Adversaries Of Dance
From the Puritans to the Present
Religious Americans' attempts to stop dancing
Paper – $25
978-0-252-06590-3
Publication Date
Paperback: 02/01/1997
About the Book
Whether in the private parlor, public hall, commercial "dance palace," or sleazy dive, dance has long been opposed by those who viewed it as immoral—more precisely as being a danger to the purity of those who practiced it, particularly women. Ann Wagner looks at opposition to dance over a period of four centuries in what is now the United States.As Wagner shows, opposition to dance derived from white, male, Protestant clergy and evangelists who argued from a narrow and selective interpretation of biblical passages. Their attitudes thrived when religious dogma held greater power over people's lives and when women's social roles were strictly limited. Wagner also examines the gender, race, and socioeconomic dimensions behind the impulse and crusades to ban dancing.
About the Author
Ann Wagner is a professor emerita of dance and founder of the Modern Dance Group at St. Olaf College. She is the coauthor of Searching for Aunt Dot: Surprised by a Lutheran Woman's Story.Related Titles
