Choreographing the Folk: The Dance Stagings of Zora Neale Hurston

While Zora Neale Hurston and her 1937 novel Their Eyes Were Watching God have become widely celebrated, she was also a prolific stage director and choreographer. In the 1930s Hurston produced theatrical concerts that depicted a day in the life of a railroad work camp in Florida and featured a rousing Bahamian Fire Dance as the dramatic finale. In Choreographing the Folk, Anthea Kraut traces the significance and influence of Hurston's little-known choreographic work.

ISBN-13: 9780816647125

Media Type: Paperback(New Edition)

Publisher: University of Minnesota Press

Publication Date: 10-03-2008

Pages: 312

Product Dimensions: 5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.80(d)

Series: Indigenous Americas Ser.

Table of Contents

Preface ix Introduction: Rediscovering Hurston's Embodied Representations of the Folk 1
1 Commercialization and the Folk 25
2 Chreography and the Folk 53
3 Producing The Great Day 91
4 Hurston's Embodied Theory of the Folk 119
5 Interpreting the Fire Dance 145
6 Black Authenticity, White Artistry 173 Coda: Hurston's Choreographic Legacy 213 Acknowledgments 219 Appendix A Chronology of Known Performances by Hurston and the Bahamian Dancers 223 Appendix B Known Members of the Bahamian Dancers between 1932 and 1936 227 Notes 229 Index 291