(Re:) Claiming Ballet

Product Description

Though ballet is often seen as a white, cis-heteropatriarchal form of dance, in fact it has been, and still is, shaped by artists from a much broader range of backgrounds. This collection looks beyond the mainstream, bringing to light the overlooked influences that continue to inform the culture of ballet. Essays illuminate the dance form’s rich and complex history and start much-needed conversations about the roles of class, gender normativity, and race, demonstrating that despite mainstream denial and exclusionary tactics, ballet thrives with “difference.” 

With contributions from professional ballet dancers and teachers, choreographers, and dance scholars in Europe and the United States, the volume introduces important new thinkers and perspectives. An essential resource for the field of ballet studies and a major contribution to dance scholarship more broadly,
(Re:) Claiming Ballet will appeal to academics, researchers, and scholars; dance professionals and practitioners;  and anyone interested in the intersection of race, class, gender, and dance.

About the Author

Adesola Akinleye is a choreographer artist-scholar and co-artistic director of DancingStrong Movement Lab. She is senior lecturer at Middlesex University, visiting lecturer at Central Saint Martins, and research affiliate and visiting artist at Massachussetts Institute of Technology. Her work is characterized by an interest in voicing peoples lived experiences through moving portraiture. She has won awards internationally for her choreography and has published widely in the areas of dance and cultural studies.