For a Sociology of the Archetype: Art, Rites and Rhythms

Based on the hypothesis that the Jungian definition of the archetype can be expressed in such a way as to be inscribed within an empirical horizon, this article seeks to highlight the relationship between the archetypal dimension and the artistic sphere. The aim is to emphasize the phenomenon of the elaboration of archetypes, of their translation into formulae defined as “historical” by Carl Gustav Jung, which in the present work coincide with certain formulae of the Terpsichorean art. The creative parabola of dance movements translates the unlimited archetypal virtuality into actualizations unfolding in time, realizing imaginative productions that reflect specific junctures of the sociomorphic manifestation of the body. From its original core, which coincides with the dithyrambic chorus, Western dance unfolds in the composition of choreographic structures that animate techno-aesthetic digital scenarios. An attempt will be made to observe how, in the mathematized spaces of computer descriptions, a reiterated, even if perpetually re-functionalized, primordial rituality is staged. Through these rituals, the ancestral memory of the collectivity attributes meaning to the rhythm of contemporary spectacularity.