Synopses & Reviews
This ground-breaking work brings dance into current discussions of the African presence in American culture. Dixon Gottschild argues that the Africanist aesthetic has been invisibilized by the pervasive force of racism. This book provides evidence to correct and balance the record, investigating the Africanist presence as a conditioning factor in shaping American performance, onstage and in everyday life. She examines the Africanist presence in American dance forms particularly in George Balanchine's Americanized style of ballet, (post)modern dance, and blackface minstrelsy. Hip hop culture and rap are related to contemporary performance, showing how a disenfranchised culture affects the culture in power.
Review
Dr. Dixon Gottschild's voice is convincing because of her eclectic documentation and it is touching as well because of the human experiences the reader is drawn into within the related responses of her students, her colleagues, herself, and her antagonists. She is always clear about specific objectives, leaving tempting tangents, yet incorporating the thinking of scholars and learned others in multiple disciplines--definitely in a creole mode that is rich, colorful, and not easily discounted.Yvonne Daniel, Associate Professor of Dance Anthropology Smith College and the Five College Dance Consortium
Review
[E]xcellent work....[H]elps us understand the role of "stealin' steps" in the process of perpetuating the traditions of African American vernacular and choreographed dance and how stealing steps has obscured the importance of African American dance for all of American culture. Like all original and creative works,...Gottschild increase[s] our knowledge and provide[s] leads for other scholars to follow.American Quarterly
Review
Written with dynamism, passion, and perception on a subject of central importance to all of us, this powerful book makes us ponder issues we took for granted. It deserves a broad readership.Lawrence W. Levine, Margaret Byrne Professor of History, Emeritus University of California, Berkeley
Synopsis
This ground-breaking work brings dance into current discussions of the African presence in American culture.
About the Author
BRENDA DIXON GOTTSCHILD is Professor Emerita of Dance at Temple University.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Up from Under: The Africanist Presence
First Premises of an Africanist Aesthetic
Don't Take Away My Picasso: Cultural Borrowing and the Afro-Euro-American Triangle
Barefoot and Hot, Sneakered and Cool: Africanist Subtexts in Modern and Postmodern Dance
Stripping the Emperor: George Balanchine and the Americanization of Ballet
Past Imperfect: Performance, Power, and Politics on the Minstrel Stage
Dance and Theater in a Multicultural Context: Who Stole the Soul, Who Takes the "Rap," or Free To Be You and Me?
Illustrations
References
Index