tered these dances for the first time.
Performers such as Michael Jackson, the “King of
Pop,” greatly advanced the art of dance in the 1980’s
by popularizing break dancing styles in music vid-
eos. Jackson was particularly known for the innova-
tive choreography of his music videos. His video for
“Thriller”—the title track of the best-selling album
of all time, with worldwide sales exceeding 104 mil-
lion—was fourteen minutes long and contained a
remarkable dance sequence. In 1983, while per-
forming “Billie Jean” at the “Motown Twenty-Five:
Yesterday, Today, Forever” concert, Jackson debuted
the “moonwalk,” which came to be regarded as his
signature move. Teens instantly began to emulate
his break dancing moves.
Madonna, a professionally trained dancer, also
used the music video form and her strong ability as a
dancer to advance her career. Credit is given to her
for popularizing voguing, a dance form developed
in New York’s underground drag-house subculture,
also known as ball culture. Many of the dancers Ma-
donna employed on her tours were gay men who
were familiar with ball culture and helped introduce
her to it. Voguing was a form of competition through
dance that utilized the struts and poses of fashion
models.
In addition, several films featuring dance achieved
popularity during the decade. These includedFame
(1980),Wild Style(1982),Flashdance(1983),Footloose
(1984), andDirty Dancing(1987). The dance styles
portrayed in these films both arose out of and fed
back into popular dance movements of the 1980’s.
Impact Even though many trends and fads of the
1980’s later fell out of favor, the decade’s popular
dances continued to develop, changed over time,
and greatly influenced popular culture into the
twenty-first century. These trends had themselves
developed largely through the mainstream Ameri-
can appropriation of dances from other cultures,
such as the lambada, or dances created by mar-
ginalized subcultures, such as break dancing and
voguing. Notably, both of the latter forms originated
as mediums of competition rather than simple per-
formance. Slam dancing also arose as a subcultural
means of expression, a form of dance that could be
assayed only by those willing to brave a mosh pit. It
too gained a bit more mainstream acceptance, as a
toned-down version of slam dancing spread to many
concert venues and other performance spaces.
Further Reading
Desmond, Jane.Meaning in Motion: New Cultural
Studies of Dance. Durham, N.C.: Duke University
Press, 1997. Features a variety of essays by dance
experts that explore the cultural significance of
dance. Includes dances pertinent to the 1980’s,
such as the lambada and hip-hop forms.
Deyhle, Donna. “Break Dancing and Breaking Out:
Anglos, Utes, and Navajos in a Border Reserva-
tion High School.”Anthropology and Education
Quarterly17 (June, 1986): 111-127. Scholarly but
accessible article that sheds light on how various
groups of high school children utilize break danc-
ing to create group identity and achieve success.
Driver, Ian.A Centur y of Dance. London: Cooper
Square Press, 2001. Each of the ten chapters
considers a decade of dance. The final chapter,
“Street Style,” features hip-hop and break danc-
ing, Madonna, and moonwalking. Heavily illus-
trated.
Nelson, George.Hip-Hop America. New York: Penguin
Books, 2005. While this book tells the story of rap
both as art form and as cultural and economic
force, it also deals with the beginnings and devel-
opment of break dancing in the early 1980’s.
M. Casey DianaSee also Boom boxes; Break dancing; Cable televi-
sion; Fads; Film in the United States;Flashdance;
Heavy metal; Hip-hop and rap; Jackson, Michael;
Leg warmers; Madonna; MTV; Music; Music videos;
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame; Teen films; Television;
World music.Davies, Robertson
Identification Canadian novelist
Born August 28, 1913; Thamesville, Ontario
Died December 2, 1995; Toronto, Ontario
Davies’ novels deployed magic, myth, and the supernatural
to free his work from what he saw as a spiritually repressive
modernity.
Robertson Davies had been writing for many decades
before the 1980’s, but that decade saw him achieve in-
ternational renown. Although his Deptford Trilogy—
Fifth Business(1970),The Manticore(1972), andWorld
of Wonders(1975)—was published in the 1970’s, it
only gained a large international readership in the272 Davies, Robertson The Eighties in America