Senegal has played a central role in contemporary dance due to its rich performing traditions, as well as strong state patronage of the arts, first under French colonialism and later in the postcolonial era. In the 1980s, when the Senegalese economy was in decline and state funding withdrawn, European agencies used the performing arts as a tool in cultural diplomacy. This had a profound impact on choreographic production and arts markets throughout Africa. In Senegal, choreographic performers have taken to contemporary dance, while continuing to engage with neo-traditional performance, regional genres like the sabar, and the popular dances they grew up with. A historically informed ethnography of creativity, agency, and the fashioning of selves through the different life stages in urban Senegal, this book explores the significance of this multiple engagement with dance in a context of economic uncertainty and rising concerns over morality in the public space.

Prizes

Commended for de La Torre Bueno Prize 2013

"I enjoyed reading this book, which is very well written, focuses on a well-selected range of performance practices in Senegal and makes an interesting contribution to studies in that field. [It] provides intelligent analysis of performances by relating them in interesting and innovative ways, but its main strength lies in - offering wonderful ethnographic detail that brings out the contested nature of dance in relations between dancers and their audiences." * Ferdinand de Jong, University of East Anglia "This is an absolutely first-class study. It ranges across space, genre and time, though with contemporary Senegalese perspectives always to the fore. It is artfully narrated, and the voice of a well-qualified and extremely thoughtful author is clear and distinct throughout. I would put it at the forefront of dance studies today, and it also makes a valuable contribution both to anthropological thinking about expressive culture, and to West Africa studies in general." * Martin Stokes, King's College, London

Helene Neveu Kringelbach is a researcher at the African Studies Centre in Oxford. Since October 2011, she has been leading a Leverhulme-funded research project on transnational families across Senegal, France, and the UK. Her research focuses on dance, musical performance, and popular culture in Senegal and in the diaspora. She recently co-edited, Dancing Cultures: Globalization, Tourism and Identity in the Anthropology of Dance (Berghahn Books, 2012).