About Brenda
I am Professor Emerita of dance studies, Temple University. I perform with choreographer Hellmut Gottschild (my husband) in a form of somatic and research-based collaboration for which we coined the term, “movement theater discourse.” In going about my work as a cultural scholar/researcher, I use performance—specifically, dance—as a measure and paradigm of society.
Books – My last book, The Black Dancing Body – A Geography From Coon to Cool, (Palgrave-Macmillan, 2003; paperback, 2005) can be regarded as the third installment in my ongoing quest to bring to the fore the African American quotient in the American cultural equation. It is a map of American history as told through the “topography” of the black dancing body. Chapters are named for body parts or expressive attributes: feet, buttocks, skin, hair/face, and soul/spirit. An introduction preceding these sections wrestles with the question, “What is black dance?” The Black Dancing Body was awarded the 2004 de la Torre Bueno Prize as the year’s most distinguished book of dance scholarship. My previous book, Waltzing in the Dark: African American Vaudeville and Race Politics in the Swing Era (Palgrave-Macmillan, 2000; paperback, 2002), focuses on the social, racial, and artistic climate for African American performers from the late 1920s through the 1940s. For this work I received the 2001 CORD (Congress on Research in Dance) Award for Outstanding Scholarly Dance Publication. My first solo book (I had previously co-authored a dance textbook), Digging the Africanist Presence in American Performance: Dance and Other Contexts (Greenwood, 1996; paperback, 1998), was the culmination of a circuitous journey in interdisciplinary research that began with the question, “What makes George Balanchine’s ballets different from European ballet?” I originated and continue to investigate a line of thought that had been ignored in previous socio-cultural and performance studies—namely, the Africanist presence in Europeanist concert dance culture.
Recent Awards– I was awarded a 2011 production grant from The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage through Dance Advance to complete my book on Joan Myers Brown and her legacy. In 2009 I received a Leeway Foundation Transformation Award For Art and Social Change. In 2008 I was the recipient of the Congress on Research in Dance Award for Outstanding Leadership in Dance Research. In 2008, I was also granted an award from the Pew Center for Arts & Heritage through Dance Advance to begin work on this book about Joan Myers Brown and her legacy.
Background– In my professional life I have journeyed from a career as artist-performer to writer-scholar, from practitioner to observer—and, lately, a combination of both. The two developments are driven by the same passion for the performing arts and my belief in performance as a highly charged, sociopolitical phenomenon. My résumé encompasses the practical and theoretical realms and reflects my background in and commitment to both. To this end I define myself as an artist-scholar and coined the phrase, “choreography for the page,” to describe my embodied, subjunctive approach to research writing. This perspective is shaped by the fact that I spent the early years of my career as a professional performer, first as a member of the Mary Anthony Dance Theater (New York: 1964-1966); then as an independent choreographer, teacher, and performer here and abroad (New York, Stockholm, Helsinki, and London: 1966-1968); and, later, as a member of the Open Theater (directed by Joseph Chaikin, New York and Europe: 1968-1971) and a member of the Frank Silvera Writers’ Workshop actor’s unit (New York: 1976-1980). My work during my years as a student in the Performance Studies Department of New York University (Ph.D., 1981, and full tuition scholarship, 1974-1979) crystallized my growing desire to find a theoretical foundation for my performance interests. In making the switch from performer to scholar I managed to blur the divisions between these categories and play both ends against an interdisciplinary middle ground. Thus, in presenting my research I use my own dancing body to demonstrate various performative and kinesthetic principles as I attempt to fuse the categories of lecture, performance, and discourse.
You may contact me at bdixongottschild@verizon.net if you are interested in booking me for the following:
residencies
lecture-presentations
scholarly and/or artistic consultation
socially-engaged somatic theater workshops
Brenda Dixon Gottschild 
August 25, 2010 at 1:10 am
Dear Robert Avery,
Thanks for your comment! If you Google my name, there are lots of hits and bits about me. My upcoming book, outlined on the web page, contains lots of information about famous African American Philadelphians from this very vibrant and nationally significant dance community. Some of them are still alive, including Sydney King and Joan Myers Brown. They deserve recognition in your Museum! They, too, have Google trails. More later.
August 27, 2010 at 1:48 am
Thank you very much for the information. I was able to find out information about your work. I posted information about your book on dance and received some very positive feedback. Philadelphia has a wonderful mix of great people, doing all kinds of great things. Thank you for the names of Sydney King and Joan Myers Brown. I was able to highlight them. I will keep you posted on when our website is up. I am humbled for your help. Thank you very much and keep up the great work. May God continue to bless you and your husbands work!
Here is our Mission for The Philadelphia Wax Museum
The Philadelphia Wax Museum is an independent, non-partisan 501(c) (3) nonprofit organization committed solely to, broadening public compassion and gratitude for the famous personalities; as well as the study and preservation of Philadelphia History through education, research, and conservation. The Philadelphia Wax Museum is organized and operated exclusively for the relief of the poor, the distressed, and the underprivileged; also for the advancement of education, historical and cultural awareness for the Greater Philadelphia Region, all while lessening the burdens of government. The Philadelphia Wax Museum will use life size and lifelike wax figures of famous Philadelphians past and present to motivate the youth to achieve! The Philadelphia Wax Museum will also work to improve race relations by dispelling racial superiority by displaying the many races and cultures that have contributed to Philadelphia’s success as one of the world’s greatest cities. The Philadelphia Wax Museum will also support and work in conjunction with other nonprofit, charitable organizations seeking to improve the social and economic status of underprivileged Philadelphians in the greater Philadelphia Region.
Very Respectfully
Robert Avery
January 2, 2011 at 3:47 pm
[…] About the Author July 20102 comments 3 […]
July 15, 2011 at 4:24 am
I feel so fortunate to have had the experience of being a student of yours. You continue to inspire me, as an artist and scholar. Thank you.
July 15, 2011 at 11:47 pm
//Thanks, Carrie, for your kind words! May our paths cross again, sooner than later. BDG
September 1, 2011 at 7:51 pm
Would you be willing to contact me about a possible speaking engagement? Black Dancing Body was one of my favorite books this past summer, and I would love to find ways to share the wealth. Warmly, Solveig Santillano
September 1, 2011 at 8:06 pm
Hi, Solveig,(if I may), Thanks for your support and encouragement. I would, indeed be interested in your offer. Please contact me at my email address: bdixongottschild@verizon.net. BDG
November 9, 2011 at 12:27 pm
hello Ma’m, i wish to say i am most grateful for all your efforts! how i wish, we the Ejagham Community of Nigeria can have you do a presentation to grace our African Art form. keep up your good work we cherish you. Ntui Godma
November 11, 2011 at 3:44 am
Dear Ntui Godma, I am humbled by and grateful for your kind comments! Peace and Blessings, BDG
March 10, 2013 at 10:31 pm
Brenda I am thinking of you these last days, your picture always in front of me as I sit at the computer. Can we get in touch?
September 21, 2014 at 9:51 am
Hello Ms Gottschild
Re: Digging the Africanist Presence in American Performance
I am seeking permission to reproduce a solitary chapter from the above named publication. I would like to reproduce chapter 5: ‘Stripping the Emperor: George Balanchine and the Americanization of Ballet.
I am a first time Black British publisher living in London. I am funding this venture entirely from my own funds. I have written to your publisher but have not had a reply so I decided on this, more direct route. I do hope you don’t take offence.
The chapter is to be included in a book called, I Like Feet. The publication itself is an eclectic assembly of articles. It was pointed out to me by a white journalist that the book’s contents were weighted in African/Black direction. I had not previously seen this, and it is all the more interesting knowing this.
The book’s articles include The Ali Shuffle – what was it, where did it come from, did it have any roots in African-American dance. The article is accompanied by some terrific photography shot by David King who visited Ali up in his training camp in the 1970s.
There’s a piece about the Story of Tango – its forgotten roots in Africa, plus a potted account of the fate of African Argentines. Another stand-out article features Hannibal’s trek around the mountains of Africa and southern Europe. The publication itself is quirky, challenging, naughty, original and wonderfully designed.
Beverely Jackson is the author of Splendid Slippers and has contributed to this publication about the old Chinese practice of footbinding. Marie Wynter is a documentary film-maker and has contributed two great articles; one entitled Walk This Way – A Black Man’s Walk.
I would like to use the said chapter with minor changes, that is slight omissions which do not alter the meaning of the original work but does shorten the length.
I am seeking permission for worldwide rights, to be reproduced in the original language of the publication (English), for the duration of book’s current edition and a further ten years.
My publication’s print run will be 1,000. However, I am seeking permission for a print run of up to a possible 19,9999. The publication will be for profit. However, I am a solitary publisher and do not have large amount of money. In fact, my budget is very small.
My publication will contain 450 pages and will be available via educational markets. It will retail at £13.99.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Regards
Harold Wilson
London, UK
September 21, 2014 at 6:06 pm
Dear HW, I sent a reply to your email address. Peace, BDG
January 20, 2015 at 9:08 pm
[…] puts me on the edge of my seat. In this conversation, Jones was joined by Ralph Lemon, Brenda Dixon Gottschild, Adrienne Edwards, Ishmael Houston-Jones, Dianne McIntyre, Bebe Miller, and Charmaine Warren. […]
September 21, 2017 at 6:52 pm
[…] Brenda Dixon Gottschild is the author of Digging the Africanist Presence in American Performance: Dance and Other Contexts; Waltzing in the Dark: African American Vaudeville and Race Politics in the Swing Era (winner of the 2001 Congress on Research in Dance Award for Outstanding Scholarly Dance Publication); and The Black Dancing Body-A Geography from Coon to Cool (winner of the 2004 de la Torre Bueno prize for scholarly excellence in dance publication). A freelance writer, consultant, performer, lecturer and former consultant for Dance Magazine, she is Professor Emerita of Dance Studies at Temple University. […]
March 24, 2019 at 8:10 pm
[…] Brenda Dixon Gottschild […]
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[…] artist-scholar Brenda Dixon-Gottschild, PhD, is an interdisciplinary researcher, writer, lecturer, performer and professor emerita of dance […]
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[…] was performed – improvised – by Vivian Gear, Powell Shepherd, Gladstone herself, and Brenda Dixon, her friend from the Mary Anthony Dance Theater in New York. “One could say that each dancer is a […]
March 6, 2024 at 1:06 pm
Dear Brenda, just wanted to leave a quick note and “Thank you!” here, as I’m currently in awe reading Waltzing In The Dark. Being a lindy hop dancer and teacher in Germany, trying to educate myself on the history of dance, music and culture, your work is immensely valuable. I’m only at page 18 and my mind is already buzzing with all the facts and consequences, answers, ideas to provide our students with and of course myself. Thank you, thank you so much!
Ingo, Hamburg, Germany
March 6, 2024 at 6:08 pm
Thanks, Ingo. Unfortunately, I’ve lapsed in using WordPress and post most current info on Facebook. If you use that service, please send me a Friend request. Also, I’ll be in Berlin (my husband’s native city) from end of May through end of June. Should you consider a trip from Hamburg, we’d love to meet you. If so, contact me at bdixongottschild@gmail.com