本文透過當代都蘭阿美人歌舞的民族誌描述，試圖釐清歌舞作為當代阿美族社會文化中相當引人注目的一項行為表現，與其社會文化意涵的關聯性，且耙梳該關係過程中的意義。過去關於阿美族歌舞的研究，大多將其進行二元的區分，亦即神聖的與世俗性的歌舞，而研究的焦點多聚集在神聖性的祭儀性歌舞上。因此，過去的文獻多半指出阿美族歌舞的社會功能面向與文化特質的象徵。然而，本文試圖將當代阿美族歌舞視為一個整體現象，透過2003年到2005年間的田野資料，一方面從當代都蘭阿美人歌舞形式的角度，放在儀式與日常的面向中，比較其中的異同;另一方面則透過實際參與歌舞，感受其氛圍與經驗。由此，本文指出歌舞在當代都蘭阿美人的歌舞生活實踐中，再現了儀式生活與日常生活的連續性。而這些祭儀與日常歌舞生活的連續性，都蘭阿美人以makapahay的認知概念，作為框架與再框架其歌舞實踐的基準，{吏日常與儀式性的歌舞得以動態、地在時間與空間的流轉中，交錯出如同網狀(calay)般的景象，而這一網狀的歌舞實踐也由都蘭阿美人視為其文化代表性的展演。

Dance in the Amis village of A’tolan is prominent in both daily
life and ritual. This article argues that there is a continuity between ritual and
dance in everyday life. That continuity takes the form of dance in daily life
and ritual being described as “a beautiful web” (makapahay a calay), where
lends to any particular dance performance a cultural authenticity. The extent
literature on Amis dance cites the classification of dance into sacred versus
secular, but places more emphasis on sacred dance, and emphasizes the perspectives
of function and symbol in ritual dance as unique expressions of
Amis social and cultural life. The focus of this article is to give a balanced
account of both sacred and secular dance from the Japanese colonial era to
the present. My own ethnographic accounts date from 2003 through 2005.
Emphasis is given to descriptions of Amis dance in terms of its forms and
experiences across time and space as well as in terms of the alternate perspectives
of inside and outside of the village.