Dance and Activism: A Century of Radical Dance Across the World

217 Pages·2021·2.782 MB·English

by  Dana Mills

DANCE AND
ACTIVISM
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DANCE AND
ACTIVISM
A Century of Radical Dance
Across the World
Dana Mills
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BLOOMSBURY ACADEMIC
Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
50 Bedford Square, London, WC1B 3DP, UK
1385 Broadway, New York, NY 10018, USA
29 Earlsfort Terrace, Dublin 2, Ireland

BLOOMSBURY, BLOOMSBURY ACADEMIC and the Diana logo are
trademarks of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

First published in Great Britain 2021

Copyright © Dana Mills, 2021

Dana Mills has asserted her right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents
Act, 1988, to be identifi ed as Author of this work.

For legal purposes the Acknowledgments on pp. x–xvi constitute an
extension of this copyright page.

Cover design by Jade Barnett
Cover image © Henrik Sorensen / Getty Images

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and publisher regret any inconvenience caused if addresses have
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responsibility for any such changes.

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Mills, Dana, 1981– author.
Title: Dance and activism : a century of radical dance across the world / Dana Mills.
Description: London, UK ; New York, NY : Bloomsbury Academic, 2021. | Includes bibliographical
references and index. | Summary: “This study focuses on dance as an activist practice in and of
itself, across geographical locations and over the course of a century, from 1920 to 2020. Through
doing so, it considers how dance has been an empowering agent for political action throughout
civilisation. Dance and Activism offers a glimpse of different strategies of mobilizing the human
body for good and justice for all, and captures the increasing political activism epitomized by bodies
moving on the streets in some of the most turbulent political situations. This has, most recently,
undoubtedly been partly owing to the rise of the far-right internationally, which has marked an
increase in direct action on the streets. Offering a survey of key events across the century, such as
the fall of President Zuma in South Africa; pro-reproductive rights action in Poland and Argentina;
and the recent women’s marches against Donald Trump’s presidency, you will see how dance has
become an urgent fi eld of study. Key geographical locations are explored as sites of radical dance
– the Lower East Side of New York; Gaza; Syria; Cairo, Iran; Iraq; Johannesburg – to name but a few
– and get insights into some of the major fi gures in the history of dance, including Pearl Primus,
Martha Graham, Anna Sokolow and Ahmad Joudah. Crucially, lesser or unknown dancers, who have
in some way infl uenced politics, all over the world are brought into the limelight (the Syrian
ballerinas and Hussein Smko, for example). Dance and Activism troubles the boundary between
theory and practice, while presenting concrete case studies as a site for robust theoretical
analysis”—Provided by publisher.
Identifi ers: LCCN 2020045161 (print) | LCCN 2020045162 (ebook) |
ISBN 9781350137011 (hardback) | ISBN 9781350137028 (ebook) | ISBN 9781350137035 (epub)
Subjects: LCSH: Dance—Political aspects. | Dance and globalization. |
Human body—Political aspects. | Political art.
Classifi cation: LCC GV1588.45 .M55 2021 (print) | LCC GV1588.45 (ebook) | DDC 792.8—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020045161
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020045162

ISBN: HB: 978-1-3501-3701-1
ePDF: 978-1-3501-3702-8
eBook: 978-1-3501-3703-5

Typeset by Refi neCatch Limited, Bungay, Suffolk

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This book was written for all dancers who work to
make the world a better place.
And especially my friends, Leah Cox
and Blakeley White-McGuire.
Dedicated to the memory of my father, Harold Mills.
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Th is is not the end but only the beginning of the struggle . . . We must
not be like some Christians who sin for six days and go to church on
the seventh, but we must speak for the cause daily, and make the men,
and especially the women that we meet, come into the ranks to help us.
ELEANOR MARX , 1890
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CONTENTS
List of Illustrations ix
Preface and Acknowledgments x
1 IF WE CAN’T DANCE, WE DON’T WANT TO BE
PART OF YOUR REVOLUTION 1
Alienation 7
Solidarity 10
Method 19
2 PRELUDE TO ACTION 27
Martha Graham: Embodied Chronicle 28
“Go Ahead and be a Bastard”: Anna Sokolow 42
“Through Dance I Have Experienced the Wordless Joy of
Freedom”: Pearl Primus 53
Dance as Intervention, Dance as Action 64
3 BALLET BEYOND BORDERS 65
“No One is Born Hating Another Person Because of the Color of
his Skin” 68
“Going around the House Like a Butterfl y” 72
Ballet, Home, Syria 75
The Canon Must be Fired! Ballet and the Long Arc of
History 80
There is Only Now: Radical Ballet Going Forward 86
4 ERBIL/NEW YORK CITY: BREAK/DANCE 89
The Body in Battle 89
Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay 92
Not Just for You, But for the Rest of the Earth 96
Ballade of Belonging 98
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At the Still Point of the Turning World 101
Break/Dance: Echoing Further: Erbil 106
5 STEPS IN THE STREET: REVOLUTION DJ 109
Dance on the March 109
The People (Dancing) United Can Never be Defeated 110
Dancing Onwards! 126
6 DANCE AS A HOME 129
Transitions 131
Home, Exile, Words, Movement 135
Arriving 140
Storytelling 142
Unraveling 145
Homelessness–Devastation–Exile 148
7 SPECTRE, HAUNTING 151
Notes 169
Bibliography 189
Index 195
viii CONTENTS
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Martha Graham in “Spectre—1914” from “Chronicle” 23
Emma Goldman addressing a rally in support of birth control
at Union Square, 1916 28
Concert program for the Martha Graham Dance Company
at the Guild Th eatre, December 20, 1936 30
Martha Graham Dance Company in “Steps in the Street”
from “Chronicle” 39
US choreographer Anna Sokolow instructs a class at the
Dance Company of NSW, Woolloomooloo 45
Dancer Pearl Primus performing 54
Palestinian girls take part in a ballet class at Qattan
Centre for the Child in Gaza City November 10, 2015 74
Daily life in Erbil 95
Hussein Smko and Amanita Jean in the duet “Antoinette,”
Battery Dance Festival 2019 102
Women wearing a yellow vest (g ilet jaune) dance and
hold banners in Le Mans, on January 13, 2019 114
Palestinians perform a traditional folk dance called
“dabke” in Khan Yunis, Gaza on October 10, 2018 119
Martha Graham in “Spectre—1914” from “Chronicle” 152
Leslie Andrea Williams in “Spectre—1914” from “Chronicle”,
2019 158
Blakeley White-McGuire dances at Socrates Park,
New York City, 2019 166
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