Reading dancing :

Foster, Susan Leigh 1949-

Reading dancing : bodies and subjects in contemporary American dance / Susan Leigh Foster. - Berkeley : University of California Press, ©1986. - xxi, 307 pages : illust. ; 22 cm

Includes bibliographical references (pages 263-285) and index.

CHAPTER ONE Reading dance : composing the choreographer, the dancer, and the viewer / CHAPTER TWO Reading choreography : composing dances / CHAPTER THREE Readings in dance's history : historical approaches to dance composition / CHAPTER FOUR Writing dancing : the viewer as choreographer in contemporary dance / Deborah Hay ; George Balanchine ; Martha Graham ; Merce Cunningham ; Four bodies and subjects -- Frames ; Modes of representation ; Styles ; Vocabularies ; Syntaxes ; Reading the performance -- 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 -- The Grand Union ; Meredith Monk ; Twyla Tharp ; Writing bodies and subjects.

Recent approaches to dance composition, seen in the works of Merce Cunningham and the Judson Church performances of the early 1960s, suggest the possibility of 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 form which to reflect on dance making and viewing. -- From publisher's description.

0520055497 9780520055490 9780520063334 0520063333

85016530


Modern dance--History --United States --20th century.
Choreography.
Dance --History.
Movement, Aesthetics of

GV1783 / .F67 1986

792.80973 / FOS