Full Description
This book draws on theories of aesthetics, post-colonialism, multiculturalism and transnationalism to explore salient aspects of perpetuating traditional dance customs in diaspora. It is the first book to present a broad-ranging analysis of cultural dance in Australia. Topics include adaptation of dance customs within a post-migration context, multicultural festivals, prominent performers, historiographies and archives, and the relative positionings of cultural and Western theatrical dance genres. The book offers a decolonized appraisal of dance in Australia, critiquing past and present praxes and offering suggestions for the future. Overall, it underscores the highly variegated nature of the Australian dance landscape and advocates for greater recognition of amateur community dance practices. Cultural Dance in Australia makes a substantial contribution to the catalogue of work about immigrants and cultural dance styles that continue to be preserved in Australia. Thisbook will be of interest to scholars of dance, performance studies, migration studies and transnationalism.
Contents
Chapter 1. Preface.- Chapter 2. Dance in Diaspora.- Chapter 3. The West/Rest Pirouette: Division in the Dance Canon.- Chapter 4. Motifs of Migration: Reproducing Dance in a New Environment.- Chapter 5. In the Spotlight: Public Performances of Cultural Dance in Australia.- Chapter 6. The Shell Folkloric Festival: The Most Prominent Multicultural Event.- Chapter 7. Riverdance and the dissolution of cultural boundaries in Australian Irish Dancing .- Chapter 8. The Ivory Tower and its Fixed Pointe of Reference.- Chapter 9. Borders, Boundaries and Difference.- Chapter 10. The White Pages: Australian Dance Writings.- Chapter 11. The Need for an Archive of Cultural Dance.- Chapter 12. Steps Towards the Future.
