The Black Dancing Body: A Geography from Coon to Cool

What is the essence of "black" dance in America, and what is the black dancing body? To answer these question, Brenda Dixon Gottschild charts an unorthodox history by mapping the geography of the black dancing body and showing its central place in our culture. From feet to buttocks, hair, skin, face and beyond to soul and spirit, the author explores the endeavors, ordeals and triumphs of this body with some of the major dancers and choreographers of our time--Fernando Bujones, Brenda Bufalino, Trisha Brown, Garth Fagan, Rennie Harris, Bill T. Jones, Ralph Lemon, Susanne Linke, Meredith Monk and a cadre of their esteemed colleagues. Since race and color are usually taboo subjects in the dance world, what the author finds out is sure to cause controversy and turn heads. Written by one of the foremost American dance critics of our day, The Black Dancing Body is a key to the ineffable rhythms and movement of dance in America.

Author: B. Gottschild
Publisher: Palgrave MacMillan
Published: 09/16/2005
Pages: 332
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 1.05lbs
Size: 8.90h x 6.00w x 1.00d
ISBN13: 9781403971210
ISBN10: 1403971218
BISAC Categories:
- Performing Arts | Dance | General
- Social Science | Ethnic Studies | American | African American & Black Studies

About the Author
Brenda Dixon Gottschild is professor emerita of Dance Studies at Temple University and a former senior consultant/writer for Dance Magazine. She is the author of Digging the Africanist Presence in American Performance, Waltzing in the Dark, and The Black Dancing Body. Dixon Gottschild is the recipient of the 2013 Scholar Award from the International Association of Blacks in Dance.