Le concept d’improvisation revisité par l’anthropologie: Ethnographie des danses sénégalaises

Reflecting on the dialogue between dance studies and the anthropology of dance, this article aims to reveal the effects of colonial thought in the selection of research objects. It offers a critical examination of the Eurocentric biases embedded in certain key concepts within dance studies—particularly the concept of improvisation. The article briefly outlines theoretical approaches to improvisation and highlights a debate that oscillates between viewing improvisation as a vehicle for emancipation and, conversely, as a constraining structure. Drawing on ethnographic research conducted within creative processes in Switzerland, it argues that the prevailing notion of improvisation corresponds specifically to a Western project. What insights can be gained by examining how improvisation is approached in other cultural contexts? By comparing improvisational practices in the Global North (France, Switzerland) and the Global South (Senegal), the author demonstrates that the pursuit of novelty is not necessarily central to all dance traditions, thereby challenging universalist assumptions within dance studies.