Did she actually believe in choreographed conversation?

[Coffee Break]

Hello everyone. I encountered this expression, "Did she actually believe in choreographed conversation?", but am struggling to understand it. Could you please let me know what it means in the following sentences:

[Clara speaking] “Let’s talk of something else, can we?” She seemed mildly annoyed, bored, vexed.
[The protagonist speaking] “Like what?” I asked.
Did she actually believe in choreographed conversation?
[Clara speaking] “Why not talk about you.”
I shook my head to mean, You’re joking, right?
[Clara speaking] She shook her head to mean, Absolutely not joking. “Yes, that’s it,” she said, as she dismissed any possibility of hesitation on my part. “We’ll talk about you.”

- André Aciman, Eight White Nights, Second Night

This is a novel published in the United States of America in 2010. This novel is narrated by the nameless male protagonist. The protagonist meets Clara at a Christmas party in Manhattan. The night after the party, the protagonist meets Clara again at a bar. They start talking, and Clara asks him to talk about himself.

Here, I wonder what the underlined expression means.
What would "choreographed conversation" mean? And then, what would it mean that she "believes in" choreographed conversation, as if it were a religion...?

I would very much appreciate your help.

 

[emsr2d2]

Do you understand what "choreography" is?

 

[Coffee Break]

@emsr2d2,

Thank you very much for the comment.
Yes, I looked it up in the dictionary and found that it means the skill for combined dance performance, but I am still not sure what "believe in" "choreographed conversation" might mean, so I just wanted to ask you.

 

[emsr2d2]

If you "choreograph" a conversation, you plan/guide it, rather than letting conversation simply flow naturally.

 

[Coffee Break]

@emsr2d2,

Thank you very much for the explanation.
So "choreographed conversation" would mean "orchestrated/planned conversation" rather than a natural conversation!

In that case, in this context, would it mean that she believed (=believed in) that conversation can be choreographed/orchestrated (=choreographed conversation), because she seems to be inducing a conversation by throwing a question to talk about "something else", which might cause the other person to say "like what"...?

 

[emsr2d2]

You need to look up the meaning of "to believe in".

Here's a clue:
Do you believe in Santa Claus?
My cousin believes in fairies.
A lot of people believe in ghosts.

 

[Coffee Break]

@emsr2d2,

Thank you very much for the explanation.
I guess "believe in" here then might have this following meaning, which, I think, means "to be convinced of the existence of some abstract thing":

believe in

Definition of believe in in the Idioms Dictionary by The Free Dictionary

idioms.thefreedictionary.com

2. To be convinced of the existence of something.My little girls believe in unicorns, magic spells, all that fun stuff.She says she doesn't believe in ghosts, so send her into the haunted house.

So, just like one believes in religions, and unicorns, Clara here believes in choreographed conversations (is convinced of the existence of choreographed conversations), as if those conversations were a religion... This is my guess, though I am not very sure.

 

[jutfrank]

The sense of 'believe in' here is not really to do with existence, as it is with Santa Claus or fairies. It's really about having faith in the value of something.

 

[Tarheel]

It seems to me that a choreographed conversation would be one that follows a script.

 

[emsr2d2]

The sense of 'believe in' here is not really to do with existence, as it is with Santa Claus or fairies. It's really about having faith in the value of something.

Fair point. I really shouldn't post while I'm at work and not really reading everything properly! My example should have been something like "I know you can win this tournament. I believe in you!"

 

[Skrej]

I would say that a 'choreographed conversation' is one that follows a predictable pattern (aka 'small talk'). For example, you meet someone you don't know at a party, and people tend to ask the same basic questions - 'What's your name, what do you do, where are you from, are you married, do you have any kids, how do you know the host?', etc.

Then there's usually some comments about the weather, upcoming holiday/vacation/weekend plans, local sports team performance, current movies/tv shows, etc. If there's music playing or perhaps a band, you'll make observations about how good/bad the music/performers are, the food being served, whether or not the party's enjoyable, yada yada yada...

By asking "Like what?", he's expecting her to ask about one of these predictable and generally boring topics. We typically talk about these kinds of things to follow social etiquette and norms, not because we're truly interested in them. The hope is that it leads to a shared interest in something, and a more stimulating conversation.

 

[Coffee Break]

@jutfrank, @Tarheel, @emsr2d2, and @Skrej,

Thank you very much for the explanations!
So "believe in" here would mean that she trusts the value of those choreographed conversations, and "choreographed conversations" here would mean mechanic conversations over socially common topics, such as the personal information about oneself, or the weather, the current movie/TV shows, the party itself...

So the protagonist is expecting that she might bring up one of those common subjects by "like what". By asking "like what", what he thought inside his mind appears in "Did she actually believe in choreographed conversation", which means "Is it really that she values mechanic conversations on socially common topics, and she is about to lead me to those conversations?".

Now I think I grasped the point the speaker is making all thanks to you! I truly appreciate your help.

 

[Tarheel]

@Coffee Break Two things. One, I am not sure what you you mean by "mechanic conversation". (What comes to mind is a conversation with a mechanic, but I'm sure that's not what you intend.) Two, I think Skrej's explanation is particularly good, valuable, useful. (Take your pick.)