African dance is discussed here in its global as well as local contexts as a powerful vehicle of aesthetic and cultural exchange and influence.To date, scholars have tended, with a few exceptions, to write about African dance in primarily ethnographic terms. This collection seeks to challenge this pattern and expand dance research by engaging with the aesthetics and socio-political impact of dance for communities in and out of Africa in an increasingly global context. Contributors to this issue look at the impact that specifically situated indigenous dance forms have had on the development of newforms locally, and the reciprocal impact of local and international infrastructures, including funding bodies, tourism and festivals. African Theatre 17 examines how dance is contributing to a particularly African interculturalism, while analysing the issues of representation of Africa in a postcolonial context. Articles address the efficacy of dance to engage audiences with disavowed issues regarding gender, sexuality and dis/ability both within and beyond Africa. Highlights include a dance photo essay on F.O.D. Gang's 2017 site-specific street performance "Untitled" in Lagos, a new non-themed section, and the playscript Lunatic! by Zimbabwean playwright Thoko Zulu. Volume Editors: YVETTE HUTCHISON & CHUKWUMA OKOYE Series Editors: Yvette Hutchison, Reader, Department of Theatre & Performance Studies, University of Warwick; Chukwuma Okoye, Reader in African Theatre & Performance University of Ibadan; Jane Plastow, Professor of African Theatre, University of Leeds.

Obituary: J.C. Abbey, Master Puppeteer of Ghana (Steve Feld & Nii Noi Ortey)Introduction - Yvette Hutchison and Chukwuma OkoyeDANCE James Mweu & Kunja Dance Theatre: Contemporary dance as African cultural production - 'Funmi AdewoleLooking behind the mirror: Challenging representationalism in contemporary dance in postcolonial African contexts - Kristina JohnstoneLooking behind the mirror: Challenging representationalism in contemporary dance in postcolonial African contexts - Kristina JohnstoneDecolonizing the stage: Reflecting on a Canadian-hosted South African Performance Festival - Kymberley FelthamUnmuting South African citizenship through integrated/ disability dance - Yvette HutchisonFrom television to the streets: The rise and rise of dance-based advertising in Nigeria - 'Tosin Kooshima TumeDance photo essay: Untitled: FOD Gang's Environmental Activism - Chukwuma OkoyeOPEN SECTION Cultural production in a digital age: A reflection on the adaptation of an African folktale for a young audience - J.C. NialaAnd With Them Came Devils: Ebrahim Hussein, Mashetani & the poetics of doubt - Joshua WilliamsPlayscript: Lunatic! by Thoko ZuluBook Reviews edited by Sola Adeyemi