The core purpose of the book is to stimulate dialogue and further research on
American vernacular dance. It is our hope that this work will give rise to more good
in-depth ethnographies and comparative ethnologies upon which to base theoretical
and methodological studies. We will also be pleased if it helps to raise increasingly
sophisticated and subtle questions about the nature and the complex relationship of
dance, tradition, and community.

We believe that this book benefits from the deepening understanding of vernac-
ular dance we acquired as a result of having pondered the often surprising connec-
tions and complicated issues that emerged as we read the scholarly studies and the
words of the dancers over and over again. The end of the project felt like the end of
a journey. By the time we reached our destination, we developed an appreciation for
the often fluid and dynamic, always complex and intriguing world of vernacular
dance and its connections to tradition and community.

The 1989 and 1990 Center for Appalachian Studies and Services dance conferences served
as special topic conferences of the Congress on Research in Dance.

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