Dancing Revolution: Bodies, Space, and Sound in American Cultural History

by Christopher J. Smith

Overview

Throughout American history, patterns of political intent and impact have linked the wide range of dance movements performed in public places. Groups diverse in their cultural or political identities, or in both, long ago seized on street dancing, marches, open-air revival meetings, and theaters, as well as in dance halls and nightclubs, as a tool for contesting, constructing, or reinventing the social order.

Dancing Revolution presents richly diverse case studies to illuminate these patterns of movement and influence in movement and sound in the history of American public life. Christopher J. Smith spans centuries, geographies, and cultural identities as he delves into a wide range of historical moments. These include the God-intoxicated public demonstrations of Shakers and Ghost Dancers in the First and Second Great Awakenings; creolized antebellum dance in cities from New Orleans to Bristol; the modernism and racial integration that imbued twentieth-century African American popular dance; the revolutionary connotations behind images of dance from Josephine Baker to the Marx Brothers; and public movement's contributions to hip hop, antihegemonic protest, and other contemporary transgressive communities’ physical expressions of dissent and solidarity.

Multidisciplinary and wide-ranging, Dancing Revolution examines how Americans turned the rhythms of history into the movement behind the movements.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780252051234
Publisher:	University of Illinois Press
Publication date:	05/15/2019
Series:	Music in American Life
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	304
File size:	4 MB

About the Author

Christopher J. Smith is a professor, chair of musicology, and founding director of the Vernacular Music Center at the Texas Tech University School of Music. He is the author of the award-winning book The Creolization of American Culture: William Sidney Mount and the Roots of Blackface Minstrelsy.

Table of Contents

Cover Title Copyright Contents Preface Acknowlegdments Introduction: “Callin’ out, around the world . . .” Chapter 1. Sacred Bodies in the Great Awakenings Chapter 2. A Tale of Two Cities I: Akimbo Bodies and the English Caribbean Chapter 3. Spaces, Whistles, Tags, and Drums: Irruptive Noise Chapter 4. A Tale of Two Cities II: Festival and Spectacle in the French Caribbean Chapter 5. Utopian Movements and Moments: Shakers and Ghost Dancers Chapter 6. Blackface Transformations I: Modernism, Primitivism, and Race Chapter 7. Blackface Transformations II: Voyeurism, Identity, and Double-Consciousness Chapter 8. Body and Spirit in a Post-1960s World: Hippies, Queens, Punks, and B-boys Chapter 9. Street Dance and the Dream of Freedom: “It’s an invitation across the nation . . .” Notes Index

Editorial Reviews

"Smith makes a convincing case for the many ways in which social participatory dance can bring bodies together in public spaces to assert their right to be present and to critique dominant values and power structures. . . . Certainly ambitious." —World of Music

"His research is extraordinarily meticulous and comprehensive. . . . A vital resource for anyone invested in the potency of dance as a platform for social justice." —Journal of Dance Education

"A respected musicologist and vernacular musician, Smith offers a sprawling overview of vernacular dance in the US as evidence of people's 'contesting, constructing, and reinventing social orders'. Highly recommended." —Choice

"Ambitious study." —Journal of Southern History

"A very ambitious and impressive study. The breadth and scope of the book are remarkable. It is highly engaging and readable and expands our understanding of the potential of dance (and music/sound) to serve as a potent force for social engagement."—Julie Malnig, editor of Ballroom, Boogie, Shimmy Sham, Shake: A Social and Popular Dance Reader

From the Publisher