The Male Dancer: Bodies, Spectacle and Sexuality

by Ramsay Burt

Book Overview

In this challenging and lively book, Ramsay Burt examines the representation of masculinity in twentieth century dance. Taking issue with formalist and modernist accounts of dance, which dismiss... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 041508900X
• Release Date: May 1995
• Publisher: Routledge
• Length: 236 Pages
• Weight: 1.18 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.1" x 0.5" x 6.0"

Customer Reviews

Maybe Dance Isn't So Different from the Rest of the Culture?

Sometime in the 19th Century, the male dancer disappeared from the stage. One senses that Burt hoped that once the creature was spotted again that he might be found to be softer, more sensual and loving, than the one who was lost. Steeped in postmodern cultural theory, including the ideas of Jameson and Butler, Burt dissects the 'new man' as rendered by Nijinsky and his many kin. Alas, the encounter turns out to be more like Kate Millet's meeting with Henry Miller in Sexual Politics; it's good that he has again become visible. However, he's pretty much the same man who left--silent, hard, a soldier returned from his latest savagery.