Dance, Human Rights, and Social Justice: Dignity in Motion presents a wide-ranging compilation of essays, spanning more than 15 countries. Organized in four parts, the articles examine the regulation and exploitation of dancers and dance activity by government and authoritative groups, including abusive treatment of dancers within the dance profession; choreography involving human rights as a central theme; the engagement of dance as a means of healing victims of human rights abuses; and national and local social/political movements in which dance plays a powerful role in helping people fight oppression. These groundbreaking papers both detailed scholarship and riveting personal accounts encompass a broad spectrum of issues, from slavery and the Holocaust to the Bosnian and Rwandan genocides to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict; from First Amendment cases and the AIDS epidemic to discrimination resulting from age, gender, race, and disability. A range of academics, choreographers, dancers, and dance/movement therapists draw connections between refugee camp, courtroom, theater, rehearsal studio, and university classroom.

Moni Mekhala and Ream Eyso retells the sacred drama of the same name, a tale in which rivaling students of a powerful hermit bring life to lightning, thunder, and rain. Weaving together interviews, essays, photographs, and illustrations, the book uses the story to explore the evolution of the Khmer classical dance tradition, the passage of leadership within artistic tradition nearly destroyed by genocide, and the circumstances of today's women. Additional contributors include award-winning choreographer Sophiline Cheam Shapiro, cultural anthropologist Toni Shapiro-Phim, and visual artist Brian Mendez. " An] enlightening and engaging exploration of one of the most important works in the Cambodian dance drama repertory... A love letter to the character of Moni Mekhala and all of the women who have safeguarded this exquisite art form for generations, this book is a testament to the power of myth in our everyday lives." Cecily Cook Senior Program Officer, Asian Cultural Council - New York "This book is profoundly artist-centered and thus offers an utterly unique and intimate account of Khmer classical dance. This is the first book to acknowledge how gender and sexuality can be interrogated through Khmer dance, whether in the distant Cambodian past, in a post-genocide present, or in Long Beach, California." Dr. Deborah Wong Professor of Music, University of California - Riverside President of Board of Directors, Alliance for California Traditional Arts "Lovingly conceived... Moni Mekhala and Ream Eyso captures the essence of a woman's strength and resilience in the midst of raging violence. It is a book I would want to get as a gift to all the girls and women in the various circles of my life." Chivy Sok Cambodian American human rights advocate and co-founder of Devata Giving Circle

The South China Sea has a rich and turbulent history. Today territorial disputes in the region including China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Philippines and Indonesia make it potentially one of the most dangerous points of conflict in Asia and millions of people have crossed its waters in search of safer shores. This new book reveals the ways in which the peoples of the South China Sea region have used dance as a means of contending with the immense political, economic and cultural rifts that have affected their lives. Drawing on the stories of indigenous dancers in southern China, the Philippines, Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam, it offers unique insights into the ways in which people have used creative movement as a means of understanding the divisions and alienation that conflict, diaspora and globalization have brought and as a first step towards reclaiming their identities and their worlds."