Rethinking dance history: a reader

This text comprises commissioned writing on new research. Commissioning and editorial decisions were based on criteria for work which (i) embraces histories of dance in Britain, Europe and the USA (ii) addresses the gaps in historical record or offers new perspectives on extant records (ii) privileges writing on critical debates and methodological issues in the study of history. An edited collection which commissions new work demands rigorous research in the field which is often unacknowledged. It is not possible to invite respected contributors to write on significant aspects of the discipline without a wide knowledge of the extant literature, key people and a knowledge base which maps the field, and this preliminary research was undertaken. The writing of an introduction to such a text also demands a breadth of research within which to locate the contributions.Two further chapters are written by Carter: Ch.2. explores the relationship between history and pedagogy, and Ch.7, on the late 19thC ballet, as told by a fictional narrator, were presented at refereed conferences before inclusion and had therefore been judged by peers. The only other comparative Dance History Reader is Dils and Cooper Albright (2001). This text, however, is predominantly the history of dance forms in the United States, and their conception of ‘World Dance' only makes a token gesture towards Europe and the UK.