Black Dance in London, 1730-1850: Innovation, Tradition and Resistance

Black Dance in London, 1730-1850: Innovation, Tradition and Resistance
ISBN-10
078649204X
ISBN-13
9780786492046
Category
Performing Arts
Pages
205
Language
English
Published
2014-11-26
Publisher
McFarland
Author
Rodreguez King-Dorset

Description

The survival of African cultural traditions in the New World has long been a subject of academic study and controversy, particularly traditions of dance, music, and song. Yet the dance culture of blacks in London, where a growing black community carried on the newly creolized dance traditions of their Caribbean ancestors, has been largely neglected. This study begins by examining the importance of dance in African culture and analyzing how African dance took root in the Caribbean, even as slaves learned and adapted European dance forms. It then looks at how these dance traditions were transplanted and transformed once again, this time in mid-eighteenth century London. Finally it analyzes how the London black community used the quadrille and other dances to establish a unified self-identity, to reinforce their group dynamic, and to critique the oppressive white society in which they found themselves.

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