Gender and Sexuality in Contemporary Dance of Senegal

FAIN: FT-286235-22

Amy Elizabeth Swanson
Colgate University (Hamilton, NY 13346-1338)

Research and writing leading to a book about gender, sexuality, and contemporary dance in Senegal.

I am seeking an NEH Summer Stipend to complete research for the first chapter and epilogue of my book project. The book examines how contemporary choreographers in Senegal recalibrate national and transnational constructions of gender and sexuality through dance practice, pedagogy, and performance. Positioned in both a climate of severe gender and sexual regulation in Senegal and the progressive international contemporary dance touring circuit, the book seeks to understand how artists navigate these entangled spheres. Drawing on several years of ethnographic research, the book illustrates the contemporary dance studio and stage as privileged sites of knowledge production about gender and sexuality. It argues that artists code their bodies as variously legible for diverse audiences on local and global stages as a tactic to put forth performances of gender and sexuality that evade disciplinary norms.