A01=Kate Mattingly
amara tabor-smith
Arlene Croce
arts criticism
Author_Kate Mattingly
Black Dance Stories
canon
Category=ATQ
Category=JBCT
Category=JBSL
choreographic apparatus
counter-criticism
curricular design
dance criticism
dance editors
dance history
dance reviewers
dance writing
documentation
Ebony Magazine
eq_art-fashion-photography
eq_bestseller
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_society-politics
House/Full of BlackWomen
HouseFull of BlackWomen
inclusive dance
injustices of recognition
John Martin
New Media
On the Boards TV
popular press
postmodernism
systemic exclusion
thINKingDANCE
White Supremacy
Yvonne Rainer
Product details
- ISBN 9780813069630
- Weight: 198g
- Dimensions: 152 x 228mm
- Publication Date: 04 Apr 2023
- Publisher: University Press of Florida
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Hardback
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Examining a century of dance criticism in the United States and its influence on aesthetics and inclusion
Dance criticism has long been integral to dance as an art form, serving as documentation and validation of dance performances, yet few studies have taken a close look at the impact of key critics and approaches to criticism over time. The first book to examine dance criticism in the United States across 100 years, from the late 1920s to the early twenty-first century, Shaping Dance Canons argues that critics in the popular press have influenced how dance has been defined and valued, as well as which artists and dance forms have been taken most seriously.
Kate Mattingly likens the effect of dance writing to that of a flashlight, illuminating certain aesthetics at the expense of others. Mattingly shows how criticism can preserve and reproduce criteria for what qualifies as high art through generations of writers and in dance history courses, textbooks, and curricular design. She examines the gatekeeping role of prominent critics such as John Martin and Yvonne Rainer while highlighting the often-overlooked perspectives of writers from minoritized backgrounds and dance traditions. The book also includes an analysis of digital platforms and current dance projects—On the Boards TV, thINKingDANCE, Black Dance Stories, and amara tabor-smith’s House/Full of BlackWomen—that challenge systemic exclusions. In doing so, the book calls for ongoing dialogue and action to make dance criticism more equitable and inclusive.
Dance criticism has long been integral to dance as an art form, serving as documentation and validation of dance performances, yet few studies have taken a close look at the impact of key critics and approaches to criticism over time. The first book to examine dance criticism in the United States across 100 years, from the late 1920s to the early twenty-first century, Shaping Dance Canons argues that critics in the popular press have influenced how dance has been defined and valued, as well as which artists and dance forms have been taken most seriously.
Kate Mattingly likens the effect of dance writing to that of a flashlight, illuminating certain aesthetics at the expense of others. Mattingly shows how criticism can preserve and reproduce criteria for what qualifies as high art through generations of writers and in dance history courses, textbooks, and curricular design. She examines the gatekeeping role of prominent critics such as John Martin and Yvonne Rainer while highlighting the often-overlooked perspectives of writers from minoritized backgrounds and dance traditions. The book also includes an analysis of digital platforms and current dance projects—On the Boards TV, thINKingDANCE, Black Dance Stories, and amara tabor-smith’s House/Full of BlackWomen—that challenge systemic exclusions. In doing so, the book calls for ongoing dialogue and action to make dance criticism more equitable and inclusive.
Kate Mattingly is assistant professor of dance at Old Dominion University. She has written for the New York Times, Village Voice, Dance Magazine and Pointe Magazine, and she is an associate editor of Dance Chronicle.
