Overview

In Becoming Beautiful, Joanna Bosse explores the transformations undergone by the residents of a Midwestern town when they step out on the dance floor for the very first time.   Bosse uses sensitive fieldwork as well as her own immersion in ballroom culture to lead readers into a community that springs up around ballroom dance. The result is a portrait of the real people who connect with others, change themselves, and join a world that foxtrots to its own rules, conventions, and rewards. Bosse's eye for revealing, humorous detail adds warmth and depth to discussions around critical perspectives on the experiences the dance hall provides, the nature of partnership and connection, and the notion of how dancing allows anyone to become beautiful.

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9780252080630

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Reviews

Her prose is at once engaging and accessible, her thinking rich in theoretical depth and imagination. This is a book that charts new territory at the fused horizons of music, dance, and popular culture studies. --Michael Bakan, author of World Music: Traditions and Transformations Becoming Beautiful will offer many readers a window into experiences of beauty and redemption enjoyed by ballroom dance practitioners. --Middle West Review

Her prose is at once engaging and accessible, her thinking rich in theoretical depth and imagination. This is a book that charts new territory at the fused horizons of music, dance, and popular culture studies. --Michael Bakan, author of World Music: Traditions and Transformations

Author Information

Joanna Bosse is an assistant professor of ethnomusicology and dance ethnography at Michigan State University.

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