Embodied Nostalgia: Early Twentieth Century Social Dance and the Choreographing of Broadway Musical Theatre...

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Phoebe Rumsey

Embodied Nostalgia

Early Twentieth Century Social Dance and the Choreographing of Broadway Musical Theatre

Phoebe Rumsey

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English

Routledge
18 December 2024

Performance art; Theatre Studies; Dance; Jazz; Musicals

Series: Routledge Advances in Theatre & Performance Studies

Embodied Nostalgia is a collection of interlocking case studies that focus on how social dance in musical theatre brings forth the dancer on stage as a site of embodied history, cultural memory, and nostalgia, and asks what social dance is doing performatively, dramaturgically, and critically in musical theatre.

The case studies in this volume are all Broadway musicals set during the Jazz Age (1910-1950), however, performed and produced after that time, creating a spectrum of nostalgic impulses that are interrogated for social and political resonance and meaning. All reflect the fractures or changes in the social dance when brought to the stage and expose the complexities of the embodied nostalgia – broadly interpreted as the physicalizing of community memories, longings, and historical meaning – the dances carry with them. Particular attention is focused on the Black ownership of the social dances and the subsequent appropriation, cultural theft, and forgotten legacies.

By approaching musical theatre through this lens of social dance––always already deeply connected to notions of class and race––and the politics of choreography therein, a unique and necessary method to describing, discussing, and critically evaluating the body in motion in musical theatre is put forth.

By: Phoebe Rumsey
Imprint: Routledge
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 234mm, Width: 156mm,
ISBN: 9780367757205
ISBN 10: 0367757206
Series: Routledge Advances in Theatre & Performance Studies
Pages: 234
Publication Date: 18 December 2024
Audience: General/trade , College/higher education , Professional and scholarly , ELT Advanced , Primary
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

Acknowledgements Introduction Part 1: Ragtime – The Heartbeat of the Modern Era Chapter 1: ""Juke joints supposed to be in the woods"": Nostalgia for privacy and place in The Color Purple Chapter 2: ""This was a music that was theirs"": Ragtime and the Breakdown of Collective Nostalgia Chapter 3: ""Till Georgie Took ‘Em Away"": Counter Nostalgia and Cultural Theft in Shuffle Along, Or The Making of the Musical Sensation of 1921 and All That Followed Part 2: The Charleston – Lively and Liberated Chapter 4: ""Men say it’s criminal what women will do"": Thoroughly Modern Millie and Nostalgia for the ""New Woman"" Chapter 5: ""I need to do the Black Bottom!"": Demystifying Nostalgia in The Wild Party Chapter 6: ""I don’t want to show off no more"": Parody and Nostalgia Go Toe to Toe in The Drowsy Chaperone Part Three: Swing Dance – Rally and Rebound Chapter 7: ""Good neighbors – Good neighbors"": Wonderful Town and Nostalgia for Lost Communities. Chapter 8: When Nostalgia is Your Only Hope: Steel Pier and Dance Marathons Chapter 9: ""Get in the game"": Destabilizing Nostalgia in the Crisis of Identity in Allegiance Conclusion: ""Just like it was before"": The Promise Continues Index

Phoebe Rumsey is a Senior Lecturer in Musical Theatre at the University of Portsmouth in the UK. She received her PhD from The Graduate Center, CUNY.