The Village on the Stage: Dramaturgies of Modernity in African Concert Dance

Author

Margit N. Edwards, The Graduate Center, City University of New YorkFollow

Date of Degree

6-2024

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Ph.D.

Program

Theatre and Performance

Advisor

Peter Eckersall

Committee Members

James F. Wilson

Herman Bennett

Subject Categories

Africana Studies | Dance | Theatre and Performance Studies

Keywords

African Dance, Modernity, Dramaturgy, Representation, Village, Theatre, West Africa, Authenticity

Abstract

My dissertation, The Village on the Stage: Dramaturgies of Modernity in African Concert Dance, analyzes the underlying theatrical logic in African concert dance through a dramaturgical model I call the village on the stage. The village on the stage dramaturgy has had multiple iterations over the 20^th and 21^st centuries both across the African continent and the African diaspora. Commonly presented within the world-dance market as neo-traditional African dance, the village on the stage refers to a set of practices of staging traditional dance and music of Africa and the African diaspora and serves as a platform on which Pan-Africanism, colonialism, post-colonialism, and anti- and de- coloniality can be witnessed and explored. Through a dramaturgical methodology that attends to the processes that transform ideas and cultural and political imperatives into theatrical practice and reads choreography as a statement of embodied ideas, this project explores multiple iterations of the village on the stage to show how modernity is renegotiated in relation to the idea of ‘Africa’ by African dance theatre artists. Whether the term village on the stage is employed directly to describe the mise-en-scène of a theatrical production or as a generic description of African dance in recital format, as a dramaturgical strategy, the transformation of complex ‘traditional’ performances into neo-traditional dances within a western-style performance orientation functions as a conceptual apparatus that continues to operate even when the narrative/discourse of tradition drops out. The thesis explores how the trope of the village continues to haunt and inspire the artistic production of contemporary African dance and theatre artists.

Recommended Citation

Edwards, Margit N., "The Village on the Stage: Dramaturgies of Modernity in African Concert Dance" (2024). CUNY Academic Works.
https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/5794