The Black Dancing Body: A Geography From Coon to Cool

by Brenda Dixon Gottschild

What is the essence of black dance in America? To answer that question, Brenda Dixon Gottschild maps an unorthodox 'geography', the geography of the black dancing body, to show the central place black dance has in American culture. From the feet to the butt, to hair to skin/face, and beyond to the soul/spirit, Brenda Dixon Gottschild talks to some of the greatest choreographers of our day including Garth Fagan, Francesca Harper, Meredith Monk, Brenda Buffalino, Doug Elkins, Ralph Lemon, Fernando Bujones, Bill T. Jones, Trisha Brown, Jawole Zollar, Bebe Miller, Sean Curran and Shelly Washington to look at the evolution of black dance and it's importance to American culture. This is a groundbreaking piece of work by one of the foremost African-American dance critics of our day.

Genres: Race, Nonfiction, Cultural Studies

349 pages, Paperback

First published October 6, 2003

Reviews

[Kimber · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic exploration of how the dance world deals with race.

[ABAgail · Rating 5 out of 5]

I truly enjoyed this book and the manner in which the author presented the information. It's amazing how so much has changed, yet stayed the same.

[Oyceter · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very good exploration of racism in the field of modern dance. Dixon Gottschild explores what she terms the Europeanist and the Africanist dance traditions, contrasting Europeanist focus on uprightness and Africanist focus on different body parts doing different things.

She generally avoids cultural monoliths and notes multiple times that Europeanist and Africanist dance are cultures that can be learned by black or white bodies. I also liked how she looks at how parts of the black body have been characterized throughout history, from hair to butt to feet, and her look at various dances that reclaim these body parts.

I was a little more doubtful of the soul/spirit section, which verges a little on cultural monolith for me, but that may be because I have no background knowledge. It was also difficult because it's so hard to describe soul/spirit in dance (or music, as it were); some of my problems may stem from not being able to see the dance that she's describing. I also found the soul/spirit section to be disappointingly Christian-centric, though Dixon Gottschild does put it a bit in context by mentioned slavery and forced conversation.

All in all, highly recommended. I'm just sad it doesn't come with a DVD, but that's not the book's fault at all.

Full review: http://oyceter.livejournal.com/659440...

[Kennedy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gottschild’s approach to her subject matter can be analogous to turning on the microphone while someone is whispering. She is bold with exposing truth. Her suppositions are substantiated by historical research, personal experiences, and expert testimonies. Gottschild takes an in depth look beyond the aestheticisms of the black dancing body, but also the Africanist influences on most contemporary American dance. Her time-geographical journey travels from the pride of the African coast to the staged denigration of minstrel slapstick movement. It encompasses the assimilation of African culture in contemporary American dance to the point of homogeny.

[Lisa Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book will change the way you view dance. Gottschild is an amazing dance artist and academic. Her insights into what it means to be a black dancing body are astounding! Every dancer should read this book!!

[Stephanie]

Started off great! Then it washed away in a hurricane. Maybe I'll finish it someday...

[sarah kate]

read parts for dance history research paper

[Lee Ann · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was really interesting and gave a wonderful perspective/compare and contrast to Africanist dance and movement forms vs. Europeanist. It was helpful for me, as I am starting to write more about dance, but sometimes Gottschild's style got in the way. She seemed overly apologetic or defensive when speaking about various issues in the dance community. I wondered who her intended audience was, as I often felt like she was providing explanation for things that did not require it "in line." After I was able to get over her writing "ticks" and "idiosyncrasies," I found the book enjoyable and enlightening.