The editors of this anthology analyze a broad range of themes and dance styles in order to examine how dance has helped to shape American identity. This volume focuses on dance and its social, cultural, and political constructs. “Unpredictable. Counterintuitive. Stunningly conceived. So you think you know dance history? These anthologies are full of revelations.”—Mindy Aloff, editor of Leaps in the Dark: Art and the World “This is a picture of American dance—and a picture of America through dance—as we have not conceived of it before, advancing the bold and capacious idea that movement can illuminate who Americans are and who they want to be. A startlingly original compilation that includes stops in the unlikeliest places, it makes the case that following the moving body into every byway of life reveals an America that has been hiding in plain sight. It will be impossible to think of this subject in the same way again.?”—Suzanne Carbonneau, George Mason University and scholar in residence, Jacob’s Pillow. The two volumes of Perspectives on American Dance are the first anthologies in over twenty-five years to focus exclusively on American dance practices across a wide span of American culture. They show how social experience, courtship, sexualities, and other aspects of life in America are translated through dancing into spatial patterns, gestures, and partner relationships. Essays in these collections address rarely studied topics in American dance and offer unexpected perspectives on commonly studied dance forms. These two volumes show how dancing functions as a template for American identity. The accessible essays in these anthologies use a combination of movement analysis, thematic interpretation, and historical context to convey the vitality and variety of American dance. Only $99.44, regularly priced $104.56 + Free 2-Day Shipping and Free Store Pickup at Walmart right HERE ←