• Embodiment and identity emerge as central analytic foci across modern and contemporary dance, examining how the body encodes gender, race, and cultural meaning in performance [4], [14], [6], [15], [1], [9].

• Dance is treated as a site of political contest and cultural critique, using ethnography, postcolonial analysis, and gendered/racial perspectives to unsettle canonical forms [1], [9], [13], [12], [2], [20].

• Scholars foreground diverse methods—ethnography, somatic education studies, discourse analysis, and historical-critical approaches—integrating sociology of the body with performance studies [19], [8], [4], [6], [1].

• Globalization and cross-border circulation in dance worlds are traced through ballet, South Indian dance and other practices, highlighting transnational networks and translation [18], [13], [5].

• Labor, sexuality, and the economics of exotic and nude dance spaces are analyzed as structured social practices, revealing power, commodification, and resistance in performers' lives [3], [11], [15], [2], [9].