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Date Posted: 21:26:40 03/04/08 Tue
Author: SS
Subject: Re: TA362LESSONPLANS1
In reply to: SS 's message, "TA362LESSONPLANS1" on 21:19:37 03/04/08 Tue

The most prevalent theoretical assumptions concerning qualities of black social dance derive, in part, from acorpus of literary descriptions created by immobile cultural outsiders fascinated by the mysterious power ofblack dance. These writings draw a rich portrait of dance's potentially actionable meanings, even when thosemeanings are consistently misread by [white] audiences. Consider the performance of a dancer thought to beMaster Juba, a champion dancer, witnessed by author Charles Dickens in 1842, and chronicled in theauthor’s often-cited American Notes: "He never leaves off making queer faces, and is the delight of all therest, who grin from ear to ear incessantly" (Dickens, 1968: 110). Dances of celebration. Dickens continued:"Single shuffle, double shuffle, cut and cross-cut: snapping his fingers, rolling his eyes, turning in his knees,presenting the backs of his legs in front, spinning about on his toes and heels like nothing but the man'sfingers on the tambourine; dancing with two left legs, two right legs, two wooden legs, two wire legs, twospring legs - all sorts of legs and no legs - what is this to him?" (Dickens, 1968: 112). Dances of subversiveperformance. "And in what walk of life, or dance of life, does an ever get such stimulating applause asthunders about him, when, having danced his partner off her feet, and himself too, he finished by leapinggloriously on the bar-counter, and calling for something to drink, with the chuckle of a million counterfeit JimCrows, in one inimitable sound?" (Dickens, 1968: 112). Dances of actionable assertion.

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