Current Problems & Methods in Dance Reconstruction: Focus on Cross-Cultural and Social Dance Reconstruction

This roundtable began with presentations by the three conveners describing their own experience with reconstruction of social dance and/or dance in a cross-cultural context, including the French cancan of the 1820s and 1830s, American dances of the ragtime era, and New York mambo of the 1950s. Each presented methodological problems encountered and strategies employed in the face of those issues. The floor was then opened to all participants to dialogue about their own experiences in and questions about dance reconstruction in these varied contexts. Included here are summaries of each presenter’s remarks, followed by their recollections of and reactions to the discussion