Abstract

This paper surveys the development of modernist dance practices during the twentieth century in various countries in what is referred to as ‘Latin America’. ¹ During this period many countries in the region faced the conundrum of building nation-states characterized by an indigenized national identity while also making efforts to constitute themselves as participants in the development of Western modernity. By tracing histories of ballet and modern dance in relationship to Latin American indigenous and Africanist popular expressive cultures, I examine the role that race and social class have played in the formation of discourses on Western cultural modernity and its concomitant neocolonialist implications.