Shaping Dance Canons

Examining acentury of dance criticism in the United States and its influence on aestheticsand inclusion

Dance criticism has long beenintegral to dance as an art form, serving as documentation and validation of danceperformances, yet few studies have taken a close look at the impact of key criticsand approaches to criticism over time. The first book to examine dancecriticism in the United States across 100 years, from the late 1920s to the earlytwenty-first century, Shaping DanceCanons argues that critics in the popular press have influenced how dance hasbeen defined and valued, as well as which artists and dance forms have been takenmost seriously.

Kate Mattingly likens the effect of dance writing to that of aflashlight, illuminating certain aesthetics at the expense of others. Mattinglyshows how criticism can preserve and reproduce criteria for what qualifies ashigh art through generationsof writers and in dance history courses, textbooks, and curricular design. She examines the gatekeeping role of prominent criticssuch as John Martin and Yvonne Rainer while highlighting the often-overlookedperspectives of writers from minoritized backgrounds and dance traditions. Thebook also includes an analysis of digital platforms and current dance projects-Onthe Boards TV, thINKingDANCE, Black DanceStories, and amara tabor-smith's House/Full of BlackWomen-that challenge systemic exclusions. In doing so, the book callsfor ongoing dialogue and action to make dance criticism more equitableand inclusive.