Choreographing Multiraciality: Mixed-Race Methods in North American Contemporary Dance
Multiracialism, or the concept of “mixed-race”, remains a key racial discourse within twenty-first-century North American societies. Scholarly and mainstream studies of multiracial people often highlight the function of speech in theorizing mixed-race experiences, where interviews or other first-per...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2023-12-01
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| Series: | Arts |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0752/13/1/10 |
| _version_ | 1797298935162732544 |
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| author | Miya Shaffer |
| author_facet | Miya Shaffer |
| author_sort | Miya Shaffer |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Multiracialism, or the concept of “mixed-race”, remains a key racial discourse within twenty-first-century North American societies. Scholarly and mainstream studies of multiracial people often highlight the function of speech in theorizing mixed-race experiences, where interviews or other first-person narratives resist racialized stereotypes and express complex multiracial identities. Yet these studies often overlook the body as a comparable analytical site, ignoring how the body’s mobilization—in dance, choreography, and everyday actions—might further nuance mixed-race subjecthood. My article emphasizes experimental dance and choreography as alternative methods for imagining multiracial subjects, where these body-based approaches reject both stereotypical depictions of multiracial people in mainstream media and “transparent” representations in interviews. Drawing on the concept of “opacity,” which describes unknowable, illegible difference, I propose that experimental dance enables the expression of “opaque” multiracial subjectivities. This article then offers a choreographic analysis of Glenn Potter-Takata’s <i>Yonsei f*ck f*ck</i>, an experimental dance that produces opacities for its performers, who are of mixed Japanese heritage. Through movement scores, stand-up comedy, and a re-created “late-night” talk show, the dance invites audiences to move beyond the desire to recognize, categorize, and “know” the mixed-race Asian American performer. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-07T22:43:13Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-07e75629acfc4d27bfb0079b4377a738 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2076-0752 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-07T22:43:13Z |
| publishDate | 2023-12-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Arts |
| spelling | doaj.art-07e75629acfc4d27bfb0079b4377a7382024-02-23T15:06:51ZengMDPI AGArts2076-07522023-12-011311010.3390/arts13010010Choreographing Multiraciality: Mixed-Race Methods in North American Contemporary DanceMiya Shaffer0Department of World Arts and Cultures/Dance, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USAMultiracialism, or the concept of “mixed-race”, remains a key racial discourse within twenty-first-century North American societies. Scholarly and mainstream studies of multiracial people often highlight the function of speech in theorizing mixed-race experiences, where interviews or other first-person narratives resist racialized stereotypes and express complex multiracial identities. Yet these studies often overlook the body as a comparable analytical site, ignoring how the body’s mobilization—in dance, choreography, and everyday actions—might further nuance mixed-race subjecthood. My article emphasizes experimental dance and choreography as alternative methods for imagining multiracial subjects, where these body-based approaches reject both stereotypical depictions of multiracial people in mainstream media and “transparent” representations in interviews. Drawing on the concept of “opacity,” which describes unknowable, illegible difference, I propose that experimental dance enables the expression of “opaque” multiracial subjectivities. This article then offers a choreographic analysis of Glenn Potter-Takata’s <i>Yonsei f*ck f*ck</i>, an experimental dance that produces opacities for its performers, who are of mixed Japanese heritage. Through movement scores, stand-up comedy, and a re-created “late-night” talk show, the dance invites audiences to move beyond the desire to recognize, categorize, and “know” the mixed-race Asian American performer.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0752/13/1/10critical mixed-race studiesdancechoreographic analysisAsian American studiesopacityJapanese Americans |
| spellingShingle | Miya Shaffer Choreographing Multiraciality: Mixed-Race Methods in North American Contemporary Dance Arts critical mixed-race studies dance choreographic analysis Asian American studies opacity Japanese Americans |
| title | Choreographing Multiraciality: Mixed-Race Methods in North American Contemporary Dance |
| title_full | Choreographing Multiraciality: Mixed-Race Methods in North American Contemporary Dance |
| title_fullStr | Choreographing Multiraciality: Mixed-Race Methods in North American Contemporary Dance |
| title_full_unstemmed | Choreographing Multiraciality: Mixed-Race Methods in North American Contemporary Dance |
| title_short | Choreographing Multiraciality: Mixed-Race Methods in North American Contemporary Dance |
| title_sort | choreographing multiraciality mixed race methods in north american contemporary dance |
| topic | critical mixed-race studies dance choreographic analysis Asian American studies opacity Japanese Americans |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0752/13/1/10 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT miyashaffer choreographingmultiracialitymixedracemethodsinnorthamericancontemporarydance |