When Men Dance explores the intersection of dance and perceptions of male gender and sexuality across history and different cultural contexts. In many societies, the public performance of dance is regarded as a feminine activity, so that men who dance often operate in a sea of stereotypes. This volume's scholarly essays tackles the history and dilemmas that revolve around dance and notions of masculinity from a variety of dance studies perspectives. Accompanying the theoretical chapters are a group of fascinating personal histories that complement their themes. The dancing male body emerges in its many contexts, from the ballet, modern, and popular dance world to stages in Georgian and Victorian England, Weimar Germany, India and the Middle East. The men who dance and those who analyze them tell stories that will be both familiar and surprising for insiders and outsiders alike.

Table of Contents

"ISSUES IN THE PINK AND BLUE WEST"; MAVERICK MEN IN BALLET: RETHINKING THE "MAKING IT MACHO" STRATEGY (JENNIFER FISHER); KRISTOPHER WOJTERA, AARON COTA; WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT BOYS WHO DANCE: THE LIMITATIONS OF CONTEMPORARY MASCULINITY AND DANCE EDUCATION (DOUG RISNER) DAVID ALLAN, MICHEL GERVAIS; IS DANCE A MAN'S SPORT TOO? THE PERFORMANCE OF ATHLETIC-CODED MASCULINITY ON THE CONCERT DANCE STAGE (MAURA KEEFE) FRED STRICKLER RENNIE HARRIS; TRANSCENDING GENDER IN BALLET'S LINES (JILL NUNES JENSEN) CHRISTIAN BURNS; THE PERFORMANCE OF UNMARKED MASCULINITY (RAMSAY BURT) DONALD MCKAYLE, JOHN PENNINGTON; "HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES"; PRICKED DANCES: THE SPECTATOR, DANCE, AND MASCULINITY IN EARLY 18TH CENTURY ENGLAND; (JOHN BRYCE JORDAN )SETH WILLIAMS; GENDER TRUMPS RACE? CROSS-DRESSING IN EARLY BLACKFACE MINSTRELSY; (STEPHEN JOHNSON); PAUL BABIAK: DIARY OF "CHANNELING JUBA" REHEARSALS; AUSDRUCKSTANZ, WORKER'S CULTURE AND MASCULINITY IN GERMANY IN THE 1920S AND 1930S; YVONNE HARDT; HELLMUT GOTTSCHILD; "LEGACIES OF COLONIALISM"; INVENTED HYPERMASCULINITY: COLONIAL INFLUENCES ON DANCE STYLES IN EGYPT, IRAN, AND UZBEKISTAN (ANTHONY SHAY) JAMAL; NATIVE MOTION AND IMPERIAL EMOTION: MALE PERFORMERS OF THE 'ORIENT' AND THE POLITICS OF THE IMPERIAL GAZE (STAVROS STAVROU KARAYANNI) NAMUS ZOKHRABOV; IBRAHIM FARRAH: DANCER, TEACHER, CHOREOGRAPHER, PUBLISHER (BARBARA SELLERS-YOUNG) SALEEM AZOUKA; FROM GYNEMIMESIS TO HYPER-MASCULINITY: THE SHIFTING ORIENTATIONS OF MALE PERFORMERS OF SOUTH INDIAN COURT DANCE (HARI KRISHNAN) NAATYAACHAARYA V.P. DHANANJAYAN ARUN MATHAI; APPENDIX A: NOTES ON PERSONAL HISTORY INTERVIEWS; APPENDIX B: QUESTIONS FOR PERSONAL HISTORY INTERVIEWS; NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS

Reviews

"An intriguing, readable book about how, why, when, and where men dance...Highly recommended." --Choice
"When Men Dance is an eclectic collection of essays and personal narratives comparing the experiences of male dancers across a wide array of historical and cultural contexts. While the volume includes work by some leading scholars in the field, it also reaches out to the non-specialist, asking in both complex and heartfelt ways how masculinity is performed through movement."-Barbara Browning, New York University and author, Infectious Rhythm: Metaphors of Contagion and the Spread of African Culture (1998)
"Here at last is a richly diverse and compelling anthology that challenges any previously homogeneous notions of men in dance. Gathered in these pages are a range of perspectives that are at once so informative and so personal that they will forever change how you see male dancers and roles danced by men."-Naomi Jackson, Arizona State University and author, Converging Move