Oxford Handbook of Dance and Theater

About this book

The Oxford Handbook of Dance and Theater collects a critical mass of border-crossing scholarship on the intersections of dance and theater. Taking corporeality as an idea that unites the work of dance and theater scholars and artists, and embodiment as a negotiation of power dynamics with important stakes, the chapters in the book focus on the politics and poetics of the moving body in performance both on and off stage. Contemporary stage performances have sparked global interest in new experiments between dance and theater, and this volume situates this interest in its historical context by extensively investigating other such moments: from pagan mimes of late antiquity to early modern archives to Bolshevik Russia, from post-Sandinista Nicaragua to Chinese opera on the international stage, to contemporary flash mobs and television dance contests. Ideologically, the essays investigate critical race theory, affect theory, cognitive science, historiography, dance dramaturgy, spatiality, gender, somatics, ritual, and biopolitics among other modes of inquiry. In terms of aesthetics, they examine many genres, from musical theater to political demonstrations by way of numerous traditions. From African total theater to philanthroproductions to early modern performance, The Oxford Handbook of Dance and Theater stretches around the globe and from the cutting edge of performance studies back in time to the age of Shakespeare. The handbook presents innovative essays from both young and seasoned scholars, and from scholar/practitioners who are working at the cutting edge of their fields. The essays offer new insight into well-studied areas, challenge current knowledge, attend to neglected practices or moments in time, and identify emergent themes. The overall result is a better understanding of the roles of dance and theater in the performative production of meaning. -- from dust jacket.