Presenting seven examples from Africa, Southeast Asia, Melanesia and Oceania, this study attempts to further the anthropological understanding of dance's social significance and critical relevance by exploring it as a reflection of social forces.

Considers the way that the comparsas, Peruvian dance troupes, exert influence on Peruvian society and hasten social change. Contains several excerpts of comparsas performances.

This volume examines the theme of fusion in Caribbean dance from a wide range of perspectives, including its socio-cultural-historical formation. The contributions are drawn from a conference entitled “Caribbean Fusion Dance Works: Rituals of Modern Society”, which focused primarily on the Caribbean as a unique locale. However, chapters on dance fusions in other diasporic locations and the sustainability of dance as an art form are also included here in order to offer a sense of an inevitable and, in some instances, desirable evolution due to the globalizing forces that continue to influence dance.

Coaxing the Spirits to Dance explores the relationship between social life and artistic expression since the nineteenth century in one of the most important art-producing regions of Papua New Guinea. It includes a stunning presentation of hand-carved and hand-painted ancestor boards, masks, drums, skull racks, and personal items. Each society on the Papuan Gulf had its own elaborate traditions of carved, painted, or decorated masks, boards, and hand drums that filled the men's longhouses for use in dances and performances. Today these art objects offer a glimpse into the varied cosmologies and ritual lives of these surprisingly diverse societies before they were changed significantly through their contact with the West.

The first analysis of the development of the jook and other dance arenas in African-American culture.

A radical reconception of Degas' sculpture through the lens of gender, labor and more, with new photography of the works This substantial new monograph on the work of Edgar Degas (1834-1917), one of the most significant artists of the 19th and 20th centuries, is a decisive contribution to the literature on the French Impressionist artist. An innovative and groundbreaking book, with underlying discussions related to "dance, politics and society," it pays special attention to issues of gender, identity, labor, race and the representation of women. Degas worked in various mediums, and, at the end of his life, left around 6,000 works, including 2,000 related to the world of dance and ballet. The contradictions and ambiguities of his art, especially the way he straddles both tradition and modernity, reaffirm both his uniqueness and significance in the history of Western art. Degas: Dance, Politics and Society includes ten essays, never before published, by experts around the world, and also features a visual essay of black-and-white photographs of the bronze sculptures, including Little Dancer Aged Fourteen, by the Brazilian artist Sofia Borges. Through her camera, Borges reinterprets and conceives new images of Degas' most cherished and classic sculptures. Borges' extraordinary photographs reveal, transform and revisit Degas' works in an innovative and radical manner.

Around the globe, dances that originate in village, temple, and court rituals have been adapted and transformed to carry secular meanings and serve new national purposes. In stage performances, dance competitions, and festivals worldwide, dance has become an emblem of ethnicity and an index of national identity. But what are the "backstage" stories of those dances, and what have been the consequences for their communities of origin? In Dance and the Nation, Susan A. Reed brings to light the complexities of aesthetic politics in a multi-faceted exploration and analysis of the Kandyan dance of Sri Lanka. The dance, which is identified with the island's majority Sinhala ethnic group, is heavily supported by the state. Derived from the Kohomba kankariya, an elaborate village ritual performed by men of the hereditary drummer caste, the dance was adopted by the state as a symbol of traditional Sinhala culture in the postindependence period and opened to individuals of all castes. Reed's evocative account traces the history and consequences of this transition from ritual to stage, situating the dance in relation to postcolonial nationalism and ethnic politics and emphasizing the voices and perspectives of the hereditary dancers and women performers. Kandyan dance is characterized by an elegant and energetic style and lively displays of agility. The companion DVD includes unparalleled footage of this vibrant dance in ritual, stage, and training contexts, and features the most esteemed performers of the Kandyan region.