Through the lens of whiteness as applied to White-body supremacy, this book examines the role racism played in shaping American dance from the late nineteenth century to the present. Thus, this book centralizes the actions of White dancers/choreographers/producers in the form of discriminatory ideologies and practices that were commonplace in American society. Underlying this argument is that the artistic sensibilities and dance/movement elements of Black, Brown, and Indigenous dancing bodies were appropriated by Whites and became the bedrock of American dance. The book includes numerous forms of dance and the many dance figures associated with them. It is written from an interdisciplinary perspective and is far-reaching in scope by casting light on other aspects of American society. To accomplish this reach, the project centers the American dancing body as a way of knowing and as a unique mode of inquiry. It also projects into a future that holds both problems and possibilities.
Chapter 1: Lost Streams in American Dance History.
Chapter 2:
Primitivist Appropriation and the Seeds of Modernism.
Chapter 3: Dancing the
Other is Concert Dance.-Chapter 4: Bodies Let Loose Social Dance, Social
Change.
Chapter 5: Queerness Dancing Bodies Pushing Back.
Chapter 6: Twenty
First Century Fusions and Frictions.
Chapter 7: Where Do We Dance from Here.
Julie Kerr-Berry is a Professor Emerita of Dance at Minnesota State University, Mankato, USA. There, she directed the Dance Program and later chaired its Department of Theatre & Dance. Julie is also Editor Emerita of the Journal of Dance Education. Her scholarly publications focus on the intersections of dance, race, history, and whiteness. She has received awards for her scholarship, leadership, and work relative to social justice and racial equity with the National Dance Education Organization. Her creative research has been featured in the American College Dance Associations Gala Concerts. Earlier in her career, she was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to study dance in Indonesia. This led to other international dance study and to the development of coursework for her students to study abroad. Julie holds advanced degrees from Temple Universitys Department of Dance in Philadelphia, PA.
