On Semiotics and Spectatorship of the Black Male Dancing Body in the Choreography of Kyle Abraham

Abstract This chapter assesses the meaning of the black male body, particularly in dance. It begins by theorizing the black male dancing body, not only as a site of artistic metaphor and performance, but also in relation to contemporary social, semiotic, and political representations of the black male subject. Concepts of public gaze and performance spectatorship afford the basis for focusing on the black male body in the modern dance work of New York–based Kyle Abraham, and for theorizing a socio-semiotic black male body/black male dancing body interface. This includes questions around what “texts” the black male body brings to the black male dancing body, and what meaning-making processes we, as viewers, bring to that black male body/black male dancing body interface. The chapter then analyzes the postmodern aesthetic, philosophical, and activist dimensions of Abraham’s choreography in relation to representations of race, gender, sexuality, and social identity. It particularly considers two of Abraham’s solos, Inventing Pookie Jenkins (2006) and Brick (2008); Pavement (2012); two recent major group works, The Watershed (2014) and When the Wolves Came In (2014); and his duet The Serpent and the Smoke (2013) with the ballet star Wendy Whelan.