Dancers create 'civic culture' as performances for public consumption, but also as vernaculars connecting individuals who may have little in common. Examining performance and the construction of culturally diverse communities the book suggests that amateur and concert dance can teach us how to live and work productively together.

For the first time, a book on vernacular dance provides detailed case studies about a range of forms: old-time square dancing in Virginia, Indiana, and Newfoundland; African-American step shows; clogging; Cherokee traditional dance; historical reconstructions of 18th-century dance; and modern contra. This book fills a need from graduate studies to high schools, which are mandated under the Educate America Act to teach dance in historical and cultural perspective. Those interested in folklore, anthropology, dance history, ethnology, aesthetics, American Studies, Appalachian Studies, and more, will benefit from this work as they learn how vernacular dance reflects and shapes communities. The work is divided into four sections. Each section is prefaced with an introductory essay that sets the essays and interviews into a theoretical context. Continuity and Change deals primarily with dance forms that have developed organically within a community. Conserving Tradition considers the conscious efforts of people from a particular culture to maintain a vernacular dance tradition in the face of change. Inventing Tradition examines revival dance and historical dance reconstructions. Finally, Practical Suggestions for the Documentation of Traditional Dance will benefit readers who want to try their hands at research and documentation.

This overview of folk dancing in the United States showcases an important historical movement and explains how folk dance communities evolved to fulfill the needs of specific groups of people over time. While the general term "folk dance" encompasses a surprising variety of specific dances, there are three major recreational communities or forms: international folk dance, modern western square dance, and contra dance. Throughout the last century, millions of people have enjoyed folk dancing as an educational and recreational activity, regardless of the particular style. Folk Dancing explains the reasons for the folk dance movement that exploded in Europe and North America in the late 19th century. It describes the clubs, camps, festivals, and communities that sprang up, and examines the culture of the movement—the music, key individuals and events, types of clothing, and influences of technologies and popular culture. The book contains authoritative, original information gleaned from the author's own research conducted with hundreds of folk dance enthusiasts across America.

Zbornik ('Ponovni premislek o ustvarjanju znanja in vključevanje/izključevanje v plesnih skupnostih, Zbornik 32. Simpozija ICTM Študijske skupine za etnokoreologijo, 29. julij–5. avgust 2022, Brežice, Slovenija') vsebuje izbor prispevkov, predstavljenih na 32. simpoziju ICTM Študijske skupine za etnokoreologijo, osrednji mednarodni konferenci s področja etnokoreologije, plesne antropologije in sorodnih disciplin, ki je potekal v Brežicah od 25. julija do 5. avgusta 2022. Prispevki, predstavljeni na simpoziju in vključeni v zbornik, obravnavajo dve ključni temi: ponovni premislek o ustvarjanju znanja v raziskavah plesa in vključevanje/izključevanje v plesnih skupnostih. Poleg tega je poseben razdelek namenjen plakatom, predstavljenim na simpoziju, dodatek pa ponuja vpogled v utelešeno izkušnjo dogodka, čeprav so ga nekateri doživeli le prek spleta. Zbornik, ki obsega 49 prispevkov 53 avtorjev, sta izdala Mednarodni svet za glasbene in plesne tradicije (ICTMD) in Glasbenonarodopisni inštitut ZRC SAZU.

The popularity and profile of African dance have exploded across the African diaspora in the last fifty years. Hot Feet and Social Change presents traditionalists, neo-traditionalists, and contemporary artists, teachers, and scholars telling some of the thousands of stories lived and learned by people in the field. Concentrating on eight major cities in the United States, the essays challenges myths about African dance while demonstrating its power to awaken identity, self-worth, and community respect. These voices of experience share personal accounts of living African traditions, their first encounters with and ultimate embrace of dance, and what teaching African-based dance has meant to them and their communities. Throughout, the editors alert readers to established and ongoing research, and provide links to critical contributions by African and Caribbean dance experts. Contributors: Ausettua Amor Amenkum, Abby Carlozzo, Steven Cornelius, Yvonne Daniel, Charles “Chuck” Davis, Esailama G. A. Diouf, Indira Etwaroo, Habib Iddrisu, Julie B. Johnson, C. Kemal Nance, Halifu Osumare, Amaniyea Payne, William Serrano-Franklin, and Kariamu Welsh

This popular core textbook offers a clear introduction to community dance practice today, preparing students for the realities of employment in this dynamic and widely studied field. The text is edited by a highly-regarded professional with an international reputation for best practice in community dance, and includes chapters written by an expert panel of contributors, comprising dance artists, practitioners and academics. It combines lively discussion with practical advice on the duty of care, inclusive practice and project coordination. With its stimulating range of case studies, interviews and resources, the reader is encouraged to apply the facts and theories to their own practice. This text is aimed at undergraduate and postgraduate students on community dance degree programmes, as well as undergraduate and postgraduate students of dance, theatre and performance studies who are taking specific courses on community dance. It is also accessible to emerging and professional community dance practitioners.

In Appalachian Dance: Creativity and Continuity in Six Communities, Susan Eike Spalding brings to bear twenty-five years' worth of rich interviews with black and white Virginians, Tennesseeans, and Kentuckians to explore the evolution and social uses of dance in each region. Spalding analyzes how issues as disparate as industrialization around coal, plantation culture, race relations, and the 1970s folk revival influenced freestyle clogging and other dance forms like square dancing in profound ways. She reveals how African Americans and Native Americans, as well as European immigrants drawn to the timber mills and coal fields, brought movement styles that added to local dance vocabularies. Placing each community in its sociopolitical and economic context, Spalding analyzes how the formal and stylistic nuances found in Appalachian dance reflect the beliefs, shared understandings, and experiences of the community at large, paying particular attention to both regional and racial diversity. Written in clear and accessible prose, Appalachian Dance is a lively addition to the literature and a bold contribution to scholarship concerned with the meaning of movement and the ever-changing nature of tradition.