Paper short abstract:

Dance is often used as a spectacle for tourists because it is accessible on an immediately visual level. This paper examines the development of embodied participation in dance tourism, and the implications this has for cross-cultural relationships in the immediate and longer term.

Paper long abstract:

This paper will consider the changing contexts, audiences, and students of dance. When dance forms lose their traditional patrons and venues, performers trained in these forms have to adapt in different ways to new cultural and political conditions. Examples will be drawn from performer experiences in Southeast Asia, especially Indonesia and Laos, as they adapt to international audiences at different sorts of venue at home and abroad. The paper will also address the trend for outsiders to a tradition to actively experience 'other' forms of dance, and ask whether this particular form of dance phenomenology contributes to interculturalism in performance.