Phil Jamison

If your background is in dance, this book is amazing. As someone who is active in community folk dance, a folk studies student, and interested in Southern Appalachia, I learned so much by reading this. Jamison's research is both broad and detailed, and his writing style is clear and easy to read. The book is more descriptive than analytical, but Jamison's discussions of the African/African American roots of Southern Appalachian dance are one of the major contributions he makes to the understanding of regional dance.

My fellow students reading this book in class were not so enthused with it -- lacking a dance background, they saw it as unnecessarily detailed and were confused by unfamiliar terms. However, I found Jamison's clear, concise researched histories of specific dance styles and figures fascinating and appreciated his investigation of the roots of the dance forms which I observe and do myself.… (mere)