Dance and Sexuality: Many Moves (Report‪)‬

This review of dance and sexuality explores the common substantive foci of dance and religion (especially the opposition to dance because of its "immoral" sexuality), dance and sexuality as a source of power, manifestations of sexuality in Western theater art dance and social dance, and ritual and non-Western social dance (Hanna, 1992a). Themes of gender, sexual orientation, asexuality, ambiguity, and adult entertainment exotic dance (stripteases and gentlemen's clubs) are presented. The review further addresses issues of morality; awareness, closeting, and denial of sexuality; conflation of sexual expression and promiscuity of gender and sexuality, of nudity and sexuality, and of dancer intention and audience interpretation; symbolic ways of embodying sexuality; and inspiration for infusing sexuality into dance. While at times having to sacrifice complexity and nuance in the interest of brevity, the review describes key aspects of theoretical concepts and study methodologies related to dance and sexuality as found in the disciplines of American studies, anthropology, art history, comparative literature, criminology, cultural studies, communication, dance, drama, English, history, history of consciousness, journalism, law, performance studies, philosophy, planning, retail geography, psychology, social work, sociology, and theater arts. These concepts, not mutually exclusive, include colonialism, critical cultural theory, feminism, Orientalism, postmodernism, poststructuralism, queer theory, and semiotics. Moreover, some studies use multiple theories and methods and explore overlapping or intertwined themes and, consequently, could fit into several categories. Although most of the literature on the topic of sexuality and dance devotes only a few paragraphs or pages to it, a limited number of works have made it the key focus. (1)