Dance, Sexuality, and Utopian Subversion under the Argentine Dictatorship of the 1960s: The Case of Oscar Araiz's the Rite of Spring and Ana Itelman's Phaedra

Abstract

A phenomenon that defines how dance practices in Argentina developed during the 1960s was the fact that those working in the field were compelled to deal with the political sphere, both at an institutional level and vis-à-vis militants. By studying how Oscar Aráiz´s Rite of Spring and Ana Itelman´s Phaedra were received, I analyze the position occupied by these artistic practices in a context of widespread social contestation. An attempt will be made to analyze their critical potentiality on the basis of the figure of a utopian subversion associated with a struggle over sexual freedom in the face of dictatorial power.