Contemporary African dance as a decolonising practice Cover Image

Współczesny taniec afrykański jako praktyka dekolonizacyjna
Contemporary African dance as a decolonising practice

Author(s): Joanna Szymajda
Subject(s): Theatre, Dance, Performing Arts, Fine Arts / Performing Arts
Published by: Instytut im. Jerzego Grotowskiego
Keywords: Africa; choreography; practices of decolonisation; postcolonialism; contemporary African dance

Summary/Abstract: This article takes a closer look at the processes of re-appropriation of the aesthetic field within which the phenomenon known as ‘contemporary African dance’ was shaped in the second half of the 20th century, mainly for the use of Western audiences. In the context of the generally outlined political and economic conditions of production, and using examples of performances that illuminate the basic concepts of postcolonial theories (e.g. H.K. Bhabha, E.W. Said and R. Bharucha), the main historical and aesthetic lines of the formation of the term ‘contemporary African dance’ and its possible designations are presented, and the artistic attitudes and formal procedures that artists of different generations employ in the process of reclaiming and transforming the aesthetic field that this term defines are evoked.

  • Issue Year: 2023
  • Issue No: 175-176
  • Page Range: 35-59
  • Page Count: 25
  • Language: Polish