Thu, Sep 11
|Calgary
Boozy Lectures Presents: The Politics of Dance
Dance & Power: From N*zi rallies to Cold War propaganda, uncover how nations use bodies, culture & “tradition” to build identity.
Time & Location
Sep 11, 2025, 6:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.
Calgary, 1010 1st St SE, Calgary, AB T2G 0J5, Canada
About the event
Dance has long been useful for nationalist and political goals whether through grand displays of propaganda, subversive ethnocultural narratives, or artificially constructing the idea of 'tradition'.
Led by UCalgary assistant professor and ethnochoreologist, Alèn Martel, we'll look at the utility of the dancing body in the displays of Germanness at N*zi rallies, for American propaganda during the Cold War, and nation-building in pre- and post-independence India.
On September 11, we're going to take a deep dive into the world of dance where we're going to look at how the dancing body can be used as a source of power. Specifically, we'll look at the role of the dancing body in nationalist ideologies and in identity-making in both colonial and anti-colonial contexts.
We'll also be asked to think about how this might be playing out today and what that might mean for us!