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Full-Text Articles in Arts and Humanities
Dancing Through Time: A Biographical Look On The Evolution Of Tap Dance, Jaimie Cranford
Dancing Through Time: A Biographical Look On The Evolution Of Tap Dance, Jaimie Cranford
Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects
A uniquely American art form, tap dance has often been misrepresented and under-appreciated when positioned alongside other dance forms. This is largely due to the form’s racialized history, which builds upon contributions from African-American culture. Unlike other dance forms, which stem from white European traditions, tap dance evolved out of a necessity for cultural preservation as enslaved Africans adapted to life in America. As tap dance evolved, its association with slave culture led to it not being taken seriously; if anything, tap dancers were viewed simply as “entertainers” – certainly not as artists. Using a biographical lens, this work looks …
Performing Desire In Times Square: Sailors, Hustlers And Masculinity, Kel R. Karpinski
Performing Desire In Times Square: Sailors, Hustlers And Masculinity, Kel R. Karpinski
Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects
From WWII to the early 1970s, New York City as a port town created a liminal space extending from the piers in the Brooklyn Navy Yard all the way to Times Square in Midtown Manhattan. In Times Square, through interactions on the street, in bars and in hotel rooms, desire and masculinity become a performance between and for men. The queerness of these performances lies in the fact that they fall outside of the norms of society both as same-sex encounters and because sex work is viewed as “deviant.” Further, these interactions eschew traditional labels and limits of desire and …