| The focus of this study is the evolution of dance in the Peruvian Andes from 3500 B.C. to the present. The purpose is to identify and examine the various functions that dance has served through time. With the aid of a sociological model for the study of dance, the author interprets the role of dance in maintaining Peruvian societies.;Four main sections comprise the thesis: Ecology and Prehistory of the Peruvian Sierra, Pre-Columbian Dance, Dance in the Colonial Period, and Dance in Contemporary Context.;The central finding of the study is that dance has functioned as an adaptive or coping mechanism, enabling Andeans to adjust to a variety of threatening forces--from powerful supernaturals to Inca rulers, from Spanish conquerors to contemporary forces of modernization. |
