Corporeal in/securities in the dancehall space

In this chapter, Orville ‘Xpressionz’ Hall reflects on his own experience as one of the foremost dancehall dancers. He takes us from the ’80s and ’90s, when both dancehall spaces and dancehall dances were shaped by the political violence that plagued downtown Kingston at that time, through to the early 21st century, when dancehall has become a truly global art form. From his own position as a key dancehall practitioner and teacher, Hall reflects on the impact of US dancehall parties and European dancehall tourism, and he raises profound issues around cultural in/security in relation to the appropriation and formalisation of dancehall moves, as well as describing successful initiatives to deploy dancehall as a means of securing livelihoods for people living in downtown Kingston.