The Choreographic

Download or read book The Choreographic written by Jenn Joy and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2014-10-10 with total page 245 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An investigation of dance and choreography that views them not only as artistic strategies but also as intrinsically theoretical and critical practices. The choreographic stages a conversation in which artwork is not only looked at but looks back; it is about contact that touches even across distance. The choreographic moves between the corporeal and cerebral to tell the stories of these encounters as dance trespasses into the discourse and disciplines of visual art and philosophy through a series of stutters, steps, trembles, and spasms. In The Choreographic, Jenn Joy examines dance and choreography not only as artistic strategies and disciplines but also as intrinsically theoretical and critical practices. She investigates artists in dialogue with philosophy, describing a movement of conceptual choreography that flourishes in New York and on the festival circuit. Joy offers close readings of a series of experimental works, arguing for the choreographic as an alternative model of aesthetics. She explores constellations of works, artists, writers, philosophers, and dancers, in conversation with theories of gesture, language, desire, and history. She choreographs a revelatory narrative in which Walter Benjamin, Pina Bausch, Francis Alÿs, and Cormac McCarthy dance together; she traces the feminist and queer force toward desire through the choreography of DD Dorvillier, Heather Kravas, Meg Stuart, La Ribot, Miguel Gutierrez, luciana achugar, and others; she maps new forms of communicability and pedagogy; and she casts science fiction writers Samuel R. Delany and Kim Stanley Robinson as perceptual avatars and dance partners for Ralph Lemon, Marianne Vitali, James Foster, and Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller. Constructing an expanded notion of the choreographic, Joy explores how choreography as critical concept and practice attunes us to a more productively uncertain, precarious, and ecstatic understanding of aesthetics and art making.

Download or read book The Choreographic written by Jenn Joy and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2014-10-17 with total page 245 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An investigation of dance and choreography that views them not only as artistic strategies but also as intrinsically theoretical and critical practices. The choreographic stages a conversation in which artwork is not only looked at but looks back; it is about contact that touches even across distance. The choreographic moves between the corporeal and cerebral to tell the stories of these encounters as dance trespasses into the discourse and disciplines of visual art and philosophy through a series of stutters, steps, trembles, and spasms. In The Choreographic, Jenn Joy examines dance and choreography not only as artistic strategies and disciplines but also as intrinsically theoretical and critical practices. She investigates artists in dialogue with philosophy, describing a movement of conceptual choreography that flourishes in New York and on the festival circuit. Joy offers close readings of a series of experimental works, arguing for the choreographic as an alternative model of aesthetics. She explores constellations of works, artists, writers, philosophers, and dancers, in conversation with theories of gesture, language, desire, and history. She choreographs a revelatory narrative in which Walter Benjamin, Pina Bausch, Francis Alÿs, and Cormac McCarthy dance together; she traces the feminist and queer force toward desire through the choreography of DD Dorvillier, Heather Kravas, Meg Stuart, La Ribot, Miguel Gutierrez, luciana achugar, and others; she maps new forms of communicability and pedagogy; and she casts science fiction writers Samuel R. Delany and Kim Stanley Robinson as perceptual avatars and dance partners for Ralph Lemon, Marianne Vitali, James Foster, and Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller. Constructing an expanded notion of the choreographic, Joy explores how choreography as critical concept and practice attunes us to a more productively uncertain, precarious, and ecstatic understanding of aesthetics and art making.

Download or read book The Fascist Turn in the Dance of Serge Lifar written by Mark Franko and published by . This book was released on 2020 with total page 297 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ukrainian dancer and choreographer Serge Lifar (1905-86) is recognized both as the modernizer of French ballet in the twentieth century and as the keeper of the flame of the classical tradition upon which the glory of French ballet was founded. Having migrated to France from Russia in 1923 to join Diaghilev's Ballets Russes, Lifar was appointed star dancer and ballet director at the Paris Op�ra in 1930. Despite being rather unpopular with the French press at the start of his appointment, Lifar came to dominate the Parisian dance scene-through his publications as well as his dancing and choreography-until the end of the Second World War, reaching the height of his fame under the German occupation of Paris (1940-44). Rumors of his collaborationism having remained inconclusive throughout the postwar era, Lifar retired in 1958. This book not only reassess Lifar's career, both aesthetically and politically, but also provides a broader reevaluation of the situation of dance-specifically balletic neoclassicism-in the first half of the twentieth century. The Fascist Turn in the Dance of Serge Lifar is the first book not only to discuss the resistance to Lifar in the French press at the start of his much-mythologized career, but also the first to present substantial evidence of Lifar's collaborationism and relate it to his artistic profile during the preceding decade. In examining the political significance of the critical discussion of Lifar's body and technique, author Mark Franko provides the ground upon which to understand the narcissistic and heroic images of Lifar in the 1930s as prefiguring the role he would play in the occupation. Through extensive archival research into unpublished documents of the era, police reports, the transcript of his postwar trial and rarely cited newspaper columns Lifar wrote, Franko reconstructs the dancer's political activities, political convictions, and political ambitions during the Occupation.

Download or read book Daniel Lewis written by Donna H. Krasnow and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2020-06-17 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Daniel Lewis's legacy as a hugely influential choreographer and teacher of modern dance is celebrated in this biography. It showcases the many roles he played in the dance world by organizing his story around various aspects of his work, including his years at the Juilliard School, dancing and touring with the Jose Limon Company, staging Limon's masterpieces around the world, directing his own company (Daniel Lewis Dance Repertory Company), writing and choreographing operas and musicals, and his years as dean of dance at New World School of the Arts. His life has spanned a particular period of growth of modern and contemporary dance, and his biography gives insight into how the artistic and journalistic perspectives on modern dance were influenced by what was occurring in the broader dance and arts communities. The book also offers rarely seen photographs and interviews with unique perspectives on many dance luminaries.

Download or read book Dance Composition Basics written by Pamela Anderson Sofras and published by Human Kinetics. This book was released on 2019-02-06 with total page 177 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: If the saying “To be the best, you must learn from the best” holds true, then this book is gold for all aspiring dancers. Dance Composition Basics, Second Edition, doesn’t just feature the works and brilliance of dance and choreographic legends Alonzo King and Dwight Rhoden—it is completely based on the choreographic operations and forms in three of their original works: Chants and Dreamer by King and Verge by Rhoden. All compositional exercises in the book are based on those three works, and the book itself is expertly crafted by Pamela Anderson Sofras, who has 34 years of experience teaching dance at the university level. Dance Composition Basics, designed for beginning dance composition courses, introduces dancers to choreography through a series of problem-solving activities. The activities are starting points for novice dancers to embark on their own attempts at choreography. Useful Tools The book offers several useful tools for instructors: 27 lesson plans that draw from and highlight selected portions of original compositions by King and Rhoden 33 reproducible assessment and self-evaluation forms An instructor guide that includes a sample course syllabus plus written exams for each chapter PowerPoint presentations to guide students through each lesson A web resource featuring online videos that are closely tied to the lesson plans and provide a richer learning experience for students; students can access this resource inside or outside of class Highly Valuable Video Resource The videos give students access to Alonzo King and Dwight Rhoden, highly successful and respected choreographers, who share their processes and techniques. Many video clips show the choreographers working on the same movement concepts featured in the corresponding lesson. Students will see the choreographers in action with professional dancers as they develop the movement material for each dance. Because students get to see the choreographers and dancers struggling with the same creative concepts they have been assigned, these clips add tremendous value to Dance Composition. Book and Web Resource Organization The text is split into five chapters, each of which features several lessons based on that chapter’s choreographic concept. Each lesson contains the following: An introductory statement and a vocabulary list A warm-up to prepare the body and focus the mind Structured improvisations that help dancers understand the movement concepts of the lesson Problem-solving activities that allow dancers to apply the concepts presented in the improvisations Discussion questions to engage dancers and promote understanding Assessment rubrics to guide evaluation of each dancer’s learning At the end of the book, a glossary provides definitions for the vocabulary terms introduced in the chapters. The main menu of the web resource corresponds with the five chapters in the book. To guide students’ use of the videos, icons have been placed throughout the book, referring readers to additional information in the web resource. Reviewing the videos will provide further insight into the choreographic assignment. The web resource also contains all the discussion questions, assessments, and evaluations found in the book. Instructors can distribute these to students electronically or print them out. Instructors can also adapt the forms to meet their specific needs. The Learning Process Dance Composition takes students through a systematic learning process: reading about a concept, discussing the concept, seeing the concept played out on video with professional choreographers and dancers, and exploring the concept through their own movement ideas. Through this process, which includes structured improvisations, students discover a movement vocabulary and original dance phrases. They then more fully develop their movement ideas, with specific movement assignments, and are given feedback by their peers and the instructor. Invaluable Resource Dance Composition Basics, Second Edition, is an invaluable resource for dancers of all styles, from ballet to modern jazz, as it introduces them to some of the compositional structures used by professional choreographers. Through the carefully designed lessons in the book and the expert examples on the video clips, students can use this resource to take their first confident and exhilarating steps into the craft of choreography.

Download or read book Blondell Cummings: Dance as Moving Pictures written by Kristin Juarez and published by . This book was released on 2021-11-15 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Blondell Cummings: Dance as Moving Pictures is the first monograph dedicated to the pivotal work of African American choreographer and video artist Blondell Cummings. The book accompanies an exhibition of the same name co-organized by the Getty Research Institute and Art + Practice, on view at Art + Practice in Los Angeles from September 18, 2021 through February 19, 2022.A foundational figure in dance, Cummings bridged postmodern dance experimentation and Black cultural traditions. Through her unique movement vocabulary, which she called "moving pictures," Cummings combined the visual imagery of photography and the kinetic energy of movement in order to explore the emotional details of daily rituals and the intimacy of Black home life. In her most well-known work Chicken Soup (1981), Cummings remembered the family kitchen as a basis for her choreography; the dance was designated an American Masterpiece by the National Endowment for the Arts in 2006. This book draws from Cummings's personal archive and includes performance ephemera and numerous images from digitized recordings of Cummings's performances and dance films; newly commissioned essays by Samada Aranke, Thomas F. DeFrantz, and Tara Aisha Willis; remembrances by Marjani Forté-Saunders, Ishmael Houston-Jones, Meredith Monk, Elizabeth Streb, Edisa Weeks, and Jawole Willa Jo Zollar; a 1995 interview with Cummings by Veta Goler; and transcripts from Cummings's appearances at Jacob's Pillow and the Wexner Center for the Arts. Bringing together reprints, an extended biography, a chronology of her work, rarely seen documentation, and new research, this book begins to contextualize Cummings's practice at the intersection of dance, moving image, and art histories.

Download or read book Beyond the Dance written by Chan Hon Goh and published by Tundra Books. This book was released on 2009-06-05 with total page 160 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Shortlisted for the Rocky Mountain Book Award Nominated for The Rocky Mountain Book Award (An Alberta Children's Choice Book Award) Nominated for the 2003 Norma Fleck Award for Canadian Children’s Non-Fiction An elegant, expressive dancer, Chan Hon Goh is one of the ballet world’s great stars. She is a brilliant technician possessing a delicate beauty and radiant stage presence. Born in Beijing to dancer parents, she tells the story of their flight to Canada from an oppressive regime that thwarted her father’s career, her rigorous training, and her battle to achieve acceptance as the only Chinese-born prima ballerina in the history of the National Ballet. This fascinating look at the life of a dancer will appeal not only to the legions of Chan Hon Goh’s admirers and to students of ballet, but also to young readers who understand what it is to pursue a dream.