Contamination in Cuban Modern Dance Histories

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Abstract

This article examines how and why Cuban modern dancers and their scholars cite several white US dancers as forebearers in their nationalistic, anti-imperialistic, and anti-racist dance tradition. I use contamination to analyze this complicated topic, which threatens to unfairly center US dancers at Cubans' expense or to romantically caricature Cubans defying US imperialism with a nationalist hybrid. Multidirectional, indeterminate contamination moves us away from narratives about US culture as a homogenizing force or a vanquished one. Contamination also importantly connotes stink, given that it is a product of imperialism and capitalism bringing far-flung people into close encounters. US contamination in Cuban modern dance histories, then, pushes attention to the shadowy reaches of the unseemly and incongruous - stylistic impurity, structural racism, historiographic neglect, revolutionary disaffection, and failure. Seeing the regrettable provides a fuller picture of the past, including the often-overlooked reality of shared damage and destructibility.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)26-44
Number of pages19
JournalDance Research Journal
Volume54
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - Dec 1 2022

Keywords

  • Anna Sokolow
  • Arnaldo Patterson
  • Elena Noriega
  • Isadora Duncan
  • Malpaso Dance Company
  • Marianela Boán
  • Martha Graham
  • Merce Cunningham
  • Ramiro Guerra
  • técnica Cubana de danza moderna

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Visual Arts and Performing Arts

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