Revolutionary Bodies offers a historical narrative of Chinese dance from the 1930s to the 2010s. Taking an ethnographic approach, Emily Wilcox frames this history as an examination of the cultural, aesthetic, and political multiplicities of China's socialist red legacy. The main body of the study consists of six chapters organized chronologically.
Chapter 1 identifies significant developmental elements of Chinese dance during the first half of the twentieth century. This multiplicity of influences highlights early leading figures’ transnational training and performance, features local sources across the country, and encompasses performance practices of various ethnic groups. Wilcox discusses Dai Ailian as the most inspiring founder who spearheaded the aesthetic development of Chinese dance.
Chapter 2 focuses on the exciting period from the end of the 1940s to the mid-1950s, during which Chinese dance took its shape from choreographic experiments in government-sponsored projects, debates over dance form, the recruitment of minority dancers as...
