The Work of Dance: Labor, Movement, and Identity in the 1930s (review)

Abstract

Mark Franko's latest work investigates the convergence of dance and labor within reformulations [End Page 553] of American theatrical culture during the 1930s. The political urgency of the Depression era, Franko relates, was particularly visible in representational practices: "Work's actual doing become a subject worthy of attention and artistic treatment, and hence the representation of work and workers by dancers and actors could itself be legitimately valued as labor" (1). Franko pursues the proliferation in forms of danced culture in order to explore variants of left-wing radical modern dance in conjunction with high modernism, ballet, and chorus dance. The core of the inquiry addresses the relationship between social engagement and aesthetic innovation by examining influences on modern dance arising from labor movements and union organizing, the Federal Dance and Theatre Projects, and theatrical dance and Hollywood dance films. The period, as Franko sifts through it, proves a contentious arena of cultural production and dance genres. With seven chapters in two parts, The Work of Dance is a tautly argued consideration of the enduring legacy of artistic radicalism that leaves one lingering over the question: What is the cultural value of dance work?