The Knowing Body

The Knowing Body
Author: Louise Steinman
Publisher: North Atlantic Books
Total Pages: 180
Release: 1995-11-29
Genre: Art
ISBN: 9781556432026

Steinman's book really stands alone among performance art books. While there are many that document what particular artists are doing, this one offers a way in for a person who wants to perform (or know more about how performance artists work). Must reading for anyone interested in performance art, it will also be fascinating to those in theatre, playwriting, visual arts and performance of any sort.

The Oxford Handbook of Improvisation in Dance

The Oxford Handbook of Improvisation in Dance
Author: Vida L. Midgelow
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 1358
Release: 2019-02-21
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN: 0190925604

From the dance floor of a tango club to group therapy classes, from ballet to community theatre, improvised dance is everywhere. For some dance artists, improvisation is one of many approaches within the choreographic process. For others, it is a performance form in its own right. And while it has long been practiced, it is only within the last twenty years that dance improvisation has become a topic of critical inquiry. With The Oxford Handbook of Improvisation in Dance, dancer, teacher, and editor Vida L. Midgelow provides a cutting-edge volume on dance improvisation in all its facets. Expanding beyond conventional dance frameworks, this handbook looks at the ways that dance improvisation practices reflect our ability to adapt, communicate, and respond to our environment. Throughout the handbook, case studies from a variety of disciplines showcase the role of individual agency and collective relationships in improvisation, not just to dancers but to people of all backgrounds and abilities. In doing so, chapters celebrate all forms of improvisation, and unravel the ways that this kind of movement informs understandings of history, socio-cultural conditions, lived experience, cognition, and technologies.

The Motional Improvisation of Al Wunder

The Motional Improvisation of Al Wunder
Author: H.R. Elliott
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 247
Release: 2021-05-16
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN: 1351587978

The Motional Improvisation of Al Wunder takes readers on a journey through the life history, creative genealogies and unique working processes of one of the master teachers of Euro-American postmodern movement-based improvisational performance who has, until now, received scant critical attention. The book offers a long overdue examination of the significant impact made by an important figure on grassroots movement-based improvisational performance in 1960s/1970s America and in Australia from the 1980s onwards. It revisits the work of groundbreaking New York choreographer Alwin Nikolais, with whom Wunder trained and for whom he later taught in the 1960s; covers collaborations with founders of ‘Action Theater’ Ruth Zaporah and ‘Motivity Aerial Dance’ Terry Sendgraff as part of the explosion of improvisation in San Francisco in the 1970s and tracks the consolidation of a unique pedagogy that would see hundreds of students learn how to map their performative creativity in Melbourne from the 1980s onwards. It conducts a fascinating investigation into the wellsprings of Wunder’s approach to improvised performance as an end in itself, covering teaching innovations such as his use of the Hum Drum, positive feedback, personal power sources and articulators. It includes valuable contributions from a number of ex-students and established Australian artists in dance, music and visual art who share the profound impact Wunder has made on their creative practices. This book will be a valuable resource to movement/dance improvisation students and teachers at undergraduate and postgraduate level and independent artists drawn to movement improvisation as performance.

The Body Eclectic

The Body Eclectic
Author: Melanie Bales
Publisher: University of Illinois Press
Total Pages: 282
Release: 2008
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN: 0252074890

A discussion of current practices in modern dance training

Art as an Agent for Social Change

Art as an Agent for Social Change
Author: Hala Mreiwed
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 280
Release: 2020-10-12
Genre: Education
ISBN: 9004442871

Art as an Agent for Social Change explores through original research, experiences, and personal narratives the role of the arts in bringing forth social change within three interconnected themes: community building, collaborations, and teaching and pedagogy.

Another City

Another City
Author: David L. Ulin
Publisher: City Lights Books
Total Pages: 308
Release: 2001-09
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 9780872863910

Thirty-seven Los Angeles authors contribute stories, poems and essays about contemporary LA.

Meredith Monk

Meredith Monk
Author: Deborah Jowitt
Publisher: JHU Press
Total Pages: 252
Release: 1997-10-29
Genre: Art
ISBN: 9780801855399

Bringing together writings by Monk, herself, along with significant reviews, essays, interviews, and photographs of Monk's unique performance events, the book establishes her as one of the great treasures of contemporary American culture.

St. James Press Gay & Lesbian Almanac

St. James Press Gay & Lesbian Almanac
Author: Neil Schlager
Publisher: Saint James Press
Total Pages: 704
Release: 1998
Genre: Social Science
ISBN:

"This important reference work is one of the first to devote equal attention to both gay men and lesbians. Its objective approach encourages in-depth study of gay and lesbian history, culture, and experience in 20th-century America.. The book's 23 sections include a chronology, an annotated list of organizations, significant historical documents important to the gay and lesbian movement, and in-depth discussions of gay and lesbian involvement in such fields as politics, film, music, science, sports, travel, leisure, and visual and performing arts. Each section includes biographical profiles of prominent people in each field and extensive bibliographies of books. articles, and Web sites. The evenhanded approach to this subject makes this book an important purchase for all libraries."--"Outstanding Reference Sources: the 1999 Selection of New Titles," American Libraries, May 1999. Comp. by the Reference Sources Committee, RUSA, ALA.