Stripping the Emporer: Africanist Pressence in American Concert Dance

The article Stripping the Emperor, Brenda Dixon Gottschild exploration the relationship between American concert dance and Africanist dance with a specific focus on the perceptions and deceptions of their connectivity. Moreover, Gottschild invokes a greater discussion of the broader definitions of black-white relations in contemporary American society. With the deconstruction of africanist dance forms, namely: embracing the conflict, polycentrism, high-affect juxtaposition, ephebism and the aesthetic of the cool, Gotschild contextualizes a better understanding and evidential exploration in dance form and culture. As a societal construct, dance recognizes political persuasions and power,
Gottschild's articulates the elements of African and American aesthetic, analyzing the various Africanist aesthetic shapes present and reflective within American dance performance. With focus on classical European and American dance forms, she suggests the cultural significance of the Africanist aesthetic in reshaping classical dance, Americanizing it with the development of modern dance and modern ballet. She also explores process through which Africanist presence is seemingly erased. The history of racism and disenfranchisement have great impact on the agency of dance and expression for African Americans, as discussed in precious classes. Performance traditions, such as minstrelsy perpetuate stereotypes, inferiorising and illegitimatizing many black aesthetic forms while simultaneously taking them. The influence of Africanist form on contemporary American dance seems irrefutable.
The presence of Africanist within European American artistic endeavors is present in many modern arenas. Particularly George Balanchine’s adoption of africanist form into his ballets challenges this perceptions of Affricanist form and structure. Over all, the article speaks beyond just issues of dance, creative license and agency, and begs for a greater cultural analysis.