Dance marathons: performing American culture of the 1920s - download pdf or read online

By Carol Martin

ISBN-10: 0878057013

ISBN-13: 9780878057016

This penetrating research of 1 of the main amazing fads ever to strike the US info how dance marathons manifested a effective from of drama. among the 2 global wars they have been a phenomenon during which working-class humans engaged in emblematic struggles for survival. fighting to live longer than different contestants, the dancers was hoping to turn into amazing. there has been crippling exhaustion and soreness one of the contenders, yet eventually it used to be the coupling of real discomfort with staged screens that made dance marathons a countrywide craze.

Within the well-controlled area of theatre, they printed genuine life’s unpredictability and inconsistencies, and, certainly, the frightful facets of social Darwinism. during this ugly theatrical surroundings we see additionally a scary metaphor―the in poor health kingdom grappling with tough times.

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Additional resources for Dance marathons: performing American culture of the 1920s and 1930s

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During World War I, Page 11 to fill labor shortages, women made grenades, ran elevators, collected streetcar faresjobs women had never done before. 25 After the war, women were well established in public life and felt ready for all sorts of new adventures. However, when the men returned from war, they took back their jobs, so women were forced to use leisure activities as the arena in which to make their mark. Of course, some women continued to work for wages, but the jobs now available to them were routine slots traditionally reserved for women.

Marathons combined the wholly staged, the partly staged, and the real. Successful shows depended on promoters who knew how to manipulate endless hours of dancing, which without clever theatrical framing would have been of little interest to an audience. Of course, the contestants experienced real exhaustion and pain, but ultimately the contests were a unique kind of theatera combination of gladiatorial display and professional finesse. It was the coupling of the "authentic" with the "staged" that made marathons so popular.

M. show. At other times, the marathon arenas were populated by second-string emcees, floor judges, a scattering of spectators, and the bedraggled contestants. Surprisingly for a phenomenon so vividly present in the American imagination, and so complexly expressing American values, dance marathons have not been the subject of much serious scholarly study. Most of what has been written is anecdotal and poorly documented. In their heyday, dance marathons were among America's most widely attended and controversial forms of live entertainment.

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Dance marathons: performing American culture of the 1920s and 1930s by Carol Martin


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