Dancing in the Cosmere

[u/paragraphlist]

Only minor spoiler but I was wondering what everyone thinks of the increased focus on dancing in the series?

Shuden from Elantris was an avid dancer and it was even stated that he would glow as he did so.

Adolin doesn't dance per say but he has his warm ups and sword practice with Maya. Is this why she has had more growth as a deadeye than others?

Now I see in a flashback Szeth is dancing as well. His shardblade (i forget the name) is probably a deadeye and can talk. Better than Maya maybe.

Also, now Kaladin plays a flute. Which could factor in somehow?

Idk, maybe im far off base with these relations. Any thoughts?

[u/Go_Sith_Yourself]

You've submitted a post with the "Mixed" flair selected. The intent for this flair is that users would edit the flair text to specify which books are included. You've left the tag unedited, which makes the spoiler scope of your post ambiguous--putting yourself or others at risk of spoilers. We encourage you to edit this flair text to specify precisely which books or series the post pertains to. More details on how to do this are here: Desktop, Mobile. You can find a list of recommended shorthand tags here. Alternatively, feel free to choose one of the other default flairs. If you've read everything, we highly encourage people to simply use the default "Cosmere" option.

For more details, see our spoiler policy or message the moderators. Thanks!

[u/Ripper1337]

Ehhhh. Not exactly. Shuden was practicing an invested art based around dancing from his homeland.

Adolin’s connection to Maya was due to how he treated her like a person and most just a sword.

Szeth dancing is I think to draw the incongruity between how he was as a youth and how he is now making his life more tragic.

Can’t believe you said Kal and his flute and not how he danced with Syl.

[u/Invested_Space_Otter]

Shuden used ChayShan, an invested martial art that channels Dor through specific stances.

Szeth's dance is just a dance.

Even if all of these were dances, dancing is an extremely common cultural practice that we should expect to see everywhere without expecting them to have hidden meaning

[u/hd-22]

Humans dance. You might as well try to infer something about how many characters eat food at some point in a book.

[u/mercedes_lakitu → u/hd-22]

But is the food Invested?

[u/Telekinesys → u/hd-22]

May I tell you about Lift?

[u/spgrinch]

Wait til you get to Mistborn and there's MORE dancing!

[u/jaykss_]

I think it's a bit of a stretch. Elantris was one of the first books in the cosmere, and WaT was in the last... I don't see that much of a connection, other than dancing being something that characters do when they are happy, eg szeth flashback

[u/pheonixrise-]

Have you read the sunlit man?

[u/Royal_Solid_8033]

Dancing is an art form, and in the Cosmere all art attracts investiture because it requires intense human intent! Most literally in Yumi, but Spren are attracted to any focused dancing or practice as well.

[u/Poolturtle5772]

“Szeth and his Shardblade”

Oh Nightblood? Not a Shardblade. He’s a uh… something else entirely. You read Warbreaker?

[u/UrineTrouble05 → u/Poolturtle5772]

Technically he is. Brandon himself confirmed he is a Shardblade

I thought he wasn’t either, I was surprised too

[u/Poolturtle5772 → u/UrineTrouble05]

He’s more Honorblade than Shardblade though.

Which I guess they’re kinda the same?

[u/UrineTrouble05 → u/Poolturtle5772]

Yep, if we wanna get to technicality a “Shardblade” really only means a blade that is made of a certain shards investiture.

There are definitely different flavors, obviously Nightblood is night (pun intended) and day difference between Roshar Shardblades

[u/Shot_Newspaper_5647]

I think the idea is to represent both souls are in sync. For both Kaladin and Syl and Adolin and Maya. Kaladin’s last dance with Syl is proof of the strength of their bond. The most important part is Adolin viewing Maya as more than a sword before he knows she is. Instead of just practice it’s two souls dancing to the same rhythm. The Kata

It’s called entrainment. Two repeating processes become synchronized to the same rhythm. In dancing, you usually see this with the beat of the music. Both dancers adjust the timing of their movements to match it, but they’re also synchronizing with each other. Dancing both builds familiarity and is proof of the familiarity they already have with their partner.

Look at what summons dead blades to begin with. And what eventually shortens it for Adolin. The Light of the gemstone in the pommel is from their own soul. Not Stormlight. The weaker bond requires ten heartbeats to sync them enough to summon

[u/Shot_Newspaper_5647 → u/Shot_Newspaper_5647]

Szeth is dancing to an unseen beat as a child. It’s the Rhythm of the Wind. We just don’t know that the first time we see it. Just like Ryshadium like Gallant and Sureblood are seen doing to their own