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Dancing in the Dark: Rationalism and the Neglect of Social Dance

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Dance, Gender and Culture

Abstract

This essay is concerned with dance as an activity of everyday life and, more specifically, with how dance has been represented within particular kinds of sociological literature. The paper is premised upon three related and, I think, uncontentious assumptions. These are that dance is generally a neglected topic for analysis; that it is inherently social; and that, as a non-verbal form of communication, dance is categorised as being non-rational. (This latter assumption has particular consequences for the study of dance that — as we shall see — are highly significant.)

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© 1993 Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited

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Ward, A.H. (1993). Dancing in the Dark: Rationalism and the Neglect of Social Dance. In: Thomas, H. (eds) Dance, Gender and Culture. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-22747-1_2

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