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Article: Balanchine in black.(Rants and Raves)(George Balanchine)
- Article from:
- Dance Magazine
- Article date:
- October 1, 2004
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2004 Dance Magazine, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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The George Balanchine centennial "chatter" is animated and enthusiastic. ("Chatter," as used in current newspeak on international security, means "intense activity.") Everybody's talking about Balanchine's influence on dance. How about looking at dance's influence on Balanchine? I'm thinking about an ingredient that is routinely overlooked or treated as ah afterthought, if mentioned at all. It's the Africanist presence in the maestro's works--in movements, ways of moving, and attitudes affecting how the movement is done.
Chapter 5 of my book, Digging the Africanist Presence in American Performance (Greenwood, 1998), gives an in-depth discussion of this topic. I ...