Waltzing in the Dark; African American Vaudeville and Race Politics in the Swing Era
Palgrave Macmillan, Hardcover 1999; Paperback 2002
“Here is vigorous scholarship, possessing funk, rigor, and style. In the self-proclaimed information era, curious souls can be disoriented, blinded by a blizzard of narratives. Brenda Dixon Gottschild’s Waltzing in the Dark…employs a zigzagging, ‘swinging’ approach to her topic and provides a useful guide in our ongoing struggle against the sands of ‘invisibilization’.”
— Bill T. Jones, Co-founder and Artistic Director, The Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Co.
“The cumulative power of Dixon Gottschild’s work is undeniable, its scholarship original and thorough, and its value to young performers and general readers—who may have been lulled into believing everyone has equal access to theatrical success—substantial.”
— Village Voice
Available on Amazon.
Brenda Dixon Gottschild 
February 26, 2021 at 7:59 pm
[…] a slightly different perspective, in her examination of the swing era, Brenda Dixon Gottschild articulates five distinct aspects of an African-American aesthetic in swing […]