The Black Dancing Body

A Geography from Coon to Cool

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by Brenda Dixon Gottschild

Palgrave

Due/Published October 2005, 352 pages, paper

ISBN 1403971218

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.

"With typical generosity, Brenda Dixon Gottschild convenes a discussion of some of the most crucial issues defining black-white relations in contemporary American society. Skillfully weaving her own voice among those of diverse artists, she raises questions about racial stereotypes, expectations, and prejudices as they are experienced by performers and viewers. Because it focuses on the dancing body, situating its cultivation of physicality as part of more general cultural elaborations of corporeality, The Black Dancing Body addresses the experience of race at a profound and vital level. Candidly pursuing the racialized experiences of feet, butts, hair, and skin, Dixon Gottschild gives readers an abundance of perspectives, both historical and cultural, on the physical. She invites readers into a dialogue, marked by honesty, courage, and soul, that is capable of moving our bodies and our spirits."--Susan Foster

Contents

List of Illustrations
Acknowledgements
Introduction
Part I: Topography of Things to Come
Latitude I
Black White Dance Dancers
The Physical Terrain
Position/Disposition: Bujones/Zollar Interviews
Location: "Who Is There?"
Part II: Mapping the Territories
Latitude II
Feet
Butt
Skin/Hair
Location: "To Be or Not . . ."
Part III: The Continent
Latitude III
Soul/Spirit
Blood Memories, Spirit Dances
Position/Disposition: From Coon to Cool
Location: Horizon
Notes
Bibliography