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Winner of the Dance Perspectives Foundation de la Torre Bueno Prize
Recent approaches to dance composition, seen in the works of Merce Cunningham and the Judson Church performances of the early 1960s, suggest the possibility for a new theory of choreographic meaning. Borrowing from contemporary semiotics and post-structuralist criticism, Reading Dancing outlines four distinct models for representation in dance which are illustrated, first, through an analysis of the works of contemporary choreographers Deborah Hay, George Balanchine, Martha Graham, and Merce Cunningham, and then through reference to historical examples beginning with court ballets of the Renaissance. The comparison of these four approaches to representation affirms the unparalleled diversity of choreographic methods in American dance, and also suggests a critical perspective from which to reflect on dance making and viewing.
Recent approaches to dance composition, seen in the works of Merce Cunningham and the Judson Church performances of the early 1960s, suggest the possibility for a new theory of choreographic meaning. Borrowing from contemporary semiotics and post-structuralist criticism, Reading Dancing outlines four distinct models for representation in dance which are illustrated, first, through an analysis of the works of contemporary choreographers Deborah Hay, George Balanchine, Martha Graham, and Merce Cunningham, and then through reference to historical examples beginning with court ballets of the Renaissance. The comparison of these four approaches to representation affirms the unparalleled diversity of choreographic methods in American dance, and also suggests a critical perspective from which to reflect on dance making and viewing.
Price: $33.95
Pages: 336
Publisher: University of California Press
Imprint: University of California Press
Publication Date:
22 April 1988
Trim Size: 8.25 X 8.25 in
ISBN: 9780520063334
Format: Paperback
"Susan Foster is a new breed of dancer and choreographer."
"Foster proposes a context from which the reader might make, see, or write about dance."
"No other dance book had posited an alternative aesthetic and historical framework beyond its own disciplinary content. In advance of the turn to the body in social theory, dance therefore became a major contributor to the rethinking of history advanced by new historicists, and an art form that could be "read" within the context of history and politics. . . . Although dance studies is a growing field for undergraduate studies, its critical status depends on texts such as Reading Dancing that can be debated more widely."
Illustrations
Preface
CHAPTER ONE
Reading Dance: Composing the Choreographer, the Dancer, and the Viewer
Deborah Hay
George Balanchine
Martha Graham
Merce Cunningham
Four Bodies and Subjects
CHAPTER TWO
Reading Choreography: Composing Dances
Frames
Modes of Representation
Styles
Vocabularies
Syntaxes
Reading the Performance
CHAPTER THREE
Readings in Dance's History: Historical Approaches to Dance Composition
Allegorical Dance in the Late Renaissance
Neoclassical Dance in the Eighteenth Century
Expressionist Dance in the Early Twentieth Century
Objectivist Dance from 1950 to the Present
CHAPTER FOUR
Writing Dancing: The Viewer as Choreographer in Contemporary Dance
The Grand Union
Meredith Monk
Twyla Tharp
Writing Bodies and Subjects
Notes
Selected Bibliography
Index