Dance: Rituals of Experience
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Book Overview
This book presents a powerful view of the history of dance, contrasting its role in Western civilization with its significance in other cultures. Highwater--a renowned critic, author, and lecturer on art, theater, music, and dance--links the history of dance to cultural forces as diverse as
Karl Marx and Elvis Presley. Beginning with the original, ritualistic, and primal forms of dance, he traces its decline into empty ceremonial forms while all along insisting that dance is a fundamental life impulse made visible in motion--a spontaneous transformation of experience into metaphoric
meaning. Considering the historical and creative context from which dance emerged, Highwater goes on to point out the specific contributions and cultural influences of such 20th-century dance giants as Isadora Duncan, Twyla Tharp, Robert Wilson, George Balanchine, Martha Graham, Alwin Nikolais,
Erick Hawkins, Jose Limon, Merce Cunningham, Meredith Monk, and Garth Fagan. Also examined are many newer artists, such as Bebe Miller and the Urban Bush Women.
Karl Marx and Elvis Presley. Beginning with the original, ritualistic, and primal forms of dance, he traces its decline into empty ceremonial forms while all along insisting that dance is a fundamental life impulse made visible in motion--a spontaneous transformation of experience into metaphoric
meaning. Considering the historical and creative context from which dance emerged, Highwater goes on to point out the specific contributions and cultural influences of such 20th-century dance giants as Isadora Duncan, Twyla Tharp, Robert Wilson, George Balanchine, Martha Graham, Alwin Nikolais,
Erick Hawkins, Jose Limon, Merce Cunningham, Meredith Monk, and Garth Fagan. Also examined are many newer artists, such as Bebe Miller and the Urban Bush Women.
Format:Paperback
Language:English
ISBN:0195112059
ISBN13:9780195112054
Release Date:December 1996
Publisher:Oxford University Press, USA
Length:228 Pages
Weight:1.55 lbs.
Dimensions:0.5" x 8.2" x 10.5"
Customer Reviews
2 ratings
A passionate and knowledgeable treatment of dance
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 26 years ago
We know no other book on dance with the same passion and deep understanding that Highwater brings to this one. Even the fantastic illustrations give a sense of the movement and development of the power of this great art, and the text just as vividly explores dance's ritual, mythic, and subconscious elements, showing us at every juncture how, through the movement of the dance, our inner and outer lives meet.
Best Book on Dance
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 26 years ago
Most dance books are pretty lightweight. This one is a knockout. Highwater has this way of connecting things, and here he seems to be connecting the history of the human body with the social attitudes of different times and different places. The way we dance is the way we are. On the jacket choreographer Erick Hawkins tells us that this is "the most important book on dance ever published in America." He should know.
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