Thesis (MPhil (General Linguistics))--University of Stellenbosch, 2011. / Bibliography / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Viewing cross-cultural dance performances on international tours or as part of international dance festivals has become common practice all over the world. For critique writers, choreographers/ dancers and the audience the accessibility of such a diverse variety of dance has both advantages and disadvantages. Cross-cultural differences in these performances challenge strategies of viewing and perception which may lead to aesthetic enrichment but these performances also risk being misunderstood. In dance critique writing, such a misunderstanding may result in a negative critique projecting, in a worst scenario, negative prejudices on the respective cultures. This thesis investigates how attitudes towards, and perceptions of, cultural differences are reflected in cross-cultural dance critiques, through the use of particular linguistic and stylistic devices. Analysis strategies deriving from Critical Discourse Analysis and Text Analysis are used to uncover the critique’s strategies to communicate their evaluation including ways of persuasion and power. I analyse six critiques from three countries on the performance Beautiful Me performed on international tours by the Vuyani Dance Theatre from South Africa. My initial hypothesis is that cultural differences may lead to negative critiques due to intercultural misunderstanding. Since viewing Performance Art is not only influenced by the critique writer’s cultural background but also by their perception attitude towards the performance, the analysis takes perception modes such as a theatre semiotic approach and a phenomenological approach into consideration. Interestingly, different perception modes seem to have a greater impact on the outcome of a critique than cross-cultural differences. This means that most negative evaluations must have their origin in the applied strategy of viewing and perceiving dance. The critic seems to interpret and embed the perceived features of the dance performance into specific cultural or socio-political contexts forming an individual, often complex evaluation. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Om te kyk na kruiskulturele dansuitvoerings deur dansgeselskappe op internasionale toere of as deel van internasionale dansfeeste, het wêreldwyd algemene praktyk geword. Vir kritici, choreograwe/dansers en die gehoor hou die toeganklikheid van so ’n diverse verskeidenheid dans sowel voordele as nadele in. Kruiskulturele verskille in hierdie vertonings daag kyk- en waarneem-strategieë uit, wat tot estetiese verryking mag lei. Daar is egter ook ’n moontlikheid dat hierdie vertonings verkeerd geïnterpreteer mag word. Só ’n waninterpretasie in dansresensies mag lei tot negatiewe kritiek wat, in uiterste gevalle, negatiewe vooroordele oor die betrokke kulture projekteer. Hierdie tesis doen ondersoek na die wyse waarop houdings teenoor en persepsies van kultuurverskille in kruiskulturele dansresensies deur middel van spesifieke talige en stilistiese middele gereflekteer word. Analitiese strategieë uit die velde Kritiese Diskoersanalise en Teksanalise word gebruik om kritici se strategieë wat ’n oordeel kommunikeer, bloot te lê. Ek analiseer ses resensies uit drie lande wat handel oor die vertoning Beautiful Me wat deur die Suid-Afrikaanse dansgeselskap Vuyani Dance Theatre tydens internasionale toere opgevoer is. My aanvanklike hipotese is dat kultuurverskille aanleiding mag gee tot negatiewe kritiek vanweë interkulturele misverstande. Aangesien die beoordeling van Uitvoerende Kunste nie slegs deur die kritikus se kulturele agtergrond beïnvloed word nie, maar ook deur hul waarnemingshouding teenoor die vertoning, neem die analise waarnemingsmodusse soos ’n teater-semiotiek-benadering en ’n fenomenologiese benadering in ag. Interessant genoeg, lyk dit asof verskillende waarnemingsmodusse ’n groter impak het op die uitkoms van kritiek as kruiskulturele verskille. Dít beteken dat die meeste negatiewe oordele hul oorsprong moet hê in die toegepaste strategie van dans kyk en waarneem. Dit blyk dat die kritikus die waargenome eienskappe van die dansuitvoering interpreteer en inbed in spesifieke kulturele of sosio-politiese kontekste wat aanleiding gee tot die verskillende, dikwels komplekse maniere van beoordeling.

This research explores the lives and experiences of female exotic dancers with the aim of gaining an empathic understanding of their involvement in the stripping industry. The stereotypes and generalizations of exotic dancers and the stripping industry undermine the exotic dancer's ability to be seen as an individual with her own story and her own experiences. The participants of this research were selected through convenience sampling and consist of three female exotic dancers. The researcher interviewed the participants using a semi-structured interview format and focused on the dancer's experience within the exotic dancing industry, her family history, her relationships, and personal life. The data was analysed using thematic network analysis. The thematic networks are often contradictory and inconsistent with the common stereotypes and ideas held about exotic dancers. The results indicate that some exotic dancers experience meaning, healing, gratification, and power within their work and live responsible, productive lives. / Psychology / M.A. (Clinical Psychology)

Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, a trailblazing cohort of African American choreographers, dancers, and teachers innovated the aesthetics of their art while also using dance performance as a tool for civic education and community engagement. This group, which included figures like Alvin Ailey, Eleo Pomare, Rod Rodgers, Carole Johnson, and Mozel Spriggs, harnessed the creative potential of the ongoing “dance boom” to intervene in cultural, political, and social debates in American life. They advanced a multistylistic definition of “Black dance,” embracing both Western and Africanist artistic elements. By translating their ideas about pressing sociopolitical topics into the embodied language of movement, they used their choreography to offer explicit commentary on the world around them. Placing a particular emphasis on community engagement, they brought this work to new spaces and contexts, performing in public parks, city streets, college auditoriums, and on broadcast television. Supported by an institutional infrastructure of publications and administrative alliances dedicated to Black dance, they built a national, multiracial audience for their art. Together, these dancemakers functioned as a cohort of public intellectuals, contributing to broader discourse on race, cultural identity, citizenship, and activism within the context of the ongoing Civil Rights and Black Arts Movements. This dissertation marks the first comprehensive study of this innovative generation of Black dance artists. Combining methods from intellectual history, cultural history, and dance studies, it examines their intervention in American life during a period of urban unrest, cultural revolution, and political transformation. Drawing on a wide range of archival materials, including government and foundation records, lesson plans, choreographic notes, personal papers, critical reviews, programs, correspondence, oral histories, video, and photography, this analysis reconstructs choreographers’ embodied ideas and contextualizes audience reception. In their choreography, creative practice, and pedagogy, these dancemakers elevated the beauty and strength of the Black body in motion and emphasized the universality of African American stories. This dissertation likewise argues that Black modern dance offers a new way of thinking about art and its real-world implications, advancing our understanding of the body’s capacity to communicate ideas, educate audiences, and intervene in public life.

This thesis examines the representation of the lives and performances of tawa'if and rudali in South Asian cinema to understand their marginalization as performers, and their significance in the collective consciousness of the producers and consumers of Indian cultural artifacts. The critical textual analysis of six South Asian films reveals these women as caste-amorphous within the system of social stratification in India, and therefore captivating in the potential they present to achieve a complex and multi-faceted definition of culture. Qualitative interviews with 4 Indian classical dance instructors in Portland, Oregon and performative observations of dance events indicate the importance of these performers in perpetuating and developing Indian cultural artifacts, and illustrate the value of a multi-layered, performative methodological approach. These findings suggest that marginality in performance is a useful and dynamic site from which to investigate the processes of cultural communication, producing findings that augment sole textual analysis.