Dance is more than an aesthetic of life – dance embodies life. This is evident from the social history of jive, the marketing of trans-national ballet, ritual healing dances in Italy or folk dances performed for tourists in Mexico, Panama and Canada. Dance often captures those essential dimensions of social life that cannot be easily put into words. What are the flows and movements of dance carried by migrants and tourists? How is dance used to shape nationalist ideology? What are the connections between dance and ethnicity, gender, health, globalization and nationalism, capitalism and post-colonialism? Through innovative and wide-ranging case studies, the contributors explore the central role dance plays in culture as leisure commodity, cultural heritage, cultural aesthetic or cathartic social movement.

“This collection of essays is a welcome focus on dance anthropology. The book encompasses chapters on an impressive range of traditions and practices from developed as well as developing countries across the world, including small and large phenomena. It has a clear introduction to orientate readers in the anthropological study of dance… The essays are rich and varied case studies, interesting in themselves. However, they also collectively build layered and interlocking perspectives on larger patterns of change in the contemporary world, making the book highly topical… This collection has breadth yet also coherence. It is a dense but accessible resource on dance anthropology.” · Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute

“While globalization and tourism are included in the discussion of dance, the strength of the content is in understanding the composition of dance and the role dance plays in shaping cultures.” · Journal of Tourism and Cultural Change

“The presentation quality of this volume is of a high standard. The photographs are clear and they work well to support to relevant arguments. It is a successful research-oriented volume with very good links between theories and practice in relation to ethnographic studies, tourism, and dance. This book is appropriate and worthwhile for undergraduate and postgraduate students for their in-depth research on social, cultural, and tourism studies. In particular, the excellent case studies in this volume provide insights in to how dance performance is relevant to other different disciplines. Its examples are also relevant for practitioners who work in the creative, culture, and tourism sectors.” · Annals of Tourism Research

Hélène Neveu Kringelbach is a Senior Lecturer in African Studies at UCL. She was a researcher at the African Studies Centre in Oxford. Her current research interests include dance and musical theatre in West Africa and beyond, contemporary choreography in Africa and transnational families across Senegal and Europe.