Dance, modernity, and culture : explorations in the sociology of dance / Helen Thomas.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Thomas, Helen, 1947-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Dance--Sociological aspects.

Dance.

Modern dance--Social aspects--United States--History.

Modern dance.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (224p. ) ill.

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

London ; New York : Routledge, 1995.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Dance, modernity and culture explores an area of art practice that has long been marginalised by sociologists of art. As an important contribution to dance scholarship this book will be essential reading for anyone interested in the performing arts.

In Dance, Modernity and Culture, Helen Thomas provides an original, interdiscplinary, approach to the study of dance. By examining the development of modern dance in the USA during the inter-war period she develops a framework for analysing dance from a sociological perspective. In applying her approach to the work of St Denis, Ted Shawn, and Martha Graham, amongst others, she relates the emergence of modern dance to (contemporaneous) artistic developments, and locates dance within a wider social and economic context. Thus, she draws attention to the importance of popular culture in the development of modern dance, music and painting, and the crucial role women played in establishing dance as an art form. By way of exemplification, she looks at the work of Yvonne Rainer in order to demonstrate how this sociological approach might be applied to a post-modern work. Dance, Modernity and Culture explores an area of art practice that has long been marginalised by sociologists of Art. As an important contribution to dance scholarship this book will be essential reading for all those interested in the performing arts.

Contents:

chapter 1 FORMULATING A SOCIOLOGY OF DANCE

chapter 2 THEATRICAL DANCE IN AMERICA FROM THE EIGHTEENTH TO THE NINETEENTH CENTURY

chapter 3 TRANSITIONS

chapter 4 BEGINNINGS: DANCE AND THE PROCESSES OF CULTURAL REPRODUCTION

chapter 5 ICONOCLASTS FROM DENISHAWN

chapter 6 DANCE, MODERNITY AND CULTURE

chapter 7 SHIFTING HORIZONS

chapter 8 CONCEPTUAL AMERICANISM, MODERNISM AND UNIVERSALISM IN MUSIC AND DANCE

chapter 9 APPALACHIAN SPRING

chapter 10 CONCLUSION.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

1-134-88182-7

1-134-88183-5

0-415-08793-7

1-280-02199-3

0-203-35973-9

9780203359730

OCLC:

437082050