Taken by Surprise: A Dance Improvisation Reader - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0819566470 ISBN 13: 9780819566478

Publisher: Wesleyan University Press, 2003

Synopsis

This collection of classic and contemporary writings on dance improvisation brings together 21 essays by prominent dancers, scholars and historians. It reflects the development of improvisation as a compositional and performance mode in a wide variety of dance contexts, including dance traditions from around the globe, such as Yoruban masked dance, Indian Bharatanatyam and flamenco. The book also considers computer-aided choreography, recent innovations in tap dancing and improvisation in everyday life. Combining primary sources with critical analysis, it should serve as a companion to studio work in improvisation.

About this title

Review:

"For those who strive to legitimize the long-dismissed art and craft of improvisational dance; for those who look for an invitation, or a doorway in; for those for whom the phrase "just improvising" slips (too) easily off the tongue; and for dancers and dance lovers of all persuasions, I recommend this reader. The frank voices in this collection pay tribute to the ranginess of improvisational dance practices and sources while illuminating the deep bodymind investigations that inform its application to contemporary performance."-- Lisa Nelson, choreographer, improvisational performer, coeditor Contact Quarterly dance journal

About the Author:

ANN COOPER ALBRIGHT is Associate Professor of Dance at Oberlin College and author of Choreographing Difference (Wesleyan, 1997). DAVID GERE is Assistant Professor at University of California at Los Angeles's Department of World Arts and Cultures and co-editor of Looking Out: Perspectives on Dance and Criticism in a Multicultural World (1995).

About this edition

• Publisher: Wesleyan University Press
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0819566470
• ISBN 13: 9780819566478
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 312
• Editor: Albright Ann Cooper, Gere David