Writing Dancing in the Age of Postmodernism

Sally Banes

• Publisher: Wesleyan University Press
• ISBN:
  9780819571816
• Topic: Mezzi di comunicazione e arti performative
• Subtopic: Danza

Drawing of the postmodern perspective and concerns that informed her groundbreaking Terpsichore in Sneakers, Sally Banes’s Writing Dancing documents the background and developments of avant-garde and popular dance, analyzing individual artists, performances, and entire dance movements. With a sure grasp of shifting cultural dynamics, Banes shows how postmodern dance is integrally connected to other oppositional, often marginalized strands of dance culture, and considers how certain kinds of dance move from the margins to the mainstream.Banes begins by considering the act of dance criticism itself, exploring its modes, methods, and underlying assumptions, and examining the work of other critics. She traces the development of contemporary dance from the early work of such influential figures as Merce Cunningham and George Balanchine to such contemporary choreographers as Molissa Fenley, Karole Armitage, and Michael Clark. She analyzes the contributions of the Judson Dance Theatre and the Workers’ Dance League, the emergence of Latin postmodern dance in New York, and the impact of black jazz in Russia. In addition, Banes explores such untraditional performance modes as breakdancing and the “drunk dancing” of Fred Astaire. Ebook Edition Note: Ebook edition note: All images have been redacted.

Index

Page numbers for illustrations are in boldface.

Abrahams, Roger, 381n7

abstract dance, 4–5, 63, 64, 68, 295, 298, 305, 312, 333

Accompaniment for La Monte’s “2 sounds” and La Monte’s “2 sounds” (Forti and Young), 315

Accumulation (Brown), 15–16, 281

Accumulation Pieces (Brown), 307, 317

Acocella, Joan, 38, 329

acrobatics and gymnastics, 60, 97, 101, 172, 364n49

in breakdancing, 122, 124, 125, 128, 134, 138, 143, 145, 151, 157

aerial dance, 88, 279

aesthetic evaluation, 42

African-American: composers, 69, 365n57

dance style, 63, 64, 65–67

folklore, 57, 79

influence on breakdancing, 126, 128, 129, 132, 136, 149–50

Afternoon (Paxton), 221, 238

“Against Interpretation” (Sontag), 21, 29

agit-prop, 54, 95–96, 165, 201, 358n9

Agon (Balanchine), 64, 67

Ahearn, Charles, 128, 131, 139

Ailey, Alvin, Dance Theater, 61, 327, 363n35

alcoholism, 171–72

Aldrich, Elizabeth, 31–32, 47

Alenikoff, Frances, 275

Alexopoulos, Helene, 54

Alf, Fe, 200

Alfven, Hugo, 74

Allard, Lynne, 265, 266

allegory, 92, 95

Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato, L’ (Morris), 38

Allen, Barbara, 332, 335

Allen, John, dance house, 184, 194, 195, 196, 197–99

Allen, Robert C., 358n15

Allix, G., 86

Alma Mater (Balanchine), 62

Alonso, Alicia, 39–40

Alston, Richard, 293, 300

Alvarez...