Interpreting Ritual As Performance and Theory Association for Social Anthropology in Oceania 2010 Distinguished Lecture (Report‪)‬

INTRODUCTION Invitation to address the Association for Social Anthropology in Oceania (ASAO) offered the opportunity to look back at my ongoing research on ritual and its association with structured movement systems and dance. (1) I have re-searched my fieldwork that has taken me to four different parts of the world, and I present four short case studies (from Hawaii, Tonga, Bulgaria, and India) concluding with remarks on the study of ritual, this, a slippery concept that needs further research and updating. I am interested in the relationships between dance and ritual and especially in how dances are presented today and what they are said to represent from the ritual past.