happiness and belonging. More specifically, from the photos the sense of excitement is clear, as the outfits, facial expressions, and body movements suggest this enthusiasm. From a Spillman and Conway perspective, the bodily reactions attached to these dances likely could transport individuals back to the emotions associated with them. In this example of Kenyon dances, the body becomes a vessel in allowing individuals to remember the dances more vividly and the feelings attached to them. 

In considering how important the dances were to the Kenyon community for so long, I am left trying to piece together what could have led them to stop happening all together. It is interesting to think about how something so central to the student life at Kenyon has no impact on the individuals here anymore. The process by which traditions slowly fade away is something I am eager to learn more about. Last week, when my group and I had the ability to see the collections displayed in the library now, I was surprised to discover that all the traditions documented in the student life box no longer exist. Through considering these ideas more thoughtfully and looking through collections from more recent years, I have concluded that possibly these shifts are more related to time, rather than the events itself. However, as previously stated, I am interested in how traditions that were associated with strong, visceral feelings of happiness and belonging, slowly became unimportant over time.


Figure 1, Reveille 1958  



Work Cited

Spillman, L., & Conway, B. (2007). Texts, Bodies, and the Memory of Bloody Sunday. Symbolic Interaction, 30(1), 79–103. https://doi.org/10.1525/si.2007.30.1.79.



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