From Street Parties to Hardbass: Dance and Protest in Czech Postsocialist Urban Space

Abstract

In this study, I aim to discuss the nature of protest dances taking place in urban spaces of postsocialist Czech Republic. My point of departure consist in the hardbass masked dances that were produced and propagated by activists with links to far-right social movements mainly in Eastern Europe in the early 2010s. Hardbass thus mimicked the earlier anti-globalization social movement Reclaim the Streets (RTS). The anti-globalization movement of the late 1990s and early 2000s can be considered a truly global social movement, active not only in the core capitalist countries but also in locations that are more peripheral.