Digging the Africanist Presence in American Performance: Dance and Other Contexts

by Brenda Dixon Gottschild

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.

Genres: Art

224 pages, Paperback

First published May 30, 1996

Reviews

[sarah kate]

read parts for dance history research paper

[Rebecca]

Dance Book #5(?) I had read chapters of this book in school and have found her arguments much more compelling when read beginning to end. That said, some of them feel better supported than others and many read like separate papers that were never well integrated into a complete book. She is whip smart though and her argument that Africanist performance underlies and informs all "Euro/American" performance is a compelling one. She also makes a strong case for the historical disappearing of this influence.

[Ilyse · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very interesting. Very helpful when discussing the African and African-American influences on dance. Very heavily leaning on its point of view.