Placing Intangible Cultural Heritage

Despoina Karavia1, Andreas Georgopoulos2

Laboratory of Photogrammetry, School of Rural and Surveying Engineering National Technical University of Athens Athens, Greece 1 dkaravia@gmail.com, 2drag@central.ntua.gr
AbstractOver the last decades, the concept of Cultural Heritage has included Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH), mainly due to UNESCO's initiatives. ICH is in danger of disappearance or degradation due to globalization, immigration, urbanization etc. On the other hand, ICH is strongly related to the features of space. It is formed and developed in a specific location, which is influenced by the vicinity with other civilizations. Its topographic features (altitude, inclination, distance from sea or freshwater, climate etc.), their influence in everyday life and the natural raw materials present are determinant in the process of the ICH formation. It is very important to capture and analyze the various forms of ICH, in order to extract the latent human creativity hidden in them, while at the same time studying the influence of space on their evolution. Their capture should be done by implementing appropriate equipment, methods and archival formats in order to fully describe them and to ensure the preservation of the resulting digital archives. Nowadays, the evolution of technology provides flexible means towards this aim. Furthermore, Geographic Information Systems (GIS) are a tool to disseminate and manage spatial data and their relations to attributes, like the forms of ICH. They allow the correlation of data, the response to spatial queries and they can lucidly visualize the data. On one hand, a web GIS system, can designate and preserve ICH by presenting the digital records of its forms and by focusing on its relations to place. On the other hand, such a system can be implemented on a research level, by introducing the analysis of the ICH forms, in order to study the influence of the geographic and topographic features of space on their evolution and formation and to study similarities and relationships between ICH of different communities and cultures. This paper describes an integrated approach to the issues of digitization of ICH and the implementation of the analysis within a GIS environment. Its practical application requires large effort by a multidisciplinary scientific team. Index Termsintangible cultural heritage, geographic information systems, preservation of intangible cultural heritage, digitization

I. INTRODUCTION Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH), as stated in the Convention for the Safeguarding of ICH adopted by UNESCO in 2003 means "the practices, representations, expressions, knowledge, skills as well as the instruments, objects, artifacts and cultural spaces associated therewith that communities, groups and, in some cases, individuals recognize as part of their cultural heritage"[1]. The Convention introduces five domains of ICH:

oral traditions and expressions including language as a vehicle of the ICH performing arts (dance, music, theater) social practices, rituals and festive events knowledge and practices concerning nature and the universe traditional craftsmanship, meaning the skills and knowledge involved rather than the craft product itself The boundaries between those domains are extremely fluid and they often vary from community to community. However, the Convention sets the framework for identifying forms of ICH and the list of domains is intended to be inclusive rather than exclusive. ICH is closely related to Tangible CH (TCH), considering that it provides the skills, knowledge and worldview based on which TCH is created, that is to say that it is the idea behind the realization. TCH cannot be fully conceived and interpreted without the simultaneous study and comprehension of the related ICH. Moreover, ICH is strongly related to space. The forms of ICH take place within a specific location, which is not necessarily of architectural importance, and sometimes they cannot be conceived in another location, they would be out of place. In addition, the topographic and geographic features of space, like vicinity with other communities, altitude, inclination, longitude, latitude, distance from sea and freshwater etc., influence the formation of the ICH forms. Due to urbanization, industrialization, climate change, large scale immigration, mass tourism, armed conflicts, the influence of major religions and their effect to the environment, the raw materials and the social cohesion of a community, ICH is threatened by severe degradation, deterioration or disappearance. Considering that ICH is endangered, it is of great importance to capture, document and present the ICH forms as part of the process of their preservation and dissemination. On the other hand, taking into account the importance of ICH for the interpretation of TCH and its relations to space, it is necessary to capture and analyze the ICH forms in order to extract the latent human creativity hidden in them and to study the importance of the spatial features in the process of their evolution. Hence, it is necessary to suggest suitable digitization methods, equipment and standards as well as appropriate

analysis schemes for each of the ICH domains. Those data could ideally be processed and disseminated by a GIS (Geographic Information System) tool in order to relate ICH with the spatial features. This paper describes an integrated approach to the issues of digitization and analysis for three of the ICH domains and their implementation within a GIS environment. Those domains are Oral traditions, Dance and Music, as stated at the UNESCO's Convention, considering that they form a unity. This paper mainly consists of four parts. Firstly, the digitization and analysis specifications are discussed. Secondly, the approaches for the Oral Traditions domain, the Dance domain and the Music domain are described. Thirdly, the implementation of the GIS tool is described. Finally, some concluding remarks and issues for future works are presented. II. DIGITIZATION AND ANALYSIS SPECIFICATIONS The specifications for the digitization and analysis processes apply to all of the ICH domains. They define the specifications that should be satisfied by the methods of digitization and analysis for each of the ICH domains proposed below. Digitization methods and equipment should: Totally capture the ICH form, meaning that they should capture the elements that totally describe each form. Produce data appropriate for future, unforeseen use, considering that ICH is in danger of disappearance or degradation and that the concern for ICH nowadays is little. Be appropriate for the analysis step, meaning that they should offer the input data for the analysis step below. Collect the necessary metadata, i.e. the data for the data. The archival format should [2]: Offer lossless compression, which allows the file to be rebuilt in its original format, without any loss of data. Be open standard. An open standard is a specification whose description is freely available. An open standard archival format has best chances of being intelligible in the future. Be transparent. A transparent file can be accessed without recourse to special algorithms. Be supported by multiple vendors. These file formats have better chances of being accessible in the future. The archival formats should satisfy the specifications stated above in order to ensure the long-term access and preservation of digital recordings. The analysis scheme for each of the ICH domains should: Identify the latent human creativity, sentiment and spirit hidden in every ICH form. Extract and codify them in a computer readable format in order to be processed. Be cross-cultural. The analysis scheme should be able to describe and analyze every possible form of a specific ICH domain for every culture in the world.

III. ORAL TRADITIONS Oral traditions, as defined in the Convention, include all the forms of oral expression that a community recognizes as part of its tradition. Such forms are proverbs, riddles, tales, poems, legends, myths, epic poems and songs, lullabies, chants, prayers, hymns, charms, dramatic performances and more. A. Digitization Traditionally, digitization of oral traditions is done by audio capture. However, this method does not provide complete records, since they are not accompanied by visual information, which plays an important role in the interpretation of oral traditions. Therefore, audio capture should be accompanied by images that play an explanatory role. For example, an image can represent an object that participates in the performance or the location of the performance. Nevertheless, video capture provides the most complete record of the forms of oral traditions, since the performance, the location, the conditions during the performance, the objects participating, the costumes and other details are presented. According to the Technical Guidelines of MINERVA project [3], when creating an image the color depth should be at least 24 bit (8 bit/color RGB) and the minimum resolution 40642704 (11 Megapixel). When creating an audio file the bit depth should be 24 bit stereo sound and the sampling rate 48 or 96 KHz. When creating a video file, for the image, the sampling rate should be, at least, 25 frames/sec and the color depth 24 bit, for the sound 48 or 96 KHz and 24 bit depth. The digital video camera should be a 3-CCD camera, rather than 1CCD, in order to provide better resolution. The archival formats should satisfy the specifications stated in Section II. MINERVA suggests appropriate storage formats for different file formats. Images should be stored as TIFF files; audio should be stored as an uncompressed WAV; video should be stored using uncompressed RAW AVI format without the use of any codec. Thus, those storage patterns are suitable for storing raw data, which need to be of high quality. However, they are not suitable for screening and transferring via Internet, because of their large file size. In these applications JPEG, MP3, MPEG-4 standards, that compress files, are used in order to be presented and transferred over networks with limited bandwidth. B. Analysis Scheme The Analysis Scheme of Oral Traditions is focused on the content of the forms of Oral Traditions. It should be a widely accepted and comprehensive system in order to analyze and compare forms of Oral Traditions cross-culturally. Such a system is the Motif-Index of Folk Literature by Stith Thompson [4], which is a global, comprehensive system of classification of every narrative genre, aiming to the codification of narrative forms. The index is very inclusive and contains motifs from Europe, Middle East, India, Far East, Oceania, Africa, and South America based on a huge bibliography. In order to classify the traditional narrative material it must be by means of classification of single motifs i.e. basic

elements that compose narratives. Motifs are these simple elements which can form a common basis for a systematic arrangement of the whole body of traditional literature. It is divided into 23 Chapters which handle motifs of the same theme. The Chapters progress from the mythological and supernatural towards the realistic. Every chapter is arranged in grand divisions, to which is assigned a hundred (or some multiple) numbers. In a similar manner, within the grand division the arrangement is by tens or groups of tens. Every ten is divided in numbers that are used for specific aspects. Thus, for example the code A901.1 means "Topographical changes or landmarks due to battle between gods". This codification is computer readable and workable and facilitates the process by the GIS tool. The Analysis Scheme is completed by other features of the performance as well, like: Type of oral tradition, like myth, legend, hymn, tale, epic poem etc. Duration Life period on which it refers: Oral traditions mainly refer to a life period i.e. birth, adulthood, marriage and death. Time of performance: Some forms of oral tradition take place in specific periods of the year like spring, winter, a period of harvest or drought, the full moon etc. Location of performance: The forms of oral traditions are related to the locations in which they take place. They are even recognized as cultural spaces from the Convention. The location is influenced by the occupations of the traditional society and can be a temple, a plaza, the countryside etc. Performer: It is possible that there are social rules that determine the features of the performer for each form of oral traditions of a community. The performer can be: only men or women, only elderly or young, special populations etc. Number of performers Audience: Similar to prior, the audience of a performance may not be all the community members, but only a part of it. Objects participating: It is possible that various objects, that have significance for the oral tradition, participate in the performance, like a totem, a sculpture, clothes etc. IV. DANCE As defined in UNESCO's Convention "dance may be described as ordered bodily movements, usually performed to music. Apart from its physical aspect, the rhythmic movements, steps and gestures, dance often express a sentiment or mood or illustrate a specific event or daily act, such as religious dances and those representing hunting, warfare or sexual activity." A. Digitization

Dance steps and gestures have been written down since Renaissance through dance notation. Dance notation is the transcription of three-dimensional movement to twodimensional paper, using symbols. There have been developed many dance notation systems like Beauchamp-Feuillet, EshkolWachman, Benesh etc. However, in the context of intangible cultural heritage, Labanotation is the best applicable dance notation. It was developed by Rudolf Laban in 1928 and is, in fact, an alphabet based on which every movement is translated to symbols [5]. Labanotation is not connected to a specific dance style and it is applicable to all forms of movement. Therefore, it is suitable for the transcription of all traditional dance styles, making able the comparison of different cultures. Over 1300 traditional, classical, religious and recreational dances from many cultures have already been notated using Labanotation and they are stored at DNB library [6].

Fig. 1. Labanotation

Labanotation consists of a three-line staff which represents the body; the shape of the symbol represents the type and direction of the movement; the shading represents the level of the movement; the length indicates the duration and the placement in the staff indicates which body part is moving. A Labanotation score is presented in Figure 1. Video, as a means of digitization of dance, produces twodimensional records that do not capture depth, which is very important for the complete description of a dance. Moreover, the record is not complete due to overlapping or point of view. A 3D capture by implementing photogrammetric methods, would offer precise depth information and complete 3D records of traditional dances. Motion capture systems (mocap) record coordinates of various body points in time. Those points compose the skeleton of an iconic dancer and reconstruct dance in a virtual environment. Mocap systems offer 3D dance, but in a virtual environment which is of little importance for the interpretation of the performance conditions. However, they offer input data, i.e. coordinates for body points, for the analysis step described below . There are various motion capture systems like electromechanical systems, electromagnetic systems, inertial systems and optical systems. Taking into account that they should offer the input data for the analysis step below, mocap should produce accurate 3D coordinates of body points, should not be intrusive in movement and human reaction and should produce data with low computational effort.

Marker-based optical mocap surpasses other mocap systems according to those needs. There are passive and active marker-based systems. Passive markers are coated by a reflective material, which reflects infrared light that is emitted by a transmitter next to the camera. Camera can be adjusted in order to capture only light emitted from markers, ignoring other emission from the skin, clothes etc. Active markers emit their own infrared light. Every marker emits modulated signal, which has a unique identity, in order to be detected, identified and labeled, i.e. assigned to a body point. Active markers facilitate the process of their recognition in different images; hence, the calculation of 3D coordinates. From the other hand, the track of passive markers is based on their unique relevant position. In addition, passive markerbased systems produce data that require more processing and cleaning. B. Analysis Scheme Dance analysis consists of Laban Movement Analysis (LMA) which is developed by Rudolf Laban and evolved by Lisa Ullmann, Irmgard Bartenieff and Warren Lamb. LMA is a method trying to describe, disseminate and interpret every possible movement. It is an interdisciplinary approach that incorporates anatomy, kinesiology, psychology, geometry etc. Dance, being a sum of organized body moves, is the main field of application of LMA. Dance is more than steps and gestures; it expresses feelings, mood and spirit. Hence LMA tries to extract this information. LMA intends to analyze dance beyond steps, based to those elements that, according to Laban, lead to a deeper level of analysis. It consists of four categories: Body, Space, Shape, and Effort. Body deals with movement initiation, i.e. from which body part begins the movement, with movement sequence between different body parts and with the neuromuscular patterns, i.e. how the body is organized and how different body parts are connected. Space analyzes the direction of the movement and the sphere in which the body moves, the Kinesphere. Laban defined Kinesphere as the space which can be reached by easily extended limbs [7]. A Kinesphere can be one of the Platonic solids (tetrahedron, cube, octahedron, dodecahedron, icosahedrons). A Kinesphere can be Far Reach, i.e. when a large area is used, Mid Reach, i.e. when the area used is equal to the distance shoulder-elbow, and Near Reach Kinesphere, i.e. when the area used is very close to the torso. Space also includes space intention, i.e. the direction to which the movement points. Shape refers to the shape of the dancer's body and the way in which this changes in space. The basic shape forms a body can get, according to LMA, are pin, wall, ball, screw and pyramid. Shape qualities describe the way that the shape of the body is changing and can be described qualitatively by those specific terms: sinking, rising, advancing, retreating, spreading, enclosing, depending on the axis and the direction of the shape change. Effort is probably the most important of the LMA categories because it describes the dynamics and the inner

intention of a movement. For example, punching and reaching a glass is the same movement in terms of body organization. However, the inner intention of the movement, i.e. the strength, the control and the timing of the movements are very different. Effort consists of four categories, with two opposite polarities and a neutral each one, as shown in Table 1. Each movement is characterized by one polarity for each effort category, which represents its inner intention.
Effort category Time Space Weight Flow Polarities
Sustained Indirect Light Free Sudden Direct Strong Bound

Table 1. Effort categories and polarities

C. Segmentation In order to ascribe the qualities of LMA in a dance, it is necessary to divide it in segments. Each segment will be assigned by the LMA qualities of each category. One method of segmentation that uses mocap data is proposed in [8]. According to this method, body consists of 22 physical parts able to perform independent movements. Those body parts can be classified hierarchically, meaning that body consists of upper and lower body. Upper body consists of right arm, left arm and head-torso. Right arm consists of wrist, forearm and upper arm etc. Key property of the hierarchical classification is that movements of upper levels are inherited in lower levels. On the other hand, the movement of an upper level is the sum of the movement vectors of the lower level body parts. In this segmentation method mechanical and inertial parameters are used, i.e. velocity, acceleration and mass of every body part of the lower level. Based on these data and the hierarchical classification, the Sum F of the whole body is calculated. The borders of the segments are the local minima of F of the whole body. However, this segmentation method is not suitable for all the LMA subcategories. Kinesphere alters every time that the center of gravity is shifted. Shape qualities alter during center of gravity displacements. Hence, segmentation should be done when shift of the center of gravity is observed. In order to reduce the very large number of movement segments and exempt micromotions, minor shifts and noise, a threshold can be applied, i.e. a minimum measure of the displacement vector for which a movement is defined. D. Computational LMA In order to compute LMA features for every segment based on data produced by mocap systems, special algorithms should be developed. Those systems need to completely comprehend and follow the definitions of every LMA subcategory and assign a subcategory quality to each movement segment. Many related works have been carried out like [9], [10], [11], mainly towards the Effort category. The extraction of Effort qualities are focused on human-machine interaction. However, in the framework of ICH, the development of a

complete algorithm is necessary in order to study the influence of spatial features in the formation of dance cross-culturally. Having analyzed the movement, the Analysis Scheme is completed with other information for the performance and the social dimension of dance [12]: Location of performance: Once again, the location in which a performance takes place forms the conceptual frame for its interpretation. Time of performance Social function of performance: Each dance has a function within the social frame on which is held. For example, a dance can be recreational, religious, cleansing etc. Dancer Number of dancers Dance duration Objects participating: Objects that are important for the performance may be clothes, a kerchief, a glass etc. Music accompaniment V. MUSIC This study is deals with Traditional Music, which in spite of the two-century study, does not own a widely acceptable definition [13]. However, one could say that Traditional Music is transmitted orally from generation to generation, it is an anonymous creation and it is related to oral tradition, dance and artifacts, i.e. musical instruments. Despite those common features of universal Traditional Music, it is, actually, a form of communication and perception which differs among cultures. Notes, intervals and scales differ from community to community, making global approach to music very difficult. However, western music has dominated over the other music traditions, often causing deterioration or degradation. In this study there is an approach for the global use of methods of digitization and analysis applying to all music cultures and respecting their specificities. A. Digitization Music notation is very important to the process of music capture; it allows the writing down of a composition in such a sophisticated level that oral tradition does not permit. However, every musical system uses different notation that satisfies its needs, making the global use of a single notation system impossible. Hence, audio and video recordings are necessary for the complete description of every form of the traditional music. It is worth mentioning that audio capture through MIDI protocol is not appropriate for the digitization of traditional music, taking into account that it is orientated towards western music. The digitization and equipment specifications are the same as stated in Section III. B. Analysis Scheme As mentioned above, it is very difficult to implement a single analysis scheme for the analysis of every musical system, due to different notes, intervals and scales used. However, in order to analyze and compare different traditional

music, it is necessary to implement a comprehensive analysis scheme. Such a Scheme is Cantocore [15], which takes its lead from the updated version of Cantometrics of Alan Lomax [14]. Cantometrics is the first well-established classification scheme, which classifies songs according to 37 acoustic characters related to their structure, performance style and instrumental accompaniment. Cantocore focuses only on characters of songstructure rather than performance style or instrumentation, which are supposed to be objective. Cantocore focuses on the core characteristics of song and consists of 26 structural characteristics that are organized according to note and supra note domains, shown in Figure 2. The note level consists of three characteristics: 1) rhythm, reflecting the relative duration of a note; 2) pitch, reflecting the acoustic frequency of a note; and 3) syllable, reflecting the articulatory configuration of a sung note. The supra-note domain consists of interactions between notes, as organized into three broad hierarchical domains: 1) phrase, representing the between-note level within individual vocal parts, 2) texture, representing the between-part level, in which simultaneous phrases in different vocal parts overlap in time, and 3) form, representing the between-phrase level, where successive phrases combine to form larger melodic units [15].

Fig. 2. The Cantocore Analysis Scheme [15]

Cantocore is designed for classifying vocal music. Nevertheless, it could be used for classifying instrumental music, taking into account the additional constraints on sound production and intonation that are introduced y different instrument types [15].

The Analysis Scheme includes other features related to the performance and its social role that are very important for the ethnological study and the comparison between different cultures: Location of performance Time of performance Musician: Every community may have constraints on the genre, age or capacity of the musicians Audience: Similar to prior, the audience of a performance may be member of the community with special features. Function: Music may be religious or secular, a march or a lullaby etc. Dance accompaniment: It is often common that music is accompanied by dance. Instruments that participate to the performance: The instrument classification applied is the HornbostelSachs Classification [16]. This system was first published in 1914 with a revised English translation in 1961 and it is the most widely accepted and comprehensive system of musical instrument classification used by organologists and ethnomusicologists. It is based on how an instrument vibrates to produce sound. The original HornbostelSachs system classifies instruments into four main categories: Idiophones: Instruments that produce sound by vibrating themselves; Membranophones: Instruments that produce sound by a vibrating membrane; Chordophones: Instruments that produce sound by vibrating strings; Aerophones: Instruments that produce sound by vibrating columns of air; Electrophones: Instruments that produce sound electronically. This category was added in 1940. VI. GIS IMPLEMENTATION The rapid development of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) has enabled, among others, the management and processing of huge amount of data. One tool to handle spatial information, i.e. information related to space is, of course, Geographic Information Systems (GIS). Such a system is a piece of software which is able to relate any kind of data to their geographic location. Moreover, these systems are able to rapidly identify interrelations among the data and their placement in space, as they actually consist of a data repository, i.e. a data base, and a series of carefully selected data management routines. Consequently, in order to interrelate ICH with space and place it in its location, the implementation of a GIS tool is ideal. By inputting the digital archives, the analysis scheme and other information of any ICH form and by relating it cleverly with related ICH domains and specific locations, it becomes possible to study the influence of spatial features in the ICH

formation -and vice versa of course-, by asking suitably developed queries to the system. The first step towards the design of a spatial database, based on the problem described above, is the conceptual model design. The representation of the conceptual model is made with the Entity-Relationship Model (E-R Model), which assembles all required attributes of an ideal model, as expressiveness, simplicity and formality, while, at the same time, it models the absolutely essential concepts and provides the possibility for graphic representation of the natural world in the formal word of entities and relations between them, named interrelationships [17]. In other words is the right tool for identifying the relationships among the data and implementing the suitable processing for getting the desired answers, usually in the form of new processed data. The conceptual model of the Dance domain is extensively described in this paper as a sample for the conceptual models of all the ICH domains described above. Each phase of the approach is faced and represented as a separate subset, which is related to the others through the Dance entity. Hence, the Dance E-R Model is divided into 4 subsets: Digitization, Analysis, Other information and Relation to other Conceptual Models, as shown in Figure 3.

Fig. 3. The Subsets

A. Digitization Subset As described in Section IV, each dance can be captured in notation, video and mocap (motion capture). The database is designed to assign more than one digitization to each record in order to allow the comparison of different records by different notators, equipment and notation periods.

Fig. 4. The Digitization Subset E-R- Model

B. Analysis Subset Each dance is divided into segments according to two different segmentation methods, described in Section IV. Each segment belongs only to one dance; hence the cardinality of this interrelationship is 1:N. Each segment has a starting moment and an ending moment in time. The duration of the segment is a derived attribute, calculated from the starting and ending moments. The LMA qualities are assigned to the segments according to their segmentation method, as described in Section IV. However, it is not useful to assign LMA qualities to segments of a dance. Hence, derived attributes should be produced for every LMA quality for the whole duration of the dance. The production of the LMA attributes could follow different methodologies; for instance it could be based on the multitude or the duration of each quality during the dance.

Fig. 6. The Other Information Subset E-R- Model

D. Relation to other conceptual models Subset Each dance takes place only in one location, but in each location several other dances are also performed. A location has some geographic attributes like altitude, longitude, latitude, inclination, climatic features etc. The study of the influence of spatial features in the formation of ICH will be performed taking those features into account. Location introduces a whole new conceptual model to the system. On the other hand, dance is normally accompanied by music. In fact, music influences dance and vice versa. Hence, it is necessary to relate dance to its accompanying music. It is possible that a dance is accompanied by one or more music accompaniment and a music record may accompany different dance records. Hence, the cardinality of this interrelationship is N:M. Music, as another ICH domain, has its own conceptual model.
Fig. 5. The Analysis Subset E-R- Model

C. Other information Subset A dance to be completely described and analyzed needs to be accompanied by other information, like those stated in Section IV. Some of that information is attributed of the entity Dance: name, number of dancers, description and duration. However, other information should be dynamic, i.e. the possible values of the attribute are unknown and they will be filled dynamically by the user. In order to provide this ability to the system, those attributes are converted to entities. To make the system flexible and adaptable to every possible situation the cardinality of those interrelationships is N: M.

Fig. 7. The Relation to other conceptual models Subset E-R- Model

Similar E-R Models are designed for Oral Traditions and Music. Those E-R Models are interrelated through Location. This interrelation can disseminate relations between ICH and Space and between different domains, like Oral Traditions, Dance and Music.

VII. CONCLUSION AND FUTURE WORK To conclude, ICH is equally important to TCH and constitutes an integral part of it. In fact its interpretation is very important for the interpretation of TCH. ICH, on the other hand, is in danger of severe degradation, deterioration or even disappearance. This creates a pressing need for digitization and preservation initiatives. On the other hand, spatial features influence the formation and evolution of ICH forms, making the formulation of analysis specifications necessary in order to study this influence and take actions towards preservation. This approach to ICH imposes the application and exploitation of new technologies, calls for interdisciplinary work and provides new means for documenting, archiving and digitally preserving Intangible Cultural Heritage. Finally, there are, of course, some IPR issues that should be investigated. Those issues concern not only performers and dancers of the records, but also communities and their members. The rights of a community on its ICH should be respected and protected. Such actions as those described above could also lead to alternative uses, other than the preservation of ICH, which is of utmost importance. Such uses include education, information dissemination and, last but not least, the studies itself of an ICH form. The comparison of dances in different areas of the world could be possible and this could easily lead to conclusions concerning the migration schemes, or the influence of neighboring communities to each other, or even the influence of geographic attributes to the evolution of the mankind

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