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University of California Press
Open Access

Revolutionary Bodies

Chinese Dance and the Socialist Legacy
by Emily Wilcox (Author)
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Paperback eBook
Price: $34.95 / £30.00
Publication Date: Oct 2018
Edition: 1st Edition
Title Details:
Rights: World
Pages: 322
ISBN: 9780520300576
Trim Size: 6 x 9
Illustrations: 30 color images, 1 map, 19 vid
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About the Book

A free ebook version of this title is available through Luminos, University of California Press’s Open Access publishing program. Visit www.luminosoa.org to learn more.

This book is freely available in an open access edition thanks to TOME (Toward an Open Monograph Ecosystem)—a collaboration of the Association of American Universities, the Association of University Presses, and the Association of Research Libraries. Learn more at the TOME website, available at: openmonographs.org.

Revolutionary Bodies is the first English-language primary source–based history of concert dance in the People’s Republic of China. Combining over a decade of ethnographic and archival research, Emily Wilcox analyzes major dance works by Chinese choreographers staged over an eighty-year period from 1935 to 2015. Using previously unexamined film footage, photographic documentation, performance programs, and other historical and contemporary sources, Wilcox challenges the commonly accepted view that Soviet-inspired revolutionary ballets are the primary legacy of the socialist era in China’s dance field. The digital edition of this title includes nineteen embedded videos of selected dance works discussed by the author.

About the Author

Emily Wilcox is Assistant Professor of Modern Chinese Studies in the Department of Asian Languages and Cultures at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. 

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Table of Contents

List of Illustrations and Audiovisual Media
Acknowledgments

Introduction. Locating Chinese Dance: Bodies in Place,
History, and Genre
1. From Trinidad to Beijing: Dai Ailian and the Beginnings of
Chinese Dance
2. Experiments in Form: Creating Dance in the Early People’s Republic
3. Performing a Socialist Nation: The Golden Age of Chinese Dance
4. A Revolt from Within: Contextualizing Revolutionary Ballet
5. The Return of Chinese Dance: Socialist Continuity Post-Mao
6. Inheriting the Socialist Legacy: Chinese Dance in the
Twenty-First Century

Glossary of Chinese Terms
Notes and References
Index

Reviews

"Provides a significant introduction of Chinese dance to English readers."
— Dance Research Journal
"Revolutionary Bodies promises to be an important reference in the fields of dance, performance, and Chinese studies. . . . [and] stands out for its critical insights."
— TDR: The Drama Review
"Provides new insights into the interactions among ethnographic forms of knowledge, artistic modes of representation, and the changing political imperatives of the past century."
— Modern Chinese Literature and Culture
"A wonderfully rich source about the development of dance in China and lays a very strong foundations for future research on the topic."
— Dance Research
"Keen observation and critical analysis of various dance productions unveil a diverse landscape of socialist dance and reaffirm the multiplicity of Chinese socialist culture."
— Asian Theatre Journal

"Ultimately, Revolutionary Bodies makes an incredible mark on the disciplines of dance studies and Chinese cultural studies. Wilcox’s scholarship is a model of thorough research, accessible writing, and sharp argumentation. More important, it introduces us to the field of Chinese dance by following its birth and growth in concert with the dynamics of contemporary Chinese history and offering us a complex picture of an important world genre."

— Theater Survey

"Wilcox’s extensive survey leaves room for reflecting on contentions emerging from the role of Chinese dance in promoting state interests both nationally and abroad. . . . In lieu of directly addressing the political tension, Wilcox’s conclusion remains open for readers to consider the socialist legacy that has transformed the artists’ worldview and the need to reinvigorate the radical possibility of pluralism espoused by it for twenty-first-century post-socialist China."

— Theatre Research International

“Revolutionary Bodies offers foundational scholarship on Chinese dance, a critical component of the PRC’s cultural landscape that has, thus far, been a fascinating yet obscure picture. It is an exemplary study with sharp analyses, solid sources, and engaging composition. . . . As we cast our gaze on the performances through Wilcox’s descriptions and analyses, we learn not only what and how to watch, but also the aesthetics and joy of watching Chinese dance.”

— Journal of Asian Studies

"At every turn the book benefits from Emily’s background as an anthropologist turned cultural historian. With the benefit of first-hand ethnographic research, she brings a rich understanding of the dance world to her prose."

— PRC History Review

"Revolutionary Bodies has helped not only to establish modern Chinese dance studies as a mature field of study in Anglophone scholarship, with Wilcox one of its leading authorities, but also to revolutionize our understanding of socialist cultural productions during the PRC era, taking seriously their radical inclusivity, artistic innovations, and dynamic inheritances."

— Twentieth- Century China
"This excellent book is based on abundant archival materials and Emily Wilcox's practiced knowledge of dance. Its dramatic biographical data, clear conceptual design, and close readings of choreographic works make for engaging reading and engaged scholarship. An important contribution."—Rebecca Karl, Professor of History, New York University

"Tracing the rise of Chinese dance in the turbulent times of twentieth-century China, Wilcox has offered a brilliant account of the mutation of diverse dance forms. A productive blend of choreography, ethnography, performance, and cultural studies, this book not only fills the gaps in dance studies, but also addresses broad issues of interaction between China and the West, ancient forms and socialist agenda, and regional traditions and national culture."—Ban Wang, William Haas Professor in Chinese Studies, Stanford University

Awards

  • de la Torre Bueno Prize 2019 2019, Dance Studies Association