THE GREAT ESCAPE : THE PHENOMENOLOGY OF GLOBAL DISCO CULTURE

Abstract

In the area of cultural studies, the field of dance has been sorely ignored, almost as if it were somehow unimportant, trivial; a waste of time. Consequently, few if any studies of the disco have been attempted; and the tendency is to treat it as some sort of deviant subculture. There is very little literature and few almost no framework of analysis available on this subject, thus I have attempted a study that is descriptive, and here I have taken great pains to do justice to the subject. More importantly, I have been mindful not to neglect the raison d'être of disco, which is the opportunity it affords for bodily expression through dance. By separating the experience into the Space, Sound and finally the activity of Dance itself, I hope to explicate the dynamics through which dance is able to offer release. Dance is thus the back-door through which I aim to investigate the area of the disco experience; its location within the context of space and sound and the direct link it offers to the tranced state, as the conjunction of elements that create a liminal space. I have thus conceptualised of the e-scape, the setting for this seemingly exotic yet most commonplace experience. In pursuing the idea of liminality to its fullest, I aim to trace the cycle of the trance experience to its ultimate end, the potential meanings and possible significance of the e-scape and most importantly, the idea of Escape in its truest form; in the most unexpected context.