Defiant itineraries

"How did Caribbean rituals helped form new currents in the performing and visual arts of the United States? This book answers this question through an examination of the Caribbean-inspired dance creations of dancer/choreographer Katherine Dunham and the experimental films of avant-garde filmmaker Maya Deren. An intercultural discussion that refers to alternative subjectivities for black dancing bodies within the existing paradigms of the American public, Platón Lázaro reflects on the cultural discourses in the two contemporary artistic fields of dance and film. "-- "This study looks at the ways in which Caribbean rituals helped form new currents in the performing and visual arts of the United States starting in the 1940's. It highlights the way the Caribbean inspired dance creations of dancer, choreographer Katherine Dunham and filmmaker Maya Deren's own incorporation of Caribbean dance in experimental film, enacted strategies to enhance the politics of performances of identity that consider history, embodied experience, strategies for liberation, survival, and memory. It proposes an intercultural discussion that refers to alternative subjectivities for Black dancing bodies within the existing paradigms of the American public"--