This paper analyzes three aspects of the globalization ofSchuhplattler (slap dance), a German-Austrian folk dance. First, there is the actual geographical migration of the dance; second its integration into other artworks, such as modern dance choreographies and films; and third its commercialization through new media technologies, notably Pepsi-Cola's transnational advertising campaign during the 2006 soccer World Cup. The paper assesses the effects of global migration on the worldwide perception of Schuhplattler and its impact on images of Germany.

The Baga of Guinea have developed masked performances that celebrate the movements of the ancestors from the highlands to the coast. The performance serves to legitimize the establishment of society in its current form and to reinforce the sense of place by reliving the process by which that place has become an identity. This paper is an attempt to analyze the complexity of the Baga choreographies of migration, concentrating on two costumed characters.

This paper focuses on Indonesian and Cambodian Court Dances and their relationship to state sponsorship in the formation of political identity in Southeast Asia. Both countries have actively participated in cultural exchange for the global market, and the author will emphasize the politics of narration by government or cultural agencies, based on the mystification and spiritualization of dance practices, while signaling the need for “preservation” of these practices. This analysis is extended to further examine different body regulation and socioeconomic and political pressure on the popular culture of Cambodia and Indonesia through the lens of “Diaspora Subjects” and the expectation of modernization.

Founding director of the dance programs at New York University, Bennington College, and Juilliard, as well as the summer dance festivals the Bennington School of the Dance and Connecticut College School of the Dance/American Dance Festival, Martha Hill was a visionary for dance and dance education. One of the teachers and choreographers to whom Hill gave her loyal support was José Limón, providing him with means and opportunities to voice his unique vision.

This paper presents the author's journey to West Africa, which grew out of a desire to trace the roots of “real” jazz dance. Seeking the “authentic,” the author (ironically) sought out the oldest national company of Guinée-Conakry, Les Ballets Africains, which has been performing and creating for fifty-three years years. Mandated to preserve the rich cultural traditions of Guinée, they are the “real thing,” revealed in what the author calls a “dynamic reality”: traditional dance that is at once authentic, significant, contemporary, and fluid.

José Limón's early choreography on themes of war and conflict and the dances he created while serving in the U.S. Army during World War II represent diverse identities and ideological perspectives, ranging from antiwar statements to those perpetuating myths of the “American dream.” This paper will examine the myriad of symbols in his dances linked to national identity, which moved beyond “folk” representations, theorized through concepts such as the “imagined community” and a “pan-ethnic Americanism.”

This paper will explore the migration of local and global markers of authority as members of the Ghana Dance Ensemble (GDE) negotiate the ideologies of nationalism, attempting to re/create cultural forms that will be judged “authentic” by both indigenous and international communities. This will include examining how Western and local practices have merged to re/establish power relationships between choreographers and performers as they work to devise strategies that give an aura of authenticity to various dance forms.

This paper explores the founding of the New Dance Group in Wellington, New Zealand, in 1945. The New Dance Group introduced radical ideas about dance, art, music, politics, and physical education to New Zealand. This paper examines the influence that American and European dance and physical education had on New Zealand's physical and artistic expression and places the introduction of modern dance within the social and cultural landscape of immediate the post—World War II period in New Zealand.

American modern dance history frequently overlooks Eleanor Yung and H. T. Chen. This presentation explores how these choreographers shaped the dance scene in New York's Chinatown, a venue for the many Asian dancers and choreographers who come to train and perform in New York City.

A long, physicalized Polish joke marches through Whiting, Indiana's, Pierogi Fest. Traditional in form, this parade embraces once malicious stereotypes. Having assimilated “American” ways of moving and behaving in order to “belong,” the children of Eastern European immigrants are now secure, invisible in their whiteness. An in-joke, the parade humorously, lovingly embraces immigrant characters. Altering their carriage and movement style, the paraders reclaim ancestral bodies. In doing so this community gains an identity denied by homogenous “whiteness.”

Limón became a student and devoted follower of Doris Humphrey in 1929 and continued working with her until her death thirty years later. In his memoir he wrote about the brilliance of her dancing and her choreography and even admits in one passage to “plagiarizing” her work. This presentation explores how their evolving relationship was viewed by various individuals who were present during their working process and whose memories of their interaction differ considerably.

What do we mean when we talk about perception in/of dance? The movement of viewers of William Forsythe's dance and performance installation works affords perceptual change in multiple senses—sensory, cognitive, philosophical, aesthetic. This paper explores issues of action, perspective, and convention in the performance of dance spectatorship through a consideration of Forsythe's mobilized audiences. Moving within and between diverse disciplines, this paper simultaneously examines disciplinary specificity, variance, and crossover of the term “perception.”

This paper answers the following questions: What works of José Limón have been recorded? Where are they housed? How did they get there? What kinds of information do they contain for the dance researcher? How can they be accessed?

This paper explores performance choices made by choreographer Zoltán Zsuráfsky for the ethnic music and dance production, Csárdás! Tango of the East for American tours in 2000 and 2005. Unlike older socialist models that elevated nationalism through homogenized choreography, Zsuráfsky's Csárdás! celebrates interethnic traditions, alternatives to traditional gender roles, and individual expression. These choices elevate regional traditions and maintain stylistic specificity and performer creativity but subdue elements of nationalism, gender inequality, and top-down ensemble hierarchy.

Analysis and the interpretation of the dance style of today's islanders have revealed the differences that likely emerged as a consequence of past migrations, particularly those by large groups moving to the western part of the island at the mid-fifteenth century. The conception of themselves, of neighbors as Others, the need for mutual differentiation, and the creation of linguistic and other symbolical borders developed on the island over a prolonged period of time.