Anna Briggs - Stripping the Emperor

In this essay, Brenda Dixon Gottschild discusses the influence of the "Africanist" aesthetic on American dance.  She elaborates on how various factors such as embracing conflict, polycentrism, high-affect juxtaposition, ephebism and the aesthetic of cool have originated in African culture and have imbedded themselves in the American dance tradition.  To illuminate the extent to which African dance has become an integral part of American dance, Gottschild uses the example of Earl "Snake Hips" Tucker.  She writes of his awkward but smooth movements, cool expression, and childish playfulness, but with the snippets of description of his dance I still could not entirely picture it.  After finding a video of "Snake Hips" himself dancing online, I could immediately see the point Gottschild was arguing, as well as the reason for Earl Tucker's nickname.  As he waves his hips back and forth, he simultaneously looks like he is going to fall down while being totally in control.  The playfulness was also apparent, as during his dance it as if he is toying with the audience, pushing the limits of their expectations of just how well he can move.

Later in her essay Gottschild discusses the Africanist influence on ballet, particularly in the American tradition as introduced by George Ballanchine.  She details how his incorporation of off-center movements, articulation of the torso, and relation to the ground as opposed to the air have "Americanized" ballet by bringing in Africanist movements.  I found her analysis of Balanchine's contribution to ballet to be very interesting, and I wish I could see an example of his work.  Certainly I understand that ballet, as a dance and as a discourse, has evolved and adopted new styles and aesthetics into its repertoire, but it would be interesting to see a Ballanchine ballet and compare it to a very traditional European ballet.  Would it still have the same feel for the audience?  I would expect it to to some extent, because it is still ballet, but certainly some of the European rigidity has been done away with, so I would be curious to see this in practice.