Dance is barely present in narrative studies. It is generally accepted as a narrative medium, yet lacks a systematic study that addresses its distinctive qualities. This article focuses on generic theoretical issues of dance as a narrative medium and discusses its place within current narratological debates. The first premise suggested here is that among the diferent manifestations of dance, narrative theatre dance is the fullest expression of narrativity, with a narrative essence that the notions of plot and experientiality help defining and grading. Taking the discussion through routes explored for drama, this essay also argues for a narratological model of the analysis of dance narratives on two levels: the story level and the discourse level understood as performance. Another set of considerations concentrate on the semiotic structure of dance, showing how it can be dissected in a productive way for narratological analyses. The essay ends with a discussion on the relevance of context and cultural conventions for the interpretation of dance. Underpinning these reflections are foundational studies of transmedial narratology, widely-used narratological definitions of narrative, and discussions of the narrative nature of drama as well as key texts from the history, philosophy and analysis of dance. Three examples of dance—John Weaver’s ballet The Loves of Mars and Venus (1717), Kenneth MacMillan’s The Invitation (1960), and Leonid Yakobson’s Vestris (1969)—illustrate this theoretical argumentation.

舞蹈在叙事研究中几乎不存在。它被普遍认为是一种叙事媒介，但缺乏系统的研究来探讨其独特的品质。本文重点关注舞蹈作为叙事媒介的一般理论问题，并讨论其在当前叙事学辩论中的地位。这里提出的第一个前提是，在舞蹈的不同表现形式中，叙事戏剧舞蹈是叙事性最充分的表达，其叙事本质是情节和体验性概念帮助定义和分级的。通过对戏剧探索的路径进行讨论，本文还提出了在两个层面上分析舞蹈叙事的叙事学模型：故事层面和被理解为表演的话语层面。另一组考虑集中在舞蹈的符号学结构上，展示了如何以有效的方式剖析舞蹈以进行叙事学分析。本文最后讨论了背景和文化习俗与舞蹈解释的相关性。支持这些反思的是跨媒体叙事学的基础研究、广泛使用的叙事学定义、戏剧叙事本质的讨论以及舞蹈历史、哲学和分析的关键文本。三个舞蹈例子——约翰·韦弗的芭蕾舞剧《火星与金星之恋》 (1717)、肯尼思·麦克米伦的《邀请》 (1960) 和列昂尼德·雅各布森的《维斯特里斯》 (1969)——说明了这一理论论证。