ABSTRACT
Following the defunding of the Black Dance Development Trust (BDDT) the Arts Council of England commissioned a discussion document called Advancing Black Dancing, which was published in 1993. Later that year it released the report of a meeting called What is Black Dance in Britain? I argue that these documents mark the construction of a sector within the British subsidised dance sector, which is sometimes referred to by administrators as the Black dance/African Peoples dance sector. To look into this issue I draw on constructionist theories, examining dance as a signifying practice in which meaning is created through systems of ideas, codes and images. I argue that the mode of organisation of the subsidised dance sector in Britain constitutes part of the conceptual universe, which informs the capacity of choreography to function as a signifying practice (Hall 2013: 11). My aim is to interrogate this moment to produce a critical history of dance practices associated with the Black dance/African Peoples dance sector, and the sector’s struggle to make sense within the discourse surrounding theatrical dance in Britain.
