El patrimonio de la danza en Españagestión, espacios y proyectos para su conservación y puesta en valor

Abstract

This PhD thesis analyses the different types of preservation of Dance Heritage: both in its immaterial or intangible aspect and in its material, documentary or tangible aspect. The methodology used has been mainly qualitative: on one hand, devoting a large part of the thesis to the theoretical review of publications and analysis of laws and projects related to the different topics raised above. This review, together with the use of international and national databases, has guided the results found in the different sections of this study. On the other hand, the configuration of the questionnaire used for the study on the Dance Heritage Map has followed the methodology called "validation through expert judgement", with the collaboration of a total of six professionals related to the subject. The first part of the thesis aims to analyse the legislation, administrative declarations and projects developed at international level - within UNESCO - and mainly in Spain, at national and regional level, for the conservation of dance as intangible heritage. Thus, this analysis has shown the great wealth and diversity of dances existing in the different regions of the world and in Spain, as well as the disparity of data obtained in the Autonomous Communities regarding the number of declared dances and their specific protection within the heritage laws. This is followed by a study of the concept of tangible and documentary dance heritage and an outline of the main typologies and institutions that usually house dance-related objects and documentation, with international, national and regional examples. It also reflects on related issues such as cataloguing, copyright and the management and conservation of private collections, with a brief approximate study of the situation of various personal legacies of a selection of dancers, choreographers and teachers in the Region of Murcia. The analysis carried out in this chapter has confirmed the great typological variety and specificity of its tangible heritage, made up of both the different forms of documentary record and the material traces that a dance leaves, once it has been performed through its objects, costumes, etc. It has also been verified that there is a wide dispersion of documentary collections related to dance in institutions such as archives, libraries, museums and documentation centres, both internationally and nationally, with only a minority being fully specialised in dance. In addition, the Dance Heritage Map, drawn up by the CDAEM, has served as the basis for an approximate study of the institutions’ situation that house documentation related to dance in Spain, fulfilling one of the objectives of this thesis, in order to expand the information on their functions, collections and services. Likewise, in the Region of Murcia, an in-depth analysis is made of the collections conserved in some institutions, as well as the situation of the documentation generated in different scenic spaces. All of this pointed to museums and documentation centres as the best candidates for hosting documentation generated by dance. This also served as the basis for the proposal, put forward in the last chapter, for a Documentation Centre and Museum of the Performing Arts and Music for the Region of Murcia, in the absence of an institution of similar characteristics that could take on this function and thus promote its research, conservation and dissemination.