Terryl C. Givens
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780195167115
- eISBN:
- 9780199785599
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195167115.003.0009
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
Unlike most Christians, Mormons have always loved music and dance. From the Nauvoo Brass Band to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, music has been culturally central. Hymnody incorporates some of the very ...
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Unlike most Christians, Mormons have always loved music and dance. From the Nauvoo Brass Band to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, music has been culturally central. Hymnody incorporates some of the very first instances of Mormon cultural expression. Dancing schools were common in early Utah. The church's support for music not directed to a worship function has been slight.Less
Unlike most Christians, Mormons have always loved music and dance. From the Nauvoo Brass Band to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, music has been culturally central. Hymnody incorporates some of the very first instances of Mormon cultural expression. Dancing schools were common in early Utah. The church's support for music not directed to a worship function has been slight.
Maura Keefe
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- February 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195386691
- eISBN:
- 9780199863600
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195386691.003.0004
- Subject:
- Music, Dance
Maura Keefe argues that choreographers in the United States have very often drawn inspiration and themes from the world of sports, leaning especially on the image of the male athlete as a key iconic ...
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Maura Keefe argues that choreographers in the United States have very often drawn inspiration and themes from the world of sports, leaning especially on the image of the male athlete as a key iconic representative of masculinity. The relationship between homophobia and both real and perceived notions of “masculine” physical prowess is highlighted in analysis of Vaslav Nijinsky's ballet Jeux (1913), Ted Shawn's Olympiad (1936), Gene Kelly's television special Dancing—a Man's Game (1958), and Twyla Tharp's Dancing Is a Man's Sport, Too (1980). Concluding that the anxiety over male dancers and effeminacy is far from being overcome, the chapter ends with an analysis of reaction to the participation of football icon Emmitt Smith on the reality television series Dancing with the Stars.Less
Maura Keefe argues that choreographers in the United States have very often drawn inspiration and themes from the world of sports, leaning especially on the image of the male athlete as a key iconic representative of masculinity. The relationship between homophobia and both real and perceived notions of “masculine” physical prowess is highlighted in analysis of Vaslav Nijinsky's ballet Jeux (1913), Ted Shawn's Olympiad (1936), Gene Kelly's television special Dancing—a Man's Game (1958), and Twyla Tharp's Dancing Is a Man's Sport, Too (1980). Concluding that the anxiety over male dancers and effeminacy is far from being overcome, the chapter ends with an analysis of reaction to the participation of football icon Emmitt Smith on the reality television series Dancing with the Stars.
Vasudha Narayanan
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- May 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780195177060
- eISBN:
- 9780199785438
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195177060.003.0011
- Subject:
- Religion, Hinduism
This chapter addresses the expression of Hindu women's religiosity through music and dance. It is argued that in contemporary Hinduism the performing arts, which are essentially forms of religious ...
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This chapter addresses the expression of Hindu women's religiosity through music and dance. It is argued that in contemporary Hinduism the performing arts, which are essentially forms of religious performance, may serve as vehicles not only for women's religious expression, but also for dynamic social commentary and reform. Examples include dancers like Mallika Sarabhai and Chandralekha, who use dance to highlight women's issues and to express themes of anguish and strength. As authors, performers, and consumers of the performing arts, women may engage music and dance both to express their own subjectivities and to help effect social change.Less
This chapter addresses the expression of Hindu women's religiosity through music and dance. It is argued that in contemporary Hinduism the performing arts, which are essentially forms of religious performance, may serve as vehicles not only for women's religious expression, but also for dynamic social commentary and reform. Examples include dancers like Mallika Sarabhai and Chandralekha, who use dance to highlight women's issues and to express themes of anguish and strength. As authors, performers, and consumers of the performing arts, women may engage music and dance both to express their own subjectivities and to help effect social change.
Terryl C. Givens
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780195167115
- eISBN:
- 9780199785599
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195167115.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
This book is an exploration of the Mormon cultural identity that Joseph Smith and, to a lesser extent, Brigham Young founded. At the heart of their thinking were a number of dynamic tensions, or ...
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This book is an exploration of the Mormon cultural identity that Joseph Smith and, to a lesser extent, Brigham Young founded. At the heart of their thinking were a number of dynamic tensions, or paradoxes, that give Mormon cultural expression much of its vitality. Arguing that culture can be viewed as the result of a people's efforts to accommodate such irresolvable tensions, Givens looks at the Mormon “habit of mind”, and forms of artistic expression to trace consistent themes and ideas that constitute, or contribute to the formation of a distinct cultural community. This study begins by examining four especially rich and fertile tensions, or thematic pairings in Mormon thought, that have inspired recurrent and sustained engagement on the part of writers, artists, and thinkers in the Mormon community. The safety and strictures of centralized authority, the rhetoric and promise of theological certainty, the collapse of the sacred into the banal, and the retreat into chosen isolation all find their opposite temptation in the allure of radical individualism, the endless and endlessly deferred nature of saving knowledge, the yearning for a theology of transcendence, and the angst of alienation. As Mormonism continues its evolution from American denomination to a new religious tradition and world-wide faith, this study represents a timely look at the role of cultural achievement and self-representation in that process. Genres treated include education, intellectual life, architecture, music and dance, theater (drama) film, literature, and visual art.Less
This book is an exploration of the Mormon cultural identity that Joseph Smith and, to a lesser extent, Brigham Young founded. At the heart of their thinking were a number of dynamic tensions, or paradoxes, that give Mormon cultural expression much of its vitality. Arguing that culture can be viewed as the result of a people's efforts to accommodate such irresolvable tensions, Givens looks at the Mormon “habit of mind”, and forms of artistic expression to trace consistent themes and ideas that constitute, or contribute to the formation of a distinct cultural community. This study begins by examining four especially rich and fertile tensions, or thematic pairings in Mormon thought, that have inspired recurrent and sustained engagement on the part of writers, artists, and thinkers in the Mormon community. The safety and strictures of centralized authority, the rhetoric and promise of theological certainty, the collapse of the sacred into the banal, and the retreat into chosen isolation all find their opposite temptation in the allure of radical individualism, the endless and endlessly deferred nature of saving knowledge, the yearning for a theology of transcendence, and the angst of alienation. As Mormonism continues its evolution from American denomination to a new religious tradition and world-wide faith, this study represents a timely look at the role of cultural achievement and self-representation in that process. Genres treated include education, intellectual life, architecture, music and dance, theater (drama) film, literature, and visual art.
Jay Schulkin
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691157443
- eISBN:
- 9781400849031
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691157443.001.0001
- Subject:
- Psychology, Cognitive Neuroscience
What's so special about music? We experience it internally, yet at the same time it is highly social. Music engages our cognitive/affective and sensory systems. We use music to communicate with one ...
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What's so special about music? We experience it internally, yet at the same time it is highly social. Music engages our cognitive/affective and sensory systems. We use music to communicate with one another—and even with other species—the things that we cannot express through language. Music is both ancient and ever evolving. Without music, our world is missing something essential. This book offers a social and behavioral neuroscientific explanation of why music matters. Its aim is not to provide a grand, unifying theory. Instead, it guides the reader through the relevant scientific evidence that links neuroscience, music, and meaning. It considers how music evolved in humans and birds, how music is experienced in relation to aesthetics and mathematics, the role of memory in musical expression, the role of music in child and social development, and the embodied experience of music through dance. It concludes with reflections on music and well-being. The book is a tour through the current research on the neuroscience of music.Less
What's so special about music? We experience it internally, yet at the same time it is highly social. Music engages our cognitive/affective and sensory systems. We use music to communicate with one another—and even with other species—the things that we cannot express through language. Music is both ancient and ever evolving. Without music, our world is missing something essential. This book offers a social and behavioral neuroscientific explanation of why music matters. Its aim is not to provide a grand, unifying theory. Instead, it guides the reader through the relevant scientific evidence that links neuroscience, music, and meaning. It considers how music evolved in humans and birds, how music is experienced in relation to aesthetics and mathematics, the role of memory in musical expression, the role of music in child and social development, and the embodied experience of music through dance. It concludes with reflections on music and well-being. The book is a tour through the current research on the neuroscience of music.
Glenn Dynner
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- January 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780195175226
- eISBN:
- 9780199785148
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195175226.003.0007
- Subject:
- Religion, Judaism
Hasidic marketing campaigns employed everything from printed sermons and tales to oral tales, songs, and dances. This chapter argues that that these methods were earmarked for specific social groups. ...
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Hasidic marketing campaigns employed everything from printed sermons and tales to oral tales, songs, and dances. This chapter argues that that these methods were earmarked for specific social groups. The importance of Hasidic printing as a vehicle for reaching the male intellectual elite has been underestimated, as demonstrated through a survey of the impressive number of printed works and an analysis of their endorsements (haskamot). Tale collections formed something of a bridge between literate, semi-literate, and illiterate populations. Oral tales were designed specifically for the latter two groups, which helps explain their propensity for fantasies about social inversion. Oral tales, in addition to songs and dances, borrowed heavily from non-Jewish culture.Less
Hasidic marketing campaigns employed everything from printed sermons and tales to oral tales, songs, and dances. This chapter argues that that these methods were earmarked for specific social groups. The importance of Hasidic printing as a vehicle for reaching the male intellectual elite has been underestimated, as demonstrated through a survey of the impressive number of printed works and an analysis of their endorsements (haskamot). Tale collections formed something of a bridge between literate, semi-literate, and illiterate populations. Oral tales were designed specifically for the latter two groups, which helps explain their propensity for fantasies about social inversion. Oral tales, in addition to songs and dances, borrowed heavily from non-Jewish culture.
Derek B. Scott
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195309461
- eISBN:
- 9780199871254
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195309461.003.0005
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
This chapter examines evidence for the claim that the 19th-century Viennese version of the waltz stimulated the development of a revolutionary kind of popular music that created a schism between ...
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This chapter examines evidence for the claim that the 19th-century Viennese version of the waltz stimulated the development of a revolutionary kind of popular music that created a schism between entertainment music (Unterhaltungsmusik) and serious music (Ernste Musik). Lanner and Strauss, especially the latter, saw the possibility of a popular revolution in music and created a style that was often consciously at odds with the art music of its time. It was a style that gave new meaning to entertainment music: the thesis here being that the concept of the “popular” began to embrace, for the first time, not only the musicés reception, but also the presence of specific features of style. This chapter analyzes the musical features that appear in the Viennese waltz and examines the sociocultural context of its reception.Less
This chapter examines evidence for the claim that the 19th-century Viennese version of the waltz stimulated the development of a revolutionary kind of popular music that created a schism between entertainment music (Unterhaltungsmusik) and serious music (Ernste Musik). Lanner and Strauss, especially the latter, saw the possibility of a popular revolution in music and created a style that was often consciously at odds with the art music of its time. It was a style that gave new meaning to entertainment music: the thesis here being that the concept of the “popular” began to embrace, for the first time, not only the musicés reception, but also the presence of specific features of style. This chapter analyzes the musical features that appear in the Viennese waltz and examines the sociocultural context of its reception.
Jay Schulkin
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691157443
- eISBN:
- 9781400849031
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691157443.003.0001
- Subject:
- Psychology, Cognitive Neuroscience
This book traces the origins of music, from the appearance of the relevant anatomical features, to the development of diverse forms of biological systems that figure in musical expression. It ...
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This book traces the origins of music, from the appearance of the relevant anatomical features, to the development of diverse forms of biological systems that figure in musical expression. It considers how music reflects our social nature and is tied to other instrumental expression in the adaptation to changing circumstances. It shows that expectancy and violations of those musical expectations linked to memory and human development are critical features in the aesthetics of musical sensibility (like other avenues of human experience). The book also examines how music is connected to movement and dance. This introduction provides an overview of the “cognitive revolution” and the emergence of a discipline called “social neuroscience,” as well as Leonard Meyer's theory of music drawn from a pragmatism based in C. S. Peirce and John Dewey's notion of inquiry. It also explains how action and embodied cognition are related to music.Less
This book traces the origins of music, from the appearance of the relevant anatomical features, to the development of diverse forms of biological systems that figure in musical expression. It considers how music reflects our social nature and is tied to other instrumental expression in the adaptation to changing circumstances. It shows that expectancy and violations of those musical expectations linked to memory and human development are critical features in the aesthetics of musical sensibility (like other avenues of human experience). The book also examines how music is connected to movement and dance. This introduction provides an overview of the “cognitive revolution” and the emergence of a discipline called “social neuroscience,” as well as Leonard Meyer's theory of music drawn from a pragmatism based in C. S. Peirce and John Dewey's notion of inquiry. It also explains how action and embodied cognition are related to music.
Jay Schulkin
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691157443
- eISBN:
- 9781400849031
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691157443.003.0008
- Subject:
- Psychology, Cognitive Neuroscience
This chapter explores the relationship between music and dance. The human condition is linked to music and dance, and the range of human emotional expression is fundamental in this regard. Susanne ...
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This chapter explores the relationship between music and dance. The human condition is linked to music and dance, and the range of human emotional expression is fundamental in this regard. Susanne Langer, a professor of philosophy at Connecticut College, understood that movement and dance are at the heart of music, and that music is at the heart of movement. The chapter first considers the internal clock and cognitive physiology that regulate our sense of movement before discussing the theme of art embedded in experience, with music and dance as fundamental components of that experience. It then examines how music is expanded and tied to meaning, stories, and living experience. It also describes the concept of musement and concludes by suggesting that music and dance co-evolved in contexts of adaptation, human meaning, and social contact; within this is a mixture of what Leonard Meyer called “an aesthetics of stability.”Less
This chapter explores the relationship between music and dance. The human condition is linked to music and dance, and the range of human emotional expression is fundamental in this regard. Susanne Langer, a professor of philosophy at Connecticut College, understood that movement and dance are at the heart of music, and that music is at the heart of movement. The chapter first considers the internal clock and cognitive physiology that regulate our sense of movement before discussing the theme of art embedded in experience, with music and dance as fundamental components of that experience. It then examines how music is expanded and tied to meaning, stories, and living experience. It also describes the concept of musement and concludes by suggesting that music and dance co-evolved in contexts of adaptation, human meaning, and social contact; within this is a mixture of what Leonard Meyer called “an aesthetics of stability.”
Jay Schulkin
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691157443
- eISBN:
- 9781400849031
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691157443.003.0009
- Subject:
- Psychology, Cognitive Neuroscience
This conclusion considers the effects of music on well-being. Music evolved in the context of social contact and meaning. Music allows us to reach out to others and expand our human experience toward ...
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This conclusion considers the effects of music on well-being. Music evolved in the context of social contact and meaning. Music allows us to reach out to others and expand our human experience toward and with others. This process began with song and was expanded through instruments and dance. Music serves, among other things, to facilitate social cooperative and coordinated behaviors—the induction of “social harmonies.” Musical sensibility is a panoply of emotions that are inextricably linked to our cognitive, motor, and premotor resources and are expressed in everything we do, most especially in music. This conclusion also explains how music and language enhance each other with regard to cephalic function and behavioral adaptation, noting that both are essentially rooted in social contact.Less
This conclusion considers the effects of music on well-being. Music evolved in the context of social contact and meaning. Music allows us to reach out to others and expand our human experience toward and with others. This process began with song and was expanded through instruments and dance. Music serves, among other things, to facilitate social cooperative and coordinated behaviors—the induction of “social harmonies.” Musical sensibility is a panoply of emotions that are inextricably linked to our cognitive, motor, and premotor resources and are expressed in everything we do, most especially in music. This conclusion also explains how music and language enhance each other with regard to cephalic function and behavioral adaptation, noting that both are essentially rooted in social contact.
Sam Gill
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- May 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780195176452
- eISBN:
- 9780199785308
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195176452.003.0005
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
This chapter ruminates on the formal lack of interest in both ritual and dancing. The chapter's author takes his thoughts on the university as “a Christian theological project” into a class on ...
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This chapter ruminates on the formal lack of interest in both ritual and dancing. The chapter's author takes his thoughts on the university as “a Christian theological project” into a class on ritual, in which he had his students dance. From a theoretical point of view, the study of dancing and the study of ritual are very closely related. Many rituals are dance-dramas; many dances are done as ritual. Students' experience of dancing as a component to teaching ritual is easily accomplished and broadly accepted. A comparative worldwide study of ritual and ritual dancing provides a magnificent theater for the construction and examination of ritual theory.Less
This chapter ruminates on the formal lack of interest in both ritual and dancing. The chapter's author takes his thoughts on the university as “a Christian theological project” into a class on ritual, in which he had his students dance. From a theoretical point of view, the study of dancing and the study of ritual are very closely related. Many rituals are dance-dramas; many dances are done as ritual. Students' experience of dancing as a component to teaching ritual is easily accomplished and broadly accepted. A comparative worldwide study of ritual and ritual dancing provides a magnificent theater for the construction and examination of ritual theory.
Margaret D. Kamitsuka
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780195311624
- eISBN:
- 9780199785643
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195311624.003.0006
- Subject:
- Religion, Theology
This chapter addresses one of the most contested issues in feminist theology today: solidarity. Three important contemporary approaches to this issue (by white feminists Sharon Welch and Sheila ...
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This chapter addresses one of the most contested issues in feminist theology today: solidarity. Three important contemporary approaches to this issue (by white feminists Sharon Welch and Sheila Greeve Davaney and womanist M. Shawn Copeland) are examined. In critical conversation with Welch's views on communicative action, Davaney's pragmatism, and Copeland's appeal to eucharistic unity, the chapter proposes some conditions under which feminists might continue rethinking the notion of solidarity. This is followed by discussion of how a metaphor borrowed somewhat eclectically from the field of dance improvisation theory can help us look anew (though still very skeptically) at solidarity in light of inescapable and determinative differences in women's experience.Less
This chapter addresses one of the most contested issues in feminist theology today: solidarity. Three important contemporary approaches to this issue (by white feminists Sharon Welch and Sheila Greeve Davaney and womanist M. Shawn Copeland) are examined. In critical conversation with Welch's views on communicative action, Davaney's pragmatism, and Copeland's appeal to eucharistic unity, the chapter proposes some conditions under which feminists might continue rethinking the notion of solidarity. This is followed by discussion of how a metaphor borrowed somewhat eclectically from the field of dance improvisation theory can help us look anew (though still very skeptically) at solidarity in light of inescapable and determinative differences in women's experience.
Mark Franko
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199777662
- eISBN:
- 9780199950119
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199777662.001.0001
- Subject:
- Music, Dance, History, American
Using newly discovered archival sources this book examines the major works of Martha Graham between 1938 and 1953, arguably her most productive period. Graham’s artistic maturation overlaps the ...
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Using newly discovered archival sources this book examines the major works of Martha Graham between 1938 and 1953, arguably her most productive period. Graham’s artistic maturation overlaps the global crisis of fascism, the conflict of World War II, and the post-war period that ushered in the Cold War. It also corresponds to the trajectory of her personal and professional relationship with dancer Erick Hawkins who first appeared with the Martha Graham Dance Company in 1938 when her art was taking on new dramaturgical complexity, political commitment and mytho-graphic dimension. As a relationship between a young man and a mature woman as well as between an established and a fledgling artist, the Graham-Hawkins story was a tormented one. The vicissitudes of this relationship and its emotional tone will be an integral part of the description of Graham’s work undertaken in this study. The sociological axes of seven major works are Graham’s involvement with anti-Fascism prior and during World War Two and her involvement with post-Freudian psychoanalytic theory and Jungian psychoanalysis in the postwar period. This book relates Graham’s original and groundbreaking use of myth to both anti-fascism and psychoanalysis, before and after the war respectively, and thus brings her choreography into direct relationship both to the key events of her time and to her personal life.Less
Using newly discovered archival sources this book examines the major works of Martha Graham between 1938 and 1953, arguably her most productive period. Graham’s artistic maturation overlaps the global crisis of fascism, the conflict of World War II, and the post-war period that ushered in the Cold War. It also corresponds to the trajectory of her personal and professional relationship with dancer Erick Hawkins who first appeared with the Martha Graham Dance Company in 1938 when her art was taking on new dramaturgical complexity, political commitment and mytho-graphic dimension. As a relationship between a young man and a mature woman as well as between an established and a fledgling artist, the Graham-Hawkins story was a tormented one. The vicissitudes of this relationship and its emotional tone will be an integral part of the description of Graham’s work undertaken in this study. The sociological axes of seven major works are Graham’s involvement with anti-Fascism prior and during World War Two and her involvement with post-Freudian psychoanalytic theory and Jungian psychoanalysis in the postwar period. This book relates Graham’s original and groundbreaking use of myth to both anti-fascism and psychoanalysis, before and after the war respectively, and thus brings her choreography into direct relationship both to the key events of her time and to her personal life.
April F. Masten
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691159096
- eISBN:
- 9781400849895
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691159096.003.0002
- Subject:
- History, World Modern History
This chapter examines the transnational origins of the challenge dance, a distinctly American tradition of brag dancing, and the ways in which Irish and African dance forms converged and collided in ...
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This chapter examines the transnational origins of the challenge dance, a distinctly American tradition of brag dancing, and the ways in which Irish and African dance forms converged and collided in the taverns of New York City in the early nineteenth century. Part theater, part sport, challenge dances emerged in the antebellum era alongside boxing. Dance matches were the product of the intersecting diasporas and cultural exchange of Irish and African emigrants moving through the Atlantic world. The chapter first considers the compatibilities in African and Irish dance traditions before discussing the genealogy of challenge dancing. It then looks at challenge dance competitions held on streets and in taverns as part of white and blackface shows. It also describes a cultural space and moment in which working-class blacks and whites saw enough likeness in their dance traditions to frame a space of public, popular competition.Less
This chapter examines the transnational origins of the challenge dance, a distinctly American tradition of brag dancing, and the ways in which Irish and African dance forms converged and collided in the taverns of New York City in the early nineteenth century. Part theater, part sport, challenge dances emerged in the antebellum era alongside boxing. Dance matches were the product of the intersecting diasporas and cultural exchange of Irish and African emigrants moving through the Atlantic world. The chapter first considers the compatibilities in African and Irish dance traditions before discussing the genealogy of challenge dancing. It then looks at challenge dance competitions held on streets and in taverns as part of white and blackface shows. It also describes a cultural space and moment in which working-class blacks and whites saw enough likeness in their dance traditions to frame a space of public, popular competition.
Ryan André Brasseaux
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- September 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195343069
- eISBN:
- 9780199866977
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195343069.003.0002
- Subject:
- Music, History, American
Dance culture and the social contexts that shaped Cajun musical traditions through 1950 constitute the primary focus of this study. Cajun musical expression is considered here, in relation to the ...
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Dance culture and the social contexts that shaped Cajun musical traditions through 1950 constitute the primary focus of this study. Cajun musical expression is considered here, in relation to the varied social dynamics acting on the genre, through an analytical lens categorizing musical expression into one of three distinct, but complementary roles within its host community: home music, sung a cappella for pleasure in a domestic setting for friends, family, or personal enjoyment; ritualistic ballad recitations at significant events straddling secular and religious social spheres; and dance music performed at bals de maison (house dances) and later dance halls—a distinctive style that would be exploited commercially in the early 20th century. The contexts surrounding this vernacular American music satisfied the group’s basic needs for self-expression, social interaction, courtship, and entertainment. This chapter concludes that social context is a crucial factor in the Cajun musical equation that ultimately shapes and defines this brand of ethnic cultural expression.Less
Dance culture and the social contexts that shaped Cajun musical traditions through 1950 constitute the primary focus of this study. Cajun musical expression is considered here, in relation to the varied social dynamics acting on the genre, through an analytical lens categorizing musical expression into one of three distinct, but complementary roles within its host community: home music, sung a cappella for pleasure in a domestic setting for friends, family, or personal enjoyment; ritualistic ballad recitations at significant events straddling secular and religious social spheres; and dance music performed at bals de maison (house dances) and later dance halls—a distinctive style that would be exploited commercially in the early 20th century. The contexts surrounding this vernacular American music satisfied the group’s basic needs for self-expression, social interaction, courtship, and entertainment. This chapter concludes that social context is a crucial factor in the Cajun musical equation that ultimately shapes and defines this brand of ethnic cultural expression.
Jennifer Fisher
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- February 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195386691
- eISBN:
- 9780199863600
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195386691.003.0002
- Subject:
- Music, Dance
Jennifer Fisher provides a history of the “making it macho” strategy for men often employed in the dance world, which has been a response to the prejudices against ballet men throughout the 20th ...
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Jennifer Fisher provides a history of the “making it macho” strategy for men often employed in the dance world, which has been a response to the prejudices against ballet men throughout the 20th century and beyond. By looking at various rhetorical strategies in dance biography (Shawn, Nureyev, Bruhn), movies (Shall We Dance? The Turning Point), and television (So You Think You Can Dance), it foregrounds the frequency and futility of binary thinking in relation to masculinity as well as femininity when it comes to ballet performance. It references analysis of modern masculinity by Michael Kimmel and George Mosse, as well as dance analysis by Julia Foulkes and Ramsay Burt. It is suggested that, given the challenges for men in the feminized world of ballet, they trade the “macho” moniker for that of “maverick.”Less
Jennifer Fisher provides a history of the “making it macho” strategy for men often employed in the dance world, which has been a response to the prejudices against ballet men throughout the 20th century and beyond. By looking at various rhetorical strategies in dance biography (Shawn, Nureyev, Bruhn), movies (Shall We Dance? The Turning Point), and television (So You Think You Can Dance), it foregrounds the frequency and futility of binary thinking in relation to masculinity as well as femininity when it comes to ballet performance. It references analysis of modern masculinity by Michael Kimmel and George Mosse, as well as dance analysis by Julia Foulkes and Ramsay Burt. It is suggested that, given the challenges for men in the feminized world of ballet, they trade the “macho” moniker for that of “maverick.”
Daniel R. Melamed and Michael Marissen
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195304923
- eISBN:
- 9780199865468
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195304923.003.0010
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
This chapter presents resources that deal with Bach as a composer. These cover topics such as Bach’s compositional process, his contact with the work of other composers, and dance types and their ...
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This chapter presents resources that deal with Bach as a composer. These cover topics such as Bach’s compositional process, his contact with the work of other composers, and dance types and their appearance in Bach’s instrumental music.Less
This chapter presents resources that deal with Bach as a composer. These cover topics such as Bach’s compositional process, his contact with the work of other composers, and dance types and their appearance in Bach’s instrumental music.
Ruth Webb
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- January 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780199232536
- eISBN:
- 9780191716003
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199232536.003.0002
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Plays and Playwrights: Classical, Early, and Medieval
This chapter explores the art form of pantomime through the perspective of the performer and attempts to get ‘behind the mask’ and discover the dancers themselves as living, breathing, embodied ...
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This chapter explores the art form of pantomime through the perspective of the performer and attempts to get ‘behind the mask’ and discover the dancers themselves as living, breathing, embodied beings with their own perspective. The chapter reconstructs the experience of the pantomime dancer through examining the ancient evidence for the dance and the training undertaken by its performers; particular attention is given to the demands that this performance art made on the body. The ancient evidence is supplemented in the discussion by some testimony about similar mimetic dance forms today, such as North Indian Kathak dance, Balinese dance and Ballet. This modern testimony enables the author to explore the question of the interiority of the dancer, his relationship to his art and to the characters he embodied.Less
This chapter explores the art form of pantomime through the perspective of the performer and attempts to get ‘behind the mask’ and discover the dancers themselves as living, breathing, embodied beings with their own perspective. The chapter reconstructs the experience of the pantomime dancer through examining the ancient evidence for the dance and the training undertaken by its performers; particular attention is given to the demands that this performance art made on the body. The ancient evidence is supplemented in the discussion by some testimony about similar mimetic dance forms today, such as North Indian Kathak dance, Balinese dance and Ballet. This modern testimony enables the author to explore the question of the interiority of the dancer, his relationship to his art and to the characters he embodied.
Barbara Sellers‐Young
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- February 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195386691
- eISBN:
- 9780199863600
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195386691.003.0012
- Subject:
- Music, Dance
Barbara Sellers‐Young details the life and career of Ibrahim Farrah, a Lebanese American who was one of the seminal figures in the performance, teaching, and popularizing of cabaret belly dance in ...
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Barbara Sellers‐Young details the life and career of Ibrahim Farrah, a Lebanese American who was one of the seminal figures in the performance, teaching, and popularizing of cabaret belly dance in the United States. As a male dancer in a genre widely regarded as performed exclusively by women, Farrah, through his performances and writings, embodied the tensions inherent in the cultural and gender issues surrounding belly dance in both the Arab American community, from which he first learned Oriental dance, and in wider American society after belly dance had become an important leisure activity for more than a million women in the 1980s. Many of those women followed the news and history of the genre in Farrah's groundbreaking journal, Arabesque.Less
Barbara Sellers‐Young details the life and career of Ibrahim Farrah, a Lebanese American who was one of the seminal figures in the performance, teaching, and popularizing of cabaret belly dance in the United States. As a male dancer in a genre widely regarded as performed exclusively by women, Farrah, through his performances and writings, embodied the tensions inherent in the cultural and gender issues surrounding belly dance in both the Arab American community, from which he first learned Oriental dance, and in wider American society after belly dance had become an important leisure activity for more than a million women in the 1980s. Many of those women followed the news and history of the genre in Farrah's groundbreaking journal, Arabesque.
Joanna Bosse
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- April 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780252039010
- eISBN:
- 9780252096983
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Illinois Press
- DOI:
- 10.5406/illinois/9780252039010.001.0001
- Subject:
- Music, Dance
This book explores the transformations undergone by the residents of a Midwestern town when they step out on the dance floor for the very first time. The book uses sensitive fieldwork as well as the ...
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This book explores the transformations undergone by the residents of a Midwestern town when they step out on the dance floor for the very first time. The book uses sensitive fieldwork as well as the author's own immersion in ballroom culture to lead readers into a community that springs up around ballroom dance. It demonstrates how the contemporary performance of ballroom dance among amateurs generates feelings of positive personal transformation, of becoming beautiful. The book also discusses the dance hall as a social space where disparate groups come together to move in synchrony, along with the ways in which race, class, and gender converge in ballroom dancing. The result is a portrait of the real people who connect with others, change themselves, and join a world that foxtrots to its own rules, conventions, and rewards. The author's eye for revealing, humorous detail adds warmth and depth to discussions around critical perspectives on the experiences the dance hall provides, the nature of partnership and connection, and the notion of how dancing allows anyone to become beautiful. The book also considers the relationship between aesthetic values and becoming beautiful.Less
This book explores the transformations undergone by the residents of a Midwestern town when they step out on the dance floor for the very first time. The book uses sensitive fieldwork as well as the author's own immersion in ballroom culture to lead readers into a community that springs up around ballroom dance. It demonstrates how the contemporary performance of ballroom dance among amateurs generates feelings of positive personal transformation, of becoming beautiful. The book also discusses the dance hall as a social space where disparate groups come together to move in synchrony, along with the ways in which race, class, and gender converge in ballroom dancing. The result is a portrait of the real people who connect with others, change themselves, and join a world that foxtrots to its own rules, conventions, and rewards. The author's eye for revealing, humorous detail adds warmth and depth to discussions around critical perspectives on the experiences the dance hall provides, the nature of partnership and connection, and the notion of how dancing allows anyone to become beautiful. The book also considers the relationship between aesthetic values and becoming beautiful.
