This work investigates how early modern dance served as a site for the construction and negotiation of racial, national, and modern identities during the early twentieth century. Ramsay Burt, a scholar of dance history and cultural theory, utilizes archival research and critical analysis to argue that the physical movements of modern dance were deeply entangled with the political anxieties and colonialist ideologies of the era. By examining the works of key choreographers and performers, the text demonstrates how the body on stage functioned as a vessel for contemporary debates regarding modernity and the definition of the 'other.'

Scholars and dance historians frequently cite this text as a foundational contribution to the study of dance as a cultural and political practice. Readers often note the academic density of the prose, which requires a strong background in cultural theory to fully appreciate the author's arguments.