Theatre and Dance

This book brings together leading international dance scholars in this single collection to provide a vivid picture of the state of contemporary dance research. The book commences with an introduction that privileges dancing as both a site of knowledge formation and a methodological approach, followed by a provocative overview of the methods and problems that dance studies currently faces as an established disciplinary field.

A collaboration between well-established and rising scholars, Futures of Dance Studies suggests multiple directions for new research in the field. Essays address dance in a wider range of contexts—onstage, on screen, in the studio, and on the street—and deploy methods from diverse disciplines. Engaging African American and African diasporic studies, Latinx and Latin American studies, gender and sexuality studies, and Asian American and Asian studies, this anthology demonstrates the relevance of dance analysis to adjacent fields.

Dance on its Own Terms: Histories and Methodologies anthologizes a wide range of subjects examined from dance-centered methodologies: modes of research that are emergent, based in relevant systems of movement analysis, use primary sources, and rely on critical, informed observation of movement. The chapters emphasize dance history and core disciplinary knowledge in three categories of significant dance activity: performance and reconstruction, pedagogy and choreographic process, and notational and other written forms that analyze and document dance. Conceptually, each chapter also raises concerns and questions that point to broadly inclusive methodological applications.

This book explores dance as evolutional, defining it in view of its intrinsic participatory values, its developmental aspects, and its purposes from art to ritual, and examining the role of theory in research. Essays examine qualitative and quantitative inquiry and delineate the most common approaches for investigating dance, raising concerns about philosophy and aesthetics, historical scholarship, movement analysis, sexual and gender identification, cultural diversity, and the resources available to students.

This volume provides a theoretical and practical examination of the relationships between bodies, dance and space. Using ten case studies, it illustrates the symbolic power of dance that is crafted by choreographers and acted out by dancers. The book portrays a multitude of ways in which public and private spaces (stages, buildings, town squares as well as natural environments) are transformed and made meaningful by dance. Furthermore, it explores the meaning of dance as emotionally experienced by dancers, and examines how movement in certain spaces creates meaning without the use of words or symbols.

Moving Sites explores site-specific dance practice through a combination of analytical essays and practitioner accounts of their working processes. In offering this joint effort of theory and practice, it aims to provide dance academics, students and practitioners with a series of discussions that shed light both on approaches to making this type of dance practice, and evaluating and reflecting on it. The edited volume combines critical thinking from a range of perspectives including commentary and observation from the fields of dance studies, human geography and spatial theory in order to present interdisciplinary discourse and a range of critical and practice-led lenses through which this type of work can be considered and explored.

This is the first book to examine systematically the long history of the impact of ideas about ancient Greek and Roman dance on modern theatrical and choreographic practices. With contributions from eminent classical scholars, dance historians, theatre specialists, modern literary critics, and art historians, as well as from contemporary practitioners, it offers a very wide conspectus on an under-explored but central aspect of classical reception, dance and theatre history, and the history of ideas.

Dance writer and critic Zoe Anderson focuses on 140 ballets, a core international repertory that encompasses works from the ethereal world of romantic ballet to the edgy, muscular works of modern choreographers. Each chapter introduces a period of ballet history and provides an overview of innovations and advancement in the art form. Anderson includes essential facts about each ballet's themes, plot, composers, choreographers, dance style, music, creation, effects, performance history, and reception.

Providing an understanding of the history, evolution, and universality of dance as an art form, this guidebook explores the significance of dance in culture, the relationship of dance to other art forms, the contributions of great pioneering choreographers, dancers, and teachers, and the creative process. Highlighting an extensive range of types of dance—including ballet, modern, jazz, tap, folk, ethnic, and social—this comprehensive collection features a variety of engaging essays written by experts in their respective fields. Students of dance, professionals, instructors, and enthusiasts will learn what to look for during a performance, and how to appreciate dance styles from around the world.

From soaring ballet leaps to the simple swaying at a high school prom, dance is the wedding of movement to music. It is a means of recreation, of communication--for the purpose of expressing an idea or emotion, releasing energy, or simply taking delight in the movement itself. This engaging narrative, with biographical profiles, discusses Western dance as an art form, a folk tradition, and an entertainment spectacle. It examines the wide ranging dance types, including some of ancient rituals, Christian dance ecstasies, court and folk dances, ballet, social dances, the waltz, ballroom, tap, modern dance, and break and hip-hop dancing.

This book presents a range of articles covering choreographic enquiry, investigation into the creative process, and innovative challenges to traditional understandings of dance making. Contributions from a global range of practitioners and researchers address a spectrum of concerns in the field, organized into seven broad domains: Conceptual and philosophical concerns, Processes of making Dance dramaturgy (structures, relationships, contexts), Choreographic environments, Cultural and intercultural contexts Challenging aesthetics, and Choreographic relationships with technology.

Dance composition - the discipline that translates ideas into dances - is an important part of dance education. For over twenty years, Dance Composition has been the leading guide to creative success in dance making, useful to everyone interested in dance composition, at both high school and college levels.

This book delves into the choreographic processes of some of America's most engaging and revolutionary dancemakers. Based on personal interviews, the book's narratives reveal the methods and quests of, among others, Merce Cunningham, Meredith Monk, Bill T. Jones, Trisha Brown, and Mark Morris. Morgenroth shows how the ideas, craft, and passion that go into their work have led these choreographers to disrupt known forms and expectations. The history of dance in the making is revealed through the stories of these intelligent, articulate, and witty dance masters.