The Male Dancer: Bodies, Spectacle, Sexualities

ISBN-10: 0203376528
ISBN-13: 9780203376522
Pages: 230
Language: English
Published: 1995
Publisher: Routledge
Author: Ramsay Burt

Description

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 gender and sexuality as irrelevant, he argues that prejudices against male dancers are rooted in our ideas about the male body and male behaviour. Building upon ideas about the gendered gaze developed by film and feminist theorists, Ramsay Burt provides a provocative theory of spectorship in dance. He uses this to examine the work of choreographers like Nijinsky, Graham, Bausch, while relating.