The essays in The Living Dance: An Anthology of Essays on Movement and Culture explore the history of both eastern and western forms of dance, and emphasize important trends in contemporary theatrical and social performance. Each of the dances discussed brings into focus the vitality and richness of the cultures that produced them. 

Completely updated throughout, the 3rd edition of The Living Dance examines:



Native American Dances of New Mexico
Mexican and New Mexican Dances
Deep Song Dances of Gypsy Blacksmiths
Modernism in Dance
African American Influences on Dance
Dance in India
Dance in Film
A Critical Appreciation of Dances


The Living Dance demonstrates how important the local knowledge of movement styles informs the essential understanding of how dance functions on many levels. 

Throughout the book, the reader witnesses the way dance responds to conquest, fusion, the advancement of subcultures, gender roles, fashions of clothing on the body while dancing, and to the survival of communities. 

Through the essays, numerous photographs, and reflection journal, the reader will learn the power of dance during their quest for mutual cross-cultural understanding.

Featuring three new authors (Dawn Lille, Michelle Hayes, and Yasmine Jahanmir), The Living Dance provides a contemporary, critical, and feminist perspective to the history of dance.