"Dance on the American Musical Theatre Stage: A History chronicles the development of dance, with an emphasis on musicals and the Broadway stage, in the United States from its colonial beginnings to performances of the present day. This book explores the fascinating tug-and-pull between the European classical, folk and social dance imports and America's indigenous dance forms as they met and collided on the popular musical theatre stage. The historical background influenced a specific musical theatre movement vocabulary and a unique choreographic approach that is recognizable today as Broadway style dancing. Throughout the book, a cultural context is woven into the history to reveal how the competing values within American culture, and its attempts as a nation to define and redefine itself, played out through developments in dance on the musical theatre stage. This book is central to the conversation on how dance influences and reflects society, and will be of interest to students and scholars of Musical Theatre, Theatre Studies, Dance and Cultural History"-- Provided by publisher.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Prologue -- 1492 - 1776 The Earliest Beginnings -- 1776 - 1866 John Durang and the Beginnings of American Theatrical Dance -- 1866 - 1914 Building a Musical Theatre Dance Vocabulary -- 1914 - 1929 The Dance Director: Front and Center -- 1929 - 1943 Depression Ferments New Visions: Ballet and Modern Dance -- 1943 - 1957 Integration: Dance Narrates -- 1957 - 1968 Triple Threats Grow as Director-Choreographers Rise -- 1968 - 1975 The Concept Musical Makes Room for Dance -- 1975 - 1996 The Concept Musical Makes Room for Dance -- 1996 - 2020 Choreography and the Musical Break Open -- Epilogue.