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Full-Text Articles in Arts and Humanities
A Rainbow Of Iranian Masculinities: Raqqas, A Type Of Iranian Male Image, Anthony Shay
A Rainbow Of Iranian Masculinities: Raqqas, A Type Of Iranian Male Image, Anthony Shay
Pomona Faculty Publications and Research
In this essay, I will explore the male dancer in the Iranian world, and how he came to occupy this abject position (dance, according to Zainab Stellar, being regarded by many conservative elements in Iranian society today as "the worst possible behavior of an undisciplined body in public, and symbol of all vice" (2011, 235)). Lotfollah “Lotfi” Mansouri, the renowned opera director and producer, recounted at a dinner that I attended (January 27, 2002 Peyvand Organization, San Jose), how one day as a student at UCLA, he entered Schonberg Music Hall and heard opera for the first time. He was …
Wrapped In Greek Robes Of Spirituality: The Historic Context For Isadora Duncan's Dance Performances, Anthony Shay
Wrapped In Greek Robes Of Spirituality: The Historic Context For Isadora Duncan's Dance Performances, Anthony Shay
Pomona Faculty Publications and Research
In this paper I want to address Craig and Duncan’s shared interest in ancient Greek art, which is the context within which Isadora Duncan developed her art, the various influences that inspired her choreography, and the historical time period that influenced the decisions that she made. I want to make several preliminary comments before proceeding to the main claim that I am making, which is that Isadora Duncan, Ruth St. Denis, and other “barefoot” dancers were not the mothers or grandmothers or inventors of modern dance, as is repeated as if it were a religious tenet of faith in dance …
Encountering Greek American Soundscapes, Anthony Shay
Encountering Greek American Soundscapes, Anthony Shay
Pomona Faculty Publications and Research
For this chapter I will look at Greek American music making through the eyes of a non-Greek, my younger self, who enjoyed and sought out this musical tradition for over fifty years, primarily as a folk dance enthusiast. For the international recreational dancer of the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, Greek music has rich melodic lines and many different rhythmic patterns (5/8; 7/8; 9/8, etc.) that attracted many individuals of Anglo American background like me to learn these dances, especially in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s when recreational and performance folk dance constituted a major leisure-time activity for hundreds of thousands …
Fandangos And Bailes: Dancing And Dance Events In Early California, Anthony Shay
Fandangos And Bailes: Dancing And Dance Events In Early California, Anthony Shay
Pomona Faculty Publications and Research
No abstract provided.
Sam Gill, Dancing Culture Religion, Anthony Shay
Sam Gill, Dancing Culture Religion, Anthony Shay
Pomona Faculty Publications and Research
No abstract provided.
Review: Dancing From Past To Present: Nation, Culture, Identities (Madison, 2006); Dance And Society: Dancer As A Cultural Performer. Re-Appraising Our Past, Moving Into The Future (Budapest, 2005), Anthony Shay
Pomona Faculty Publications and Research
The large international participation of scholars, many of them young graduate students, in the recent CND/CORD/SDHS conference in Paris (June 21-27, 2007), along with new publications in the field and the spread of world dance courses in colleges and universities in many regions of the world, suggest the need for increasingly sophisticated research publications. New publications featuring the works of well-known senior scholars are cause for celebration by those of us attempting to meet research and student demand for new sources of information that feature new conceptual, theoretical, and methodological approaches. In the past few years scholars have produced an …
Dance And Human Rights In The Middle East, North Africa, And Central Asia, Anthony Shay
Dance And Human Rights In The Middle East, North Africa, And Central Asia, Anthony Shay
Pomona Faculty Publications and Research
In this essay, Islam itself is first examined in order to determine how individual Muslims justify to themselves and to others the banning of dancing in various contexts. Following a brief discussion of Islam as it relates to dance, some of the myriad dance genres and contexts found in the Middle East, North Africa, and Central Asia are discussed. Finally, I consider the many ways in which many Muslims perceive dance, and then describe and analyze the local reactions to dancing in its complexity. This approach elucidates multiple meanings that create a pattern of behavior within specific cultural contexts.
Choreographing The Other: The Serbian State Folk Dance Ensemble, Gypsies, Muslims And Albanians, Anthony Shay
Choreographing The Other: The Serbian State Folk Dance Ensemble, Gypsies, Muslims And Albanians, Anthony Shay
Pomona Faculty Publications and Research
I argue that the power to represent is not only power in a theoretical Foucauldian sense, but the power of representation, especially of those powerless to resist the field of representation provided by state-supported national dance ensembles, is a very real power. Dance scholars have begun to look at issues of representation and dance and human rights within fascist and communist contexts of the past, as well as questioning the stances toward dance taken by theocratic regimes like that of the Islamic Republic and Iran and the former Taliban regime of Afghanistan. I also suggest that the actual content of …
Reviews: “Performance And Evolution In The Age Of Darwinism,” “Dancing At The Dawn Of Agriculture,” “Dance In Anthropology (2nd Edition),” “Dances Of The Tewa Pueblo Indians (2nd Edition)", Anthony Shay
Pomona Faculty Publications and Research
In order to create a contextual basis for a discussion of these four titles, I connect them through the authors’ uses of anthropological and archaeological methods and theories, and discuss how these have changed through time.
Spreading The Net, Anthony Shay
Spreading The Net, Anthony Shay
Pomona Faculty Publications and Research
The ballet and modern dance establishment has a stranglehold on dance programs throughout North America. Dance ethnology, with one or two exceptions, takes a back seat to the study of Western theater dance forms and its major figures. Individuals highly trained in dance ethnology have a difficult time accumulating sufficient "cultural capital," in Bourdieu's terms, to secure meaningful positions. As a consequence, we must "spread our nets" in order that our research and writings become more relevant outside the dance field. Dance ethnologists are uniquely poised to respond to the strong emphasis on popular culture that currently characterizes the social …
Afghanistan, Anthony Shay
Afghanistan, Anthony Shay
Pomona Faculty Publications and Research
A very conservative Islamic country, Afghanistan lies on the eastern edge of the Middle East, to the west of Pakistan and India. Afghanistan is at the confluence of Iranian, Central Asian, and Indian cultural currents, and most groups within Afghanistan have ethnic ties across the borders. Indian elements are the least felt, but the rhythmic footwork of some solo dancing is highly reminiscent of classical Indian traditions. A variety of ethnic and linguistic groups, each with its own choreographic tradition, reflects Afghanistan's enormous cultural diversity. Its dance traditions, however, are scarcely documented. As in most Islamic countries, dancers are paid …