Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in
Palgrave Macmillan
Book cover

Narratives in Black British Dance

Embodied Practices

  • Book
  • © 2018

Overview

Editors:
  1. Adesola Akinleye

    1. Middlesex University, London, United Kingdom

    View editor publications

    You can also search for this editor in PubMed   Google Scholar

  • Remedies the distinct lack of publication on Dance of the African Diaspora from a post-­colonial British perspective
  • Includes work from scholars and artists from across the field of dance
  • Explores the multi-layered, multi-dimensional nature of artists and artistic work from within the spectrums of ‘Blackness', ‘Britishness’, and ‘dance’

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this book

Log in via an institution
eBook USD 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access

Licence this eBook for your library

Institutional subscriptions

Table of contents (18 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xxxii
    Download chapter PDF

  2. Narratives in Black British Dance: An Introduction

    • Adesola Akinleye
    Pages 1-17

  4. Part II

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 79-82
      Download chapter PDF

    2. Trails of Ado: Kokuma’s Cultural Self-Defence

      • Thea Barnes
      Pages 83-100

    3. Moving Tu Balance: An African Holistic Dance as a Vehicle for Personal Development from a Black British Perspective

      • Sandra Golding
      Pages 101-113

    4. ‘Why I Am Not a Fan of the Lion King’: Ethically Informed Approaches to the Teaching and Learning of South African Dance Forms in Higher Education in the United Kingdom

      • Sarahleigh Castelyn
      Pages 115-129

    5. Performativity of Body Painting: Symbolic Ritual as Diasporic Identity

      • Chikukwango Cuxima-Zwa
      Pages 131-166

    6. Dancehall: A Continuity of Spiritual, Corporeal Practice in Jamaican Dance

      • H. Patten
      Pages 167-186

    7. Our Ethiopian Connection: Embodied Ethiopian Culture as a Tool in Urban-Contemporary Choreography

      • Ras Mikey (Michael) Courtney
      Pages 187-200

    8. Reflections: Snapshots of Dancing Home, 1985, 2010 and 2012

      • Hopal Romans
      Pages 201-211
Back to top

Keywords

About this book

This book explores Black British dance from a number of previously-untold perspectives. Bringing together the voices of dance-artists, scholars, teachers and choreographers, it looks at a range of performing arts from dancehall to ballet, providing valuable insights into dance theory, performance, pedagogy, identity and culture. It challenges the presumption that Blackness, Britishness or dance are monolithic entities, instead arguing that all three are living networks created by rich histories, diverse faces and infinite future possibilities. Through a variety of critical and creative essays, this book suggests a widening of our conceptions of what British dance looks like, where it appears, and who is involved in its creation.

Reviews

“This is a timely, even crucial, anthology – a contribution to the emergent canon of scholarly work revealing Africanist cultural streams which, though ‘invisibilized’ in a European post-colonial world, are alive and well, despite systemic racism and xenophobic exclusionism. Narratives in Black British Dance is a rich and varied category and home base to embodied scholarship, performance, choreography and research by a cadre of gifted practitioners. It has a history. It has a present and a presence. It deserves this attention.” (Brenda Dixon-Gottschild, Professor Emerita of Dance Studies, Temple University, USA)

“An important treaty to the significance of dance community challenging dominant stereotypes and structures that reproduce social inequalities, this book makes a vital and exciting contribution to the dance field, mapping humanizing possibilities dance can offer the 21st century.” (Doug Risner, Editor-in-Chief Emeritus of Journal of Dance Education and Associate Editor of Research in Dance Education)

“This informative book is not just for scholarly research, but highlights the importance of artist discovery, journey development, and the understanding and practice of dance-art forms in Britain. Journeys we have witnessed in each other.” (Jackie Guy, MBE, CD, Teacher and Choreographer)

“An urgent offering to the expanding field of Dance Studies!  Exploring a range of artistic practices from a variety of research perspectives, this volume affirms the deep histories of the embodied arts in Black Britain. These potent essays demonstrate that the moving body makes meaning through experience.  A vibrant animation of the narrative turn of dance scholarship, this book is required reading for everyone in dance and cultural studies.” (Thomas F. DeFrantz, Founding Director of the Collegium for African Diaspora Dance)

Editors and Affiliations

  • Middlesex University, London, United Kingdom

    Adesola Akinleye

About the editor

Adesola Akinleye is Senior Dance Lecturer at Middlesex University, UK. She is a practice-based scholar and choreographer, living transnationally and writing and creating performance work internationally.

Bibliographic Information

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Back to top

Search

Navigation