Steps in Time: Dance as Cultural Performance

Dancing, movement, music, expression. These things are as natural to humans as breathing. Yet within this universal activity there are thousands of varieties all over the world that have developed in conjunction with the societies and peoples who practice them.

In this generously illustrated talk, Bowdoin professor emerita June Vail takes a look at changing attitudes toward Western theatrical and social dance forms and non-Eurocentric traditions.  What are some common assumptions about dance as an art form, social dance, folk dance, religious ritual, and many other forms of human movement? If we think of dances  as cultural performances ―  that they embody, comment on, or challenge certain social norms or aesthetic values ―  does that imply that all dances are “ethnic?” And what does this mean for participants and viewers?

We invite you to join us as we ask these questions and more, thinking about dance in new and exciting ways as part of our 2023 focus Fine / Folk: Critiquing Our Artistic Past.

Tickets: $8 PHC Members; $12 General Admission. Admission price includes a drink and light refreshments.

June Vail (A.B. Connecticut College; MALS Wesleyan University) founded Bowdoin’s dance program and chaired the department of Theater and Dance for many years, teaching courses in modern dance, choreography, and dance ethnography. Her writings have included journalistic dance criticism and academic research, and a book titled Cultural Choreographies (1997.) She has also published two recent books ― a biography, The Passion of Perfection/Gertrude Hitz Burton’s Modern Victorian Life (2017), and a memoir, Folly Cove Sketches/Remembering Virginia Lee Burton.