Contemporary African Dance Theatre

Sabine Sörgel was Senior Lecturer in Dance and Theatre at University of Surrey, UK, from 2013 until 2019 and she now works as an independent scholar, writer, and dramaturg. Her previous publications include Dancing Postcolonialism: The National Dance Theatre Company of Jamaica (2007) and Dance and The Body in Western Theatre: 1948 to the Present (2015).

“Contemporary African Dance Theatre: Phenomenology, whiteness, and the gaze offers a model of interweaving the histories, philosophies and movement practices of Europe and Africa through the lenses of both performers and viewers of contemporary dance. … It also thoughtfully addresses gender and its intersection with race in colonial paradigms of visual culture and embodiment. … Contemporary African Dance Theatre carries a through-line that continually interrogates the suppositions of audience members and the ways that African artists address prejudice.” (Rainy Demerson, Performance Research, May 24, 2021)“Contemporary African Dance Theatre attests to the powerful artistic voices from Africa and the diaspora that invite white audiences into confrontation with the politics of their white gaze, even as white people hold significant financial and curatorial power in the circulation of works by African artists. … Her work is testimony to the urgent need for consumers of dance to deepen their literacy of African and diasporic dance cultures and aesthetics.” (Amy Swanson, Dance Research Journal, Vol.52 (2), August, 2020)

• 1. This is Not a Book About African Dance.- 2. Sources and Vocabularies of Contemporary African Dance Theatre Aesthetics.- 3. White Supremacy, Necropolitics, and Anti-Capitalist Dance.- 4. Mistaken Identity: Deconstructing White Beauty and Gender Politics.- 5. Collaborative Blindness: Funding, Failure and the Ethics of Collaboration.- 6. This is a Book About Whiteness and the Gaze.