The Male Dancer

About this book

The Male Dancer 2nd Edition updates and enlarges a classic Routledge title that has established itself as the definitive study of the role of men in ballet, modern and postmodern dance. In this challenging and lively book, Burt examines the representation of masculinity in twentieth and twenty-first century dance. Taking issue with formalist and modernist accounts of dance, which dismisses gender and sexuality as irrelevant, he argues that prejudices against male dancers are rooted in our ideas about the male body and male behavior. Drawing on recent developments in dance and performance theory, Burt provides a provocative theory of spectatorship in dance. He examines the work of choreographers such as Nijinsky, Graham, Bausch and Bill T Jones, relating performances of masculinity in their dances to the social, political and artistic contexts in which these were produced. The Male Dancer has proven to be essential reading for anyone interested in dance and the cultural construction of gender. Ramsay Burt has thoroughly updated this important work to include dance works from the last ten years. Reflecting on the latest studies in theory, performance and practice, he has renewed its timeliness for centuries.