Dance and Ethics: Moving Towards a More Humane Dance Culture

by Naomi Jackson

An introductory study of ethical issues applied to the history and field of Western theatrical dance. 

This work examines ethics and the changing values in the world of dance, especially as faced by young dancers entering the profession. Since the 1960s, scholars and practitioners from the fields of dance education, somatics, and the realms of postmodern dance and ballet have increasingly believed that attitudes and practices involving psychological, physical, and sexual mistreatment of students and dancers must be challenged. 

Dance and Ethics examines key ethical issues related to the dance field, primarily within the United States, and how those directly impact different aspects of the lives of dance artists throughout their careers. The issues discussed include the basic ethical choices facing a dance artist in terms of whether to care about ethics or separate art from morality; ethical issues involved in student–teacher and dancer–choreographer relationships; how ethical concerns relate to the creation and reception of choreographic work; ethical aspects of the critical assessment of dance and dancers; and ethical issues related to presenting systems and institutional infrastructures within the dance field.

264 pages, Paperback

Published October 25, 2022

About the author

Naomi Jackson is the author of a novel, The Star Side of Bird Hill. Star Side was nominated for an NAACP Image Award and the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award and longlisted for the National Book Critics Circle’s John Leonard Prize, the Center for Fiction’s First Novel Prize, and the International Dublin Literary Award. The Black Caucus of the American Library Association named Jackson’s novel an Honor Book for Fiction. Jackson studied fiction at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. She traveled to South Africa on a Fulbright scholarship, where she received an M.A. in Creative Writing from the University of Cape Town. A graduate of Williams College, Jackson’s writings have appeared in The New York Times, Harper’s, The Washington Post, Virginia Quarterly Review, and The Caribbean Writer. She is the recipient of residencies and fellowships from Bread Loaf, MacDowell Colony, Djerassi, Hedgebrook, the University of Pennsylvania’s Kelly Writers House, Camargo Foundation, New York Foundation for the Arts, and Bronx Council on the Arts. Jackson is Assistant Professor of English and Creative Writing at Rutgers University-Newark.