Staging Ghana : artistry and nationalism in state dance ensembles / Paul Schauert.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Schauert, Paul W., author.

Series:

Ethnomusicology multimedia

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Folk dancing--Ghana.

Folk dancing.

Ghana Dance Ensemble.

Dance companies--Ghana.

Dance companies.

Nationalism and the arts--Ghana.

Nationalism and the arts.

Cultural policy.

Ghana--Cultural policy.

Ghana.

Physical Description:

xx, 342 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm.

Place of Publication:

Bloomington : Indiana University Press, [2015]

Summary:

The Ghana Dance Ensemble takes Ghana's national culture and interprets it in performance using authentic dance forms adapted for local or foreign audiences. Often, says Paul Schauert, the aims of the ensemble and the aims of the individual performers work in opposition. Schauert discusses the history of the dance troupe and its role in Ghana's post-independence nation-building strategy and illustrates how the nation's culture makes its way onto the stage. He argues that as dancers negotiate the terrain of what is or is not authentic, they also find ways to express their personal aspirations, discovering, within the framework of nationalism or collective identity, that there is considerable room to reform national ideals through individual virtuosity. Book jacket.

Contents:

Introduction. Managing nationalism, crossing crocodiles, and staging ethnography

1. Beyond ethnicity, beyond Ghana : staging and embodying African personality

2. Dancing essences : sensational staging and the cosmopolitan politics of authentication

3. Soldiers of culture : discipline, artistry, and alternative education

4. Speak to the wind : staging the state and performing indirection

5. "We are the originals" : a tale of two troupes and the birth of contemporary dance in Ghana

6. Politics of personality : creativity, competition, and self-expression within a unitary matrix

Conclusion. Managing self, state, and nation.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 295-325) and index.

ISBN:

9780253017321

0253017327

9780253017420

0253017424

OCLC:

896601186