Cold War Legacies
American Illiteracy of the Postcolonial Aesthetics of Spectacle in Chinese Dance Dramas
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 11223965 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Alissa Elegant (0000-0002-0801-4189, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2024 |
| Volume | 56 |
| Issue | 2-3 |
| Pages | 161-179 |
| Publication date | 2024-08-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Dance Research Journal (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0149-7677 • E-ISSN: 1940-509X |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1017/s0149767725000014 |
| OpenAlex | W4413908983 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 37 |
In 2016, a New York Times dance critic devalued the genre of Chinese dance dramas by reducing a performance of Dragon Boat Racing ( Shawanwangshi 沙湾往事) by the Guangdong Song and Dance Ensemble to “kitschy spectacle.” This review exemplifies illiteracy of Chinese dance dramas based on bias against maximalist deployment of spectacle filtered through a Cold War influenced understanding of Chinese aesthetics that is exacerbated by American ignorance of Chinese history. This dismissive review contrasts with the warm reception the Chinese language press gave this contemporary piece (2014 premiere) and the regional and national awards it won in China (Liu 2014). Chinese critics generally describe it as an original choreographic work grounded in the specifics of local Cantonese culture (F Wu 2014; She 2018). This positive reception aligns with my experience watching the piece with a mostly Chinese diaspora audience at the Merriam Theater in Philadelphia in January 2018. 1 This article addresses the gap in understanding, examining the dynamics that shaped the development of Chinese dance dramas as a genre as well as the forces shaping American reception of it. I assert that key to the mistranslation is differing understandings of the maximalist deployment of spectacle, which is connected to fissures in the field of dance between supporters of classical ballet and modern dance. I argue that the use of the aesthetic is a celebration of China’s economic development and an assertion of belonging in modernity. But, in the United States its reception is shaped by aesthetic hierarchies developed during the Cold War
Aesthetics · Art · Cold war · Dance · Functional illiteracy · Literature · Political science · Politics · Spectacle · Visual arts · Asian Culture and Media Studies · Chinese history and philosophy · Diversity and Impact of Dance · Law
Honest Bodies
The Body of the People
Revolutionary Bodies
A Dictionary of Media and Communication
Performing Bandung
The Postcolonial Blind Spot
The Grand Mass Gymnastics and Artistic Performance Arirang’ (2002–2012)
Kitsch as Kitsch Can, or Can't
Stop Using Kitsch as a Weapon
The Politics of Kitsch
Dynamic Inheritance
When Is Contemporary Dance
Activating Whiteness
Mis-step as Global Encounter
On the Value of Mistranslations and Contaminations
Parallel Traditions
Aesthetics, Ideology, and Ethics of Remembrance in Red Detachment of Women ( Hongse Niangzi Jun , 红色娘子军)
Towards a Genealogy and Typology of Spectacle
Postcoloniality and the Artifice of History
Spectacle, Attention, Counter-Memory
Originality in the Postcolony
The Rivalry of Spectacle
Decolonising culture, staging traditional dances, creating a new music-dance genre
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |