DEVSEKH AS A FOUNDATIONAL MOVEMENT OF MONGOLIAN DANCE: RITUAL STAMPING, BODILY TECHNIQUE, AND THE LIVING REPERTOIRE

This article examines the Mongolian traditional dance movement devsekh through its physical actions, spatial organization, and embodied rhythmic force as documented in historical and ritual sources. Focusing on recurrent actions—such as forceful stamping or pressing of the ground, circular motion, and forward-driven steps—the study analyzes how devsekh produces meaning through bodily contact with the earth, repetition, and collective synchronization. Descriptions from The Secret History of the Mongols and Rashid al-Din’s Compendium of Chronicles, together with references to “song dance with stamping feet” in Yuan dynasty poetry, reveal the movement’s continuity across ritual, pastoral life, military ceremony, and court culture. These sources demonstrate that devsekh is structured by downward force, rhythmic grounding, and spatial marking, leaving material traces on the ground and reproducible patterns within corporeal memory. Rather than approaching devsekh primarily as symbolic representation, the article positions it as a foundational movement practice through which Mongolian dance generates meaning via bodily exertion, rhythm, and spatial occupation.