Folk Dance and the Quest for Cultural Sustainability

In the context of sustainability, culture is a core area for addressing development issues. Based on the importance of culture and significant inheritance challenges in contemporary society, many scholars have researched and debated cultural sustainability by examining different aspects such as tangible and intangible cultural heritage. Within this discourse, folk dance plays a crucial role in cultural transmission through presentation of customs, costume, and music. These features that capture the aspects of folk dance, present crucial value in discussions of cultural sustainability. However, the exposition of folk dance and the concept of cultural sustainability continues to require contextual clarity and scrutiny. Therefore, this study adopted Arksey and O’Malley’s scoping review protocol to explore the definition and nexus between knowledge of folk dance and cultural sustainability. The research drew data from Scopus, ProQuest platform, Web of Science, and China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) in English and Chinese. Out of 12,797 articles, 72 articles were identified as relevant to the research question. A thematic analysis resulted in three main themes: (1) digitalization, (2) education and reform, and (3) inheritance, protection, and development. The results demonstrate differentiation in the positioning of cultural sustainability and folk dance and of the connections with similar terminologies such as “folkloric dance” and “cultural continuity.” Hence, this paper makes valuable contributions by unraveling the interplay of stakeholders in cultural sustainability and folk dance. Further, the paper suggests four sustainable directions for future studies, especially in developing evaluation and monitoring indicators.