Terpsichore in Sneakers: Post-Modern Dance

by Sally Banes

Book Overview

A dance critic's essays on post-modern dance.

Drawing on the postmodern perspective and concerns that informed her groundbreaking Terpischore in Sneakers, Sally Bane's Writing Dancing documents the background and development 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...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0819561606
• ISBN13: 9780819561602
• Release Date: June 1987
• Publisher: Wesleyan University Press
• Length: 311 Pages
• Weight: 1.15 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 7.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Tripping the Post-Modern Light Fantastic

The evolution of the roughly twenty-five years of American post-modern dance is expounded upon in Sally Banes' articulate and comprehensive treatment of the period from 1960 to 1985. Pivotal characters in this history, of which there are several, are examined in detail, with many descriptive passages of definitive works and happenings from the era. Post-modern, originally referring only chronologically (and vaguely) to the period following what we now call historical modern dance, actually has several specific and revolutionary veins of philosophy and aesthetics attached to it. Well researched, Terpsichore in Sneakers has several photographs, choreographers' scores, charts, and notes (including some previously unpublished), a selected bibliography, and an alphabetical list of works by and about seminal contributors to the movement. Fascinating and enlightening reading not only for dancers, but for those interested in American cultural history and anthropology.